But this can never be attempted with raw troops, ill supplied with the munitions of war, and unsupported by fortifications.

Such invasions must necessarily fail.

Experience in the wars of the French revolution has demonstrated this; and even our own short history is not without its proof.

In 1812, the conquest of Canada was determined on some time before the declaration of war; an undisciplined army, without preparation or apparent plan, was actually put in motion, eighteen days previous to this declaration, for the Canadian peninsula.

With a disciplined army of the same numbers, with an efficient and skilful leader, directed against the vital point of the British possessions at a time when the whole military force of the provinces did not exceed three thousand men, how different had been the result! While, therefore, the permanent defences of a nation must be subordinate to its resources, position, and character, they can in no case be dispensed with.