Upon the declaration of war, the government of the United States despatched as skilful an officer, as they had, to arm the American vessels on Lake Erie, and on Lake Ontario, with the view of gaining, if possible, the ascendancy on those great inland waters, which separate a great portion of Canada from the United States. The American army was distributed in three divisions:--one under General Harrison called "The North Western Army," a second under General Stephen Van Rensellaer, at Lewiston, called "The Army of the Centre," and a third under the Commander-in-Chief, General Dearborn, in the neighbourhood of Plattsburgh and Greenbush. As yet the armies had not been put in motion, but on the 12th of July, General Hull, the Governor of Michigan, who had been sent, at the head of two thousand five hundred men, to Detroit, with the view of putting an end to the hostilities of the Indians in that section of the country, crossed to Sandwich, established his head-quarters there, and issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of Canada. He expressed the most entire confidence of success. The standard of union, he alleged, waved over the territory of Canada. He tendered the invaluable blessings of liberty, civil, political, and religious, to an oppressed people, separated from, and having no share in the Councils of Britain, or interests in her conduct. And he threatened a war of extermination if the Indians were employed in resisting the invasion. General Brocke met the Parliament of Upper Canada, at York, on the 28th of the same month, and issued a proclamation to the people, in which he ridiculed General Hull's fears of the Indians. He then despatched Colonel Proctor to assume the command at Amherstburgh, from Fort St. George.