This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan.
CHRONICLES OF CANADA
Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton
In thirty-two volumes
Volume 12
THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA
A Chronicle of Carleton
By WILLIAM WOOD
TORONTO, 1916
CONTENTS
I. GUY CARLETON, 1724-1759
II. GENERAL MURRAY, 1759-1766
III. GOVERNOR CARLETON, 1766-1774
IV. INVASION, 1776
V. BELEAGUERMENT, 1775-1776
VI. DELIVERANCE, 1776
VII. THE COUNTERSTROKE, 1776-1778
VIII. GUARDING THE LOYALISTS, 1782-1783
IX. FOUNDING MODERN CANADA, 1786-1796
X. 'NUNC DIMITTIS,' 1796-1808
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
CHAPTER I
GUY CARLETON
1724-1759
Guy Carleton, first Baron Dorchester, was born at Strabane,
County Tyrone, on the 3rd of September 1724, the anniversary
of Cromwell's two great victories and death. He came of
a very old family of English country gentlemen which had
migrated to Ireland in the seventeenth century and
intermarried with other Anglo-Irish families equally
devoted to the service of the British Crown. Guy's father
was Christopher Carleton of Newry in County Down. His
mother was Catherine Ball of County Donegal. His father
died comparatively young; and, when he was himself fifteen,
his mother married the rector of Newry, the Reverend
Thomas Skelton, whose influence over the six step-children
of the household worked wholly for their good.
At eighteen Guy received his first commission as ensign
in the 25th Foot, then known as Lord Rothes' regiment
and now as the King's Own Scottish Borderers. At
twenty-three he fought gallantly at the siege of
Bergen-op-Zoom. Four years later (1751) he was a lieutenant
in the Grenadier Guards. He was one of those quiet men
whose sterling value is appreciated only by the few till
some crisis makes it stand forth before the world at
large. Pitt, Wolfe, and George II all recognized his
solid virtues. At thirty he was still some way down the
list of lieutenants in the Grenadiers, while Wolfe, two
years his junior in age, had been four years in command
of a battalion with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Yet
he had long been 'my friend Carleton' to Wolfe, he was
soon to become one of 'Pitt's Young Men,' and he was
enough of a 'coming man' to incur the king's displeasure.
He had criticized the Hanoverians; and the king never
forgave him. The third George 'gloried in the name of
Englishman.' But the first two were Hanoverian all through.
And for an English guardsman to disparage the Hanoverian
army was considered next door to _lese-majeste_.
Lady Dorchester burnt all her husband's private papers
after his death in 1808; so we have lost some of the most
intimate records concerning him. But 'grave Carleton'
appears so frequently in the letters of his friend Wolfe
that we can see his character as a young man in almost
any aspect short of self-revelation. The first reference
has nothing to do with affairs of state. In 1747 Wolfe,
aged twenty, writing to Miss Lacey, an English girl in
Brussels, and signing himself 'most sincerely your friend
and admirer,' says: 'I was doing the greatest injustice
to the dear girls to admit the least doubt of their
constancy. Perhaps with respect to ourselves there may
be cause of complaint. Carleton, I'm afraid, is a recent
example of it.' From this we may infer that Carleton was
less 'grave' as a young man than Wolfe found him later
on. Six years afterwards Wolfe strongly recommended him
for a position which he had himself been asked to fill,
that of military tutor to the young Duke of Richmond,
who was to get a company in Wolfe's own regiment. Writing
home from Paris in 1753 Wolfe tells his mother that the
duke 'wants some skilful man to travel with him through
the Low Countries and into Lorraine. I have proposed my
friend Carleton, whom Lord Albemarle approves of.' Lord
Albemarle was the British ambassador to France; so Carleton
got the post and travelled under the happiest auspices,
while learning the frontier on which the Belgian, French,
and British allies were to fight the Germans in the Great
World War of 1914. It was during this military tour of
fortified places that Carleton acquired the engineering
skill which a few years later proved of such service to
the British cause in Canada.
In 1754 George Washington, at that time a young Virginian
officer of only twenty-two, fired the first shot in what
presently became the world-wide Seven Years' War. The
immediate result was disastrous to the British arms; and
Washington had to give up the command of the Ohio by
surrendering Fort Necessity to the French on--of all
dates--the 4th of July! In 1755 came Braddock's defeat.
