The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, K.B Part 4

Brigadier Brock accordingly proceeded to the Upper Province, Baron de Rottenburg having replaced him at Quebec, and, with the exception of a few months in 1811, during which he visited Lower Canada, he continued in command of the troops there till his death, Lieut.-Governor Gore at first administering the civil government.

_Colonel Baynes, the Adjutant-General, to Brigadier Brock, at Fort George._

QUEBEC, September 6, 1810.

The Brigadier-General (Baron de Rottenburg) is Sir James'

(Craig) senior in age by a year, but is still strong and active, and looks much younger. I am well pleased with the little I have seen of him, which by the bye is very little, for I only returned yesterday from Sorel. Mrs. de Rottenburg[27] has made a complete conquest of all hearts. She is in reality remarkably handsome, both in face and figure, and her manners uncommonly pleasing, graceful, and affable.

There is, I fancy, a very great disparity of years. They both speak English very fluently, and with very little foreign accent. Sir James (Craig) is remarkably well: we celebrated the anniversary of his sixtieth year yesterday at a very pleasant party at Powell Place. Our general court martial is over, and will be published in orders to-morrow. A soldier, who was under sentence of death for desertion from the 101st regiment, and transferred to the 8th, and a Jonathan of the Canadians, who is considered a ringleader, are sentenced to be shot; the others, a dozen in number, are to be transported to serve for life in the African corps.

_Brigadier Brock to his Brothers._

FORT GEORGE, Sept. 13, 1810.

My good and dear friends,--I have been of late so much upon the move, that I had no thought of writing to you, and no letters of yours put me in mind that I should do so. Here I am stationed for some time, unless I succeed in the application I mean to make shortly for permission to visit England. At present Vincent, Glegg, and Williams, 49th, enliven this lonesome place. They are here as members of a general court martial, and are soon to depart, when I shall be left to my own reflections. Should I be so lucky as to obtain leave, I shall not commence my journey to New York until after Christmas. Baron de Rottenburg, a senior brigadier, has arrived at Quebec, where he remains. His presence unquestionably diminishes my prospects in this country, and I should stand evidently in my own light if I did not court fortune elsewhere.

I have been as far as Detroit, a delightful country, far exceeding any thing I had seen on this continent.

I have not had a letter from Europe since May, and wish you to write to me by way of New York. I avail myself of an unexpected pa.s.senger to scribble this in the presence of many of the court, who tell me it is time to resume our labours; therefore, my beloved brothers, adieu. I shall write again in a few days, via New York.

_Colonel Baynes to Brigadier Brock, at Fort George._

QUEBEC, October 4, 1810.

By yesterday's post, I was favored with your letter of the 23d ultimo. I regret that so much trouble should have been occasioned to so little purpose, the more so as I apprehend an example to be much called for in the 100th regiment. Murray seems sanguine that the regiment will go on better under his rule, and that he knows the men better. I hope his conjecture may prove well founded, but I fear they are too wild a set to thrive in Upper Canada.

As I felt at a loss how to introduce the subject of your personal views and wishes, I gave Sir James your letter to read; it did not, however, draw from him any remark on those topics. I know that he is very strongly impressed with the necessity of having a person like yourself for some time in the Upper Province, that a scrutinizing eye may correct the errors and neglect that have crept in, and put all in order again; and, _in confidence between ourselves_, I do not think he would be more ready to part with you from that station, in consequence of the arrival of Colonel Murray, who is not at all to his taste, and has managed, by a most indiscreet and indecent conversation at his table, to blot himself out of his good opinion. The conversation was on the subject of Cobbett, and the colonel's the only dissenting voice, which he exerted with the more energy in proportion to the badness of his cause, and after defending him in a style and language highly indecorous, and reprehensible to be held at the table of the governor, he so completely forgot himself as to repeat and justify the very offensive and illiberal publications of Cobbett respecting the German troops and foreign officers, although sitting directly opposite to General de Rottenburg.

Sir James, who was suffering extremely from the commencement of a very severe attack of illness, could contain himself no longer, and silenced Murray by a very severe but highly just rebuke. Rottenburg appeared much hurt, and said to me that he was very sorry to find that any officer, entrusted with the honor of commanding a corps, could take a pleasure in exposing such sentiments as he had heard from Colonel M. Colonel Kempt, who naturally feels much interested for his young cousin, (Mrs. Murray,) and who really deserves and merits it for her own sake, was much mortified and vexed at Murray's impropriety.[28]

The charms of Mrs. de Rottenburg have not effaced you from the recollection of your friends, who very sincerely regret your absence.

_Lieut.-Colonel Thornton[29] (Military Secretary and first Aide-de-Camp) to Brigadier Brock_.

QUEBEC, October 4, 1810.

I was yesterday favored with your letter of the 23d ultimo, and have not failed to communicate to Sir James your account and your charity towards the poor old fellow, formerly of the king's.[30] He has in consequence directed the allowance of the ration to be authorized and continued to him, for which purpose I must request his Christian name and the date of the first issue, but I am to remind you of the danger of establishing a precedent of this nature, and to request in the general's name that you will refrain as much as possible from indulging the natural benevolence of your disposition in this way, as he has. .h.i.therto resisted all applications of this sort.

