The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, K.B Part 2

_Colonel Brock to the Adjutant-General of His Majesty's Forces._

QUEBEC, July 1, 1807.

I have the honor to transmit herewith the inspection return of the 41st regiment for two distinct periods, viz. September 1, 1806, and March 1, 1807.

Some inaccuracies being found in the September return previously received, it was sent back to Lieut.-Colonel Proctor, at Fort George, for correction. This circ.u.mstance and the distance of the place, account for the delay which has occurred in complying, in the present instance, with the commands of his royal highness the commander-in-chief.

The very great distance of the quarters the 41st now occupy, has prevented my making personally the periodical inspection of that regiment required by my instructions. But its dispersed state and the many evils by which it is surrounded will, however great the zeal and intelligence of Lieut.-Colonel Proctor and the other officers, so far affect the discipline and morals of the men, as to justify my saying that both the one and the other must, without the possibility of a remedy, progressively suffer in proportion as the regiment remains stationed in the Upper Province. The 41st regiment, having a considerable number of old soldiers, is better calculated for that service than either the 49th or 100th regiments, and no change is therefore meditated.

Not being possessed with the means of making a more circ.u.mstantial report of the state of the 41st regiment, I have only to add, in justice to the officers commanding posts, that they evince in their communications with head quarters much attention and sound judgment.

Contemplating the probable arrival of a general officer by the fleet daily expected from England, I have so far presumed to deviate from my instructions as to postpone making the periodical inspection of the regiments quartered in this garrison, conceiving that his royal highness the commander-in-chief would esteem a report coming from such a high source more satisfactory, than if I were to undertake the task in my present situation, which may naturally be supposed, in some degree, to bias my judgment.

On the 17th July, 1807, in consequence of an expected rupture between England and the United States, Colonel Brock addressed a letter to Mr.

President Dunn, in which he said that the number of militia armed and instructed in the province did not exceed 300, while he thought that as many thousands could easily, and with perfect safety, be formed into corps; and that Quebec, the only military post in the country, was not in a condition to make much defence against an active enemy, as the walls on the western side were old and decayed, and could not possibly sustain a continued heavy fire. He added, that he wished to throw up such works as would remedy this glaring defect; but as the garrison was totally inadequate to such an undertaking, he required from 600 to 1,000 men every day for six weeks or two months, besides a vast number of carts, &c., to complete the necessary defences of the citadel. This letter being submitted to the council, that body replied, that the only means by which a.s.sistance could be given by the civil government to the military, in the manner proposed by Colonel Brock, would be by embodying a proportion of the militia according to law, the men for which service must be taken from different parts of the province. And that as this measure had only once before been resorted to in the province, on which occasion a decided disobedience was generally manifested, and was again to be antic.i.p.ated, the council inquired of Colonel Brock whether he had the means, and would furnish them, to enforce the attendance of the militia, who, when embodied, were ent.i.tled to the same pay and allowances as the king's troops. The council further informed Colonel Brock that it would meet again the next day, for the purpose of taking into consideration any representation, in writing, which he might think proper to make in answer to their communication, and that, if convenient to him, they requested his personal attendance. His reply was as follows:

QUEBEC, 23d July, 1807.

Colonel Brock has perused with attention the proceedings of his honor the president in council, communicated to him by Mr.

Ryland, and begs leave to observe, that in addressing his honor on the 17th instant, it was far from his intention to a.s.sume a political character.

His sole object was to state the a.s.sistance required by the military to remedy a glaring defect in the fortifications of Quebec, should his honor conceive that preparatory measures were necessary to be adopted in consequence of the event which recently occurred between his majesty's ship Leopard and the American frigate Chesapeake, but more particularly the subsequent aggressive provisions contained in the proclamation of the American government.

In thus complying with the dictates of his duty, Colonel Brock was not prepared to hear that the population of the province, instead of affording him ready and effectual support, might probably add to the number of his enemies; and he feels much disappointment in being informed by the first authority, that the only law in any degree calculated to answer the end proposed was likely, if attempted to be enforced, to meet with such general opposition as to require the aid of the military to give it even a momentary impulse.

Colonel Brock is therefore obliged to observe, that the officer commanding certainly would not choose the time when the troops may every instant be called upon for the defence of Quebec, to disperse them over the country in aid of the civil government, coercively collecting a body of men, which, under such circ.u.mstances, would be of more detriment than service to the regular army. Colonel Brock cannot, therefore, look for any a.s.sistance from that quarter, but, should an emergency arise, he is confident that voluntary offers of service will be made by a considerable number of brave and loyal subjects, and feels himself justified in saying, that even now several gentlemen are ready to come forward and enroll into companies men on whose fidelity they can safely rely.

It remains with his honor to determine the degree of countenance which ought to be given to such sentiments.

Colonel Brock will be at all times proud to attend deliberations of his honor in council.

_Colonel Brock to Lord Viscount Castlereagh._

QUEBEC, July 25, 1807.

I think it my duty to transmit for your lordship's information a copy of the communication that has pa.s.sed between his honor the president and me, relative to the military situation of this country.

Your Lordship will perceive from the minutes of the council, how very inadequate the militia law is to afford a.s.sistance to the regular force, and the degree of dependance that may be placed on the population of this province.

My own observations, however, enable me to a.s.sure your Lordship, that a respectable force might be trained and rendered exceedingly useful on any exigency, were the least encouragement given to the spirit which at present pervades a certain cla.s.s to volunteer their services.

