Sir JOHN COLBORNE's attack upon the insurgent positions at
nd Brute was completely successful. The number of the
ilist army is not stated, but in his despatch Sir JOHN calls it the 4' disposable force under my command ;'' so that he probably mustered all the regular troops and volunteers fit for service. Ile marched from Montreal on the 13th, and reached St. Eustache, in the district of Grand Brulo, the next day. The number of the insurgents was about 1,200, commanded by CHENIER and GIROD. The greater part of the Canadians fled on the approach of the Queen's troops ; but others occupied the church and some neigh-
s bouring houses, and fired upon their assailants. They were soon i compelled to yield. All who . surrendered themselves prisoners / were spared, but those who attempted to escape were shot. The
slaughter was very great. It does not appear from Sir JOHN Cotaoitsat's despatch whether the church and village of St. Eustache was set on fire by his orders or not, for he does not allude to the circumstance ; but the village was almost entirely burnt down, after he had left it on his march against another in- surgent position at St. Benoit, in the same district of Grand Bru16. It seems probable that the Loyalist Volunteers set fire to the village, which is said to have been the exclusive property of French Canadians, in revenge for outrages on British property committed by, or at least imputed to, the insurgents. Be this as it may, the village of St. Eustache was reduced to a heap of ruins. On the road from it to St. Benoit, Sir JOHN COLBORNE found only supplicants for pardon. White flags were hung out of the windows of the houses and farm-buildings. The Canadians at St. Benoit surrendered at discretion, and a rebel in arms was no- where to be found. The loss of the British was of course very trifling; and Sir JOHN COLBORNE returned in triumph to Mont- real. But he left behind him savage partisans, who wreaked their vengeance on the prostrate people by setting fire to the village of St. Benoit; so that it as well as St. Eustache was destroyed. It will be said that Sir JOHN COLBORNE is not to blame for the out- rages of the Loyalist Volunteers. The degree of blame we may not, indeed, be able to apportion, but it was an imperative part of the Commander's duty to protect the property of the people whose sub- mission he had received. The burning of St. Eustache (if not the consequence of his own orders) should have warned him of the probable destruction of St. Benoit by the same ruffianly hands. Sir JOHN, however, coolly marched back to his head-quarters, leaving the Canadians at the mercy of Orange Volunteers, who had been at no pains to conceal their resolution to take a savage revenge. Till better explanations are given, the whole transaction wears a very black appearance. The consequences, in exasperat- ing hatred towards the ruling minority, will be long felt. Already the sympathy of the Americans in behalf of the victims of Loyalist fury has been strongly excited by the account of Sir JOHN COLBORNE'S expedition.
Thiliffelliferce-eTrona Upper Canada is of a very vague cha- racter. Sir FRANCIS HEAD appears to have a numerous body of Volunteers at his command; but the insurgents were in arms in various parts of the province. Dr. DUNCOMBE, well known in this country as a delegate from the Liberals of Upper Canada in the autumn of 1836, was at the head of about 700 or 800 men in the London district. According to one account, he had been de- hated, and his followers dispersed, by a body of Volunteers com- manded by Mr. M'NABB, Speaker of Governor HEAD'S House of Assembly ; another story is that DUNCOMBE defeated WNAne;
but the former account is the more probable. Arrests daily made in almost every village of the province ; and every 'g in.
(Heated the existence of widely-spread disaffection, st. t or avowed.
MACKENZIE'S exhortations at Buffalo wrought upon the .str- like spirit of about 150 Republican adventurers, who seized upon Navy Island, in the Niagara river, a few miles above the Falls, and just within the British territory. Their numbers soon in- creased to 600 or 700; and they got a few pieces of cannon, three or four steam-boats, and some ammunition. In defiance of a pro- clamation of the Governor of the State of New York, and the efforts of the local authorities at Buffalo, the people of that town continued to aid the adventurers. A Mr. VAN RENNSELAER, of Albany, was appointed " General of the invading army ;" but MACKENZIE seems to be at the head of affairs, as " Chairman of the Committee of the Provisional Government of Upper Canada;" in which capacity he issued a proclamation, holding forth a Re- publican government and all its blessings to the people as the re- ward of overturning the British authority. MACKENZIE, too, re- taliated upon HEAD, by offering 5001. for his apprehension. It is possible that Navy Island may become the nucleus of a formidable insurrection; but at present the whole proceedings are in minia- ture, and somewhat ridiculous. The island itself is only about one thousand acres in extent.
According to all appearances, the Government of the United States is acting in good faith with the British. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr. FORSYTH, has directed the Governor of the State of New York to prevent the inlistment of volunteers, and the district attornies are instructed to prosecute all offenders: but these edicts and threats are powerless. We find it stated in the Times, but cannot discover on what authority, that the inha- bitants of Maine are preparing to seize upon the disputed terri- tory on the frontier of New Brunswick : taking advantage of the absence of the British troops in Lower Canada.
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