in which they had been engaged; and a treaty of peace, signed at Ghent on the 24th of December, was ratified by the two governments, the plenipotentiaries on both sides waiving every question at issue before the war, and restoring every acquisition of territory during its progress.  Thus the Americans had only the Canadian and defenceless side of the Detroit to give in exchange for their fortress of Niagara and their key possession of Michilimakinack.

Early in 1815, Sir George Prevost was directed to return to England for the purpose of meeting accusations relative to his conduct at Plattsburg, which had been preferred by Commodore Sir James Yeo, who, after some delay, produced his charges in legal form; and to afford time for the arrival of the necessary witnesses from Canada, the general court martial was postponed to the 12th of January, 1816.  In the mean time the health of the late governor-general, naturally of a delicate cast, became seriously affected, partly from anxiety of mind, and he died in London on the 5th of January, exactly a week preceding the day appointed for his trial.  Previously to his departure from Lower Canada, the commons, or French party, voted him the sum of L5,000 for the purchase of a service of plate, as a tribute of respect, which vote was approved of by the prince regent; but the legislative council, or English party, refused their assent to a bill for that purpose.

Sir George Prevost was of slight, diminutive person, and unsoldierlike appearance; his manners are represented as unassuming and social, and his temper as placid and forgiving.  His public speeches or addresses are said to have partaken of even classical elegance, and his dispatches and general orders also afford proofs of his literary acquirements.  Discredit can only be thrown on his character as a general; and indeed his best friends must admit that his defensive policy at the commencement of the war, and his subsequent irresolution and infirmity of purpose, did not tend to raise the glory of England, or to advance his own fame, and that of every enterprizing officer who served under him.  And yet soon after his death, notwithstanding that the lamentable failures at Sackett’s Harbour and Plattsburg were fresh in the public recollection, new and honorary armorial bearings, with supporters, were solicited and obtained by his family in seeming approbation of his services in Canada, the supporters being two grenadiers of the 16th foot, of which regiment Sir George was colonel, each bearing a flag, gules; the dexter flag inscribed, “West Indies”—­the sinister, “Canada”!  If these distinctions were conferred in honor of his civil administration, which we have already eulogized, although Veritas, in his well-known letters, stoutly denied him any merit even on this point, they were, we believe, justly bestowed; but if they were intended as an approval of his military conduct during the contest, certain it is that his contemporaries indignantly refused