To such characters arms might be safely entrusted, but I certainly would consider an indiscriminate distribution to the militia, were it possible to collect it, as highly imprudent and dangerous.

What I stated to his honor the president respecting the weakness of the works along the whole of the west front of this garrison, is consonant to the opinion transmitted by the officers of engineers and artillery, in their half-yearly periodical report, to the master-general of the ordnance.

To a question from the president, viz. "Should the council conceive it necessary to call out the militia, whether I thought myself warranted to issue pay and provisions to them?"

I answered, Certainly not: that in all British Colonies, of which I had any knowledge, they on all such occasions defrayed their own expenses.

The consideration that there is about 30,000 in the civil chest, which cannot be applied to its object until next spring, and the ease with which the error I may have fallen into might be remedied, induced me to be so positive upon a subject, regarding which I am without instructions.

_Colonel Brock to Lieut.-Colonel J.W. Gordon._

QUEBEC, Sept. 6, 1807.

It is impossible to view the late hostile measures of the American government towards England, without considering a rupture between the two countries as probable to happen.

I have in consequence been anxious that such precautionary measures might be taken as the case seemed to justify; but his honor the president has not judged it proper to adopt any other step, than merely to order one-fifth of the militia, which amounts to about 10,000 men, to hold itself in readiness to march on the shortest notice.

The men thus selected for service being scattered along an extensive line of four or five hundred miles, unarmed and totally unacquainted with every thing military, without officers capable of giving them instruction, considerable time would naturally be required before the necessary degree of order and discipline could be introduced among them. I therefore very much doubt whether, in the event of actual war, this force could a.s.semble in time, and become useful.

Without considerable a.s.sistance from the militia, the few regulars which might be spared from this garrison could avail nothing against the force the Americans would suddenly introduce by various roads into this province.

The Canadians have unquestionably shewn a great willingness upon this occasion to be trained, and, I make not the least doubt, would oppose with vigour any invasion of the Americans--but how far the same sentiments would actuate them were a French force to join, I will not undertake to say; at any rate, I feel that every consideration of prudence and policy ought to determine me to keep in Quebec a sufficient force to secure its safety; the number of troops that could therefore be safely detached would be small, notwithstanding a great deal might be done, in conjunction with the militia, in a country intersected in every direction by rivers, deep ravines, and lined, at intervals on both sides the road, by thick woods.

From every information I can receive, the Americans are busily employed in drilling and forming their militia, and openly declare their intention of entering this province the instant war is determined upon; they will be encouraged to adopt this step from the very defenceless state of our frontiers; the means at my disposal are too limited to oppose them with effect in the open field, and I shall be constrained, unless his honor the president make exertions, which I do not think him at this moment disposed to do, to confine myself to the defence of Quebec.

I have hastened the completion of the works which enclose the upper town of Quebec, and I have thought myself justified in causing a battery of eight 36-pounders to be raised sixteen feet upon the cavalier in the centre of the citadel, which will effectually command the opposite heights.

Although these remarks may be premature, I yet conceive it my duty to give his royal highness the commander-in-chief a view of my real situation.

I must freely confess that I am unable to account for the motives which seem at present to guide the councils of this province. Voluntary offers of service have been made by numbers, on whose loyalty the utmost reliance can be placed, to form themselves into corps of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, at little or no expense to government, provided they were furnished with arms; but this liberal spirit has not been encouraged by the president.

I have the honor to report, that at a recent interview I had at Montreal with Lieut.-Governor Gore, it was judged expedient that his excellency should a.s.sume the command in the upper province. I regretted exceedingly that I could not, with propriety, detach troops in support of the spirited exertions whioh will be immediately made to place that country in a respectable state of defence. He has been supplied with four thousand muskets from the king's a.r.s.enal at Quebec, and with various military stores of which he stood in need: this leaves in my possession only seven thousand muskets for the use of the militia of this province, and to supply, as far as they will go, every other emergency.

_Sir James Craig to Colonel Brock_.

H.M.S. Horatio, Oct. 16, 1807.

His majesty having been pleased to appoint me to the chief government of the British provinces in America, as well as to the command of his forces in these parts, I do myself the pleasure to announce to you my arrival in the river, to take these charges upon me.

Lieut.-Colonel Baynes, the adjutant-general, and Major Thornton, my secretary and first aide-decamp, will deliver you this, and will inform you of the very miserable state of my health, which obliges me to write to Mr. Dunn, to entreat that he will permit my landing to be as private as possible. Of you I must make the same request. A salute may be proper, but I beg nothing more may be done: my object must be to get to the chateau as speedily and with as little fatigue as possible.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 18: Owing to the difficulty, after the lapse of above forty years, of obtaining the particulars of this event from any officer present, the preceding account may be slightly inaccurate notwithstanding our diligent inquiries, but we doubt not that it is substantially correct.]

[Footnote 19: The 10th Royal Veteran Battalion arrived in Canada the year following.]

[Footnote 20: Afterwards Major-General Barnard Foord Bowes, slain on the 27th June, 1812, while leading the troops to the a.s.sault of the forts of Salamanca. Monuments in St. Paul's, to the memory of Major-General Bowes and of Sir Isaac Brock, were voted in the House of Commons on the same day, 20th July, 1813.]

[Footnote 21: On the pa.s.sage of the 100th to Quebec, in 1805, one of the transports was wrecked on the 21st October, on the coast of Newfoundland; and Major Bertram, three captains, six lieutenants, the a.s.sistant-surgeon, and about 260 men of the regiment, miserably perished.]