It might not unnaturally be supposed that during all this fighting, business would have been nearly at a stand. But so far from such being the case, the war had contributed in no small degree to bring Canada and its capabilities into notice. And it could not be otherwise. So large an expenditure as that required for the maintenance of the regular soldiery and militia must have made money plentiful, and such as were engaged in trade, whether in Quebec or Montreal, undoubtedly profitted by an expenditure almost necessarily profligate. On account of the militia alone, the province expended L121,366, and the expenditure of the commissariat department must have been enormous. But the grand source of wealth was the establishment of a kind of National Bank, with specie, to redeem its paper, in the vaults of the Bank of England. The circulation of fifteen hundred thousand pounds worth of army bills, all redeemable in cash, with interest, could not have failed to enrich a country in which there were not more than 350,000 inhabitants, the greater number of whom were actually in the pay of Great Britain, while they had the privilege of attending, unless in extraordinary cases, to their private pursuits. That Canada prospered during the war is undeniable. There was a considerable falling off in the number of vessels cleared at Quebec in 1813, in comparison with the previous year, and which was in some degree attributable to the risk attendant upon crossing the Atlantic, while the great frigates of the United States were permitted to prowl about, but the provincial revenue had, nevertheless, increased in the course of one year to the amount of L30,006, while the provincial expenditure alone was nearly L200,000. Indeed, Montreal, the temporary head-quarters of the commander-in-chief, and literally alive with troops, who all ate and drank heartily, was making rapid progress in the way of commercial advancement. Mr. Molson gave some indication of the general prosperity by placing upon the St. Lawrence a second steamer. On the 4th of May, 1813, the arrival of the _Swiftsure_ is noticed by the Quebec newspapers. The _Swiftsure_ had twenty-eight passengers, besides a serjeant with six privates of the royals, having three Americans, prisoners of war, four deserters from the 100th regiment, and one deserter from the American army, in charge, on board, and had been twenty-two hours and a half in running down. She had a good engine with a safety valve for blowing off surplus steam. The ladies' cabin had eight reposing berths. The gentlemen's cabin was thirty feet in length by twenty-three in breadth, and contained ten berths on each side, and two "forming an angle with the larboard side." The cabin was capable of lodging forty-four persons, and the steerage could accommodate about 150. The _Swiftsure_ was in length of keel 130 feet, her length upon deck was 140 feet, and her breadth of beam was 24 feet.