Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF THE LATE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR GEORGE PREVOST, BART. PARTICULARLY OF HIS SERVICES IN THE CANADAS; INCLUDING A REPLY TO THE STRICTURES ON HIS MILITARY CHARACTER, CONTAINED IN AN ARTICLE IN THE QUARTERLY REVIEW FOR OCTOBER, 1822. "Either this is envy in you, folly, or mistaking; the very stream of his life, and the business he hath helmed, must upon a warranted need give him a better proclamation. Let him be but testimonied in his own bringings forth, and he shall appear a statesman and a soldier. Therefore you speak unskilfully; or if your knowledge be more, it is much darkened in your malice." MEASURE FOR MEASURE. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, STRAND; AND T. EGERTON, WHITEHALL. 1823. J. M'Creery, Printer, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF THE LATE LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR GEORGE PREVOST, BART. _&c. &c._ The character and conduct of individuals in high and responsible situations, will naturally and necessarily be the subject of free and open discussion. The conduct of a soldier is more particularly exposed to this scrutiny. His success or his failure is a matter of such powerful interest to his country, that he generally receives even more than his full measure of approbation or of blame. Notwithstanding all the difficulties of forming a correct judgment on the merits of military operations, there is perhaps no subject upon which public opinion expresses itself so quickly and so decidedly. Disappointed in the sanguine hopes which they had entertained, and mortified by the consciousness of defeat, the public too frequently imagine cause for censure, and without a competent knowledge of the facts necessary to enable them to form a sound and satisfactory judgment, unhesitatingly condemn those who have perhaps passed in their service a long life of anxiety and labour. But while, in the moment of irritation, they are thus disposed to impugn the conduct of their military servants, they are no less ready, on more deliberate inquiry, and a fuller understanding of the facts, to grant them a candid and generous acquittal. These observations are peculiarly applicable to the case of the late Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, who, after having devoted to his country thirty-five of the best years of his life; after having distinguished himself in many gallant actions; and after having preserved to the crown of Great Britain some of its most valuable foreign possessions, was called upon, at the close of his honourable career, to answer charges which vitally affected his reputation, and which he was prevented by death from fully and clearly refuting.