General Hull had capitulated to the Governor of Upper Canada, with two thousand five hundred men, and thirty-three pieces of cannon, and that, in consequence, the whole territory of Michigan had been ceded to Great Britain, could only have been as disagreeable as it was animating to the people of Canada. So entirely indeed were the Americans unprepared for a blow of such extraordinary severity, that no one could be brought to believe in it. It seemed an impossible circumstance. It was felt to be a delusion. It seemed as if some one had practised a terrible hoax upon the nation. Until officially made known to the sovereign people, the disaster was looked upon as a lying rumour of the enemy. Another Henry had been at work, tampering with the New England States, or the federalist minority had set it afloat. True it could not be. It was indeed something to excite surprise. The trophy of a British force, consisting of no more than seven hundred men, including militia, and six hundred Indians was the cession of a territory and the surrender of a General-in-Chief, a strong fort, the armed brig _John Adams_, and the two thousand five hundred men, who were designed not to defend their country only, but to wrest Upper Canada from the Crown of Great Britain. To General Hull's fears of the savage ferocity of the Indians, this bloodless victory must, to some extent, however trifling, be attributed. General Hull was evidently superstitiously afraid of an Indian. While asking the inhabitants of Upper Canada to come to him for protection, he could not help entreating, as it were, protection for himself against the Indians. If you will not accept my offer, the General seemed to say, either remain at home or cross bayonets with American soldiers, but turn into the field one of the scalping savages of your forests, and we shall kill, burn and destroy, everything that comes before us. With his regular troops, the unfortunate man was sent a prisoner to Montreal. He was led into that city, at the head of his officers and men, and was at once an object of pity and derision. But the Commander-in-Chief received his prisoner with the courtesy of a gentleman, and with every honor due to his rank. Nay, he even suffered him to return to the United States on parole, without solicitation.