Your successor, as commandant of Quebec, is certainly much to be esteemed--a good kind of man, and devoted to his profession--but it is vanity in the extreme to attempt to describe the general admiration and estimation of his _cara et dolce sposa_: she is young, (twenty-three,) fair, beautiful,--lively, discreet, witty, affable,--in short, so engaging, or rather so fascinating, that neither the courier nor my paper will admit of my doing her justice; however, from what I have said it is necessary further to add and explain, that this is not my opinion alone but that of the public.

Two hundred volunteers for Colonel Zouch, from other veteran battalions, have just arrived and landed: the regiment is to be completed in this manner to one thousand.

_Colonel Baynes to Brigadier Brock._

QUEBEC, October 11, 1810.

Sir James has conversed with me fully on the subject of your wish for leave, and prefaced it by declaring himself very desirous on his part to forward your views as far as he could do so with propriety, but that he had written in such strong terms, urging the necessity of a third general officer being kept constantly on the staff of the Canadas, and a.s.signed as a princ.i.p.al reason the advantage of an officer of that rank being stationed in the Upper Province, that he does not conceive himself at liberty to overset an arrangement which he has been two years soliciting the means to carry into effect, and the absolute necessity of which he is highly impressed with. In reply to an observation of mine, that you regretted the inactive prospect before you, and looked with envy on those employed in Spain and Portugal, he said: "I make no doubt of it, but I can in no shape aid his plans in that respect; I would not, however, be the means of preventing them, and although from his local knowledge I should regret losing him in this country, yet I would not oppose it if he could obtain an appointment to the staff on service; but in that case I would ask for another general officer being seat in his place immediately to Upper Canada." I tell you this, my dear general, without reserve, and give you, as far as I can recollect, Sir James' words. If he liked you less, he might perhaps be more readily induced to let you go; as matters stand, I do not think he will, although I am convinced that he will feel very sincere regret in refusing you on a subject upon which you appear to be so anxious.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 22: In some book of Travels in Canada, Duncan's we think, it is stated that the highest battery in Quebec is called Brock's Battery: we know not whether it is that erected by Sir Isaac Brock.]

[Footnote 23: "The young and gallant" Captain Henry Lambert, mentioned above, was mortally wounded in December, 1812, in command of H.M.S.

Java, when she was captured by the American frigate Const.i.tution, of greatly superior force.]

[Footnote 24: The present General Vincent, colonel of the 69th foot. He was then major of the 49th.]

[Footnote 25: His niece.]

[Footnote 26: It has been remarked, that men with very small heads are seldom clever, and certainly the Brocks of this family had large but well shaped heads, with full foreheads.]

[Footnote 27: The mother of Lady William Paget.]

[Footnote 28: Whatever may have been Colonel Murray's indiscretion on this occasion, he proved himself one of the most gallant and enterprising officers in Canada during the war, and particularly distinguished himself in the a.s.sault and capture of Fort Niagara, in December, 1813, where he was severely wounded. If Colonel Murray admired Cobbett's writings he was not singular, as he was perhaps the most forcible political writer in the English language.]

[Footnote 29: Afterwards Lieut.-General Sir William Thornton, K.C.B., &c.]

[Footnote 30: Sir Isaac Brock was several years in the 8th regiment, but this old man had probably served with his brother, Lieut.-Colonel John Brock, who was many years in the 8th, in Upper Canada.]

CHAPTER IV.

_Brigadier Brock to Lieut.-Governor Gore_.

FORT GEORGE, Jan. 6, 1811.

Having lately received a letter from Colonel Vesey, in which he urges me to ascertain whether it be possible to secure to his family some benefit from the grant of five thousand acres he has so long unprofitably held, I am encouraged by the disposition your excellency has uniformly evinced to serve him, to renew my earnest request that your influence may be now exerted in his behalf.

I am given to understand that there are extensive tracts of excellent land at the disposal of the crown on Lake Erie, and that a new township is undergoing a survey near the head of Lake Ontario. Were it possible to ensure Colonel Vesey eligible situations in those districts, he no longer would hesitate in incurring the necessary expense.

Your excellency having signified your intention of visiting England in the course of next summer, I am impelled to the present application by the consideration that before your return the land, which I have taken the liberty to point out, may be disposed of, and Colonel Vesey thereby lose the fair opportunity of acquiring property upon which he can confidently place some value.

_Lieut.-Governor Gore to Brigadier Brock_.

YORK, January 21, 1811.

Your letter of the 6th instant should have been earlier acknowledged, but that I was desirous to render my answer as satisfactory as possible, and it was necessary to refer to the offices, on the subject of the grant of land ordered for Colonel Vesey.

I am very sorry now to be constrained to tell you, that it is not in my power to comply with Colonel Vesey's wish in respect of the location, without a special order from the king, as in the case of Colonel Talbot.