In 1756 Montcalm arrived in Canada and won his first
victory at Oswego. In 1757 Wolfe distinguished himself
by formulating the plan which, if properly executed,
would have prevented the British fiasco at Rochefort on
the coast of France. But Carleton remained as undistinguished
as before. He simply became lieutenant-colonel commanding
the 72nd Foot, now the Seaforth Highlanders. In 1758 his
chance appeared to have come at last. Amherst had asked
for his services at Louisbourg. But the king had neither
forgotten nor forgiven the remarks about the Hanoverians,
and so refused point-blank, to Wolfe's 'very great grief
and disappointment... It is a public loss Carleton's not
going.' Wolfe's confidence in Carleton, either as a friend
or as an officer, was stronger than ever. Writing to
George Warde, afterwards the famous cavalry leader, he
said: 'Accidents may happen in the family that may throw
my little affairs into disorder. Carleton is so good as
to say he will give what help is in his power. May I ask
the same favour of you, my oldest friend?' Writing to
Lord George Sackville, of whom we shall hear more than
enough at the crisis of Carleton's career Wolfe said:
'Amherst will tell you his opinion of Carleton, by which
you will probably be better convinced of our loss.' Again,
'We want grave Carleton for every purpose of the war.'
And yet again, after the fall of Louisbourg: 'If His
Majesty had thought proper to let Carleton come with us
as engineer it would have cut the matter much shorter
and we might now be ruining the walls of Quebec and
completing the conquest of New France.' A little later
on Wolfe blazes out with indignation over Carleton's
supersession by a junior. 'Can Sir John Ligonier (the
commander-in-chief) allow His Majesty to remain
unacquainted with the merit of that officer, and can he
see such a mark of displeasure without endeavouring to
soften or clear the matter up a little? A man of honour
has the right to expect the protection of his Colonel
and of the Commander of the troops, and he can't serve
without it. If I was in Carleton's place I wouldn't stay
an hour in the Army after being aimed at and distinguished
in so remarkable a manner.' But Carleton bided his time.
At the beginning of 1759 Wolfe was appointed to command
the army destined to besiege Quebec. He immediately
submitted Carleton's name for appointment as
quartermaster-general. Pitt and Ligonier heartily approved.
But the king again refused. Ligonier went back a second
time to no purpose. Pitt then sent him in for the third
time, saying, in a tone meant for the king to overhear:
'Tell His Majesty that in order to render the General
[Wolfe] completely responsible for his conduct he should
be made, as far as possible, inexcusable if he should
fail; and that whatever an officer entrusted with such
a service of confidence requests ought therefore to be
granted.' The king then consented. Thus began Carleton's
long, devoted, and successful service for Canada, the
Empire, and the Crown.
Early in this memorable Empire Year of 1759 he sailed
with Wolfe and Saunders from Spithead. On the 30th of
April the fleet rendezvoused at Halifax, where Admiral
Durell, second-in-command to Saunders, had spent the
winter with a squadron intended to block the St Lawrence
directly navigation opened in the spring. Durell was a
good commonplace officer, but very slow. He had lost many
hands from sickness during a particularly cold season,
and he was not enterprising enough to start cruising
round Cabot Strait before the month of May. Saunders,
greatly annoyed by this delay, sent him off with eight
men-of-war on the 5th of May. Wolfe gave him seven hundred
soldiers under Carleton. These forces were sufficient to
turn back, capture, or destroy the twenty-three French
merchantmen which were then bound for Quebec with supplies
and soldiers as reinforcements for Montcalm. But the
French ships were a week ahead of Durell; and, when he
landed Carleton at Isle-aux-Coudres on the 28th of May,
the last of the enemy's transports had already discharged
her cargo at Quebec, sixty miles above.
Isle-aux-Coudres, so named by Jacques Cartier in 1535,
was a point of great strategic importance; for it commanded
the only channel then used. It was the place Wolfe had
chosen for his winter quarters, that is, in case of
failure before Quebec and supposing he was not recalled.
None but a particularly good officer would have been
appointed as its first commandant. Carleton spent many
busy days here preparing an advanced base for the coming
siege, while the subsequently famous Captain Cook was
equally busy 'a-sounding of the channell of the Traverse'
which the fleet would have to pass on its way to Quebec.
Some of Durell's ships destroyed the French 'long-shore
batteries near this Traverse, at the lower end of the
island of Orleans, while the rest kept ceaseless watch
to seaward, anxiously scanning the offing, day after day,
to make out the colours of the first fleet up. No one
knew what the French West India fleet would do; and there
was a very disconcerting chance that it might run north
and slip into the St Lawrence, ahead of Saunders, in the
same way as the French reinforcements had just slipped
in ahead of Durell. Presently, at the first streak of
dawn on the 23rd of June, a strong squadron was seen
advancing rapidly under a press of sail. Instantly the
officers of the watch called all hands up from below.
The boatswains' whistles shrilled across the water as
the seamen ran to quarters and cleared the decks for
action. Carleton's camp was equally astir. The guards
turned out. The bugles sounded. The men fell in and
waited. Then the flag-ship signalled ashore that the
strangers had just answered correctly in private code
that all was well and that Wolfe and Saunders were aboard.
Next to Wolfe himself Carleton was the busiest man
in the army throughout the siege of Quebec. In addition
to his arduous and very responsible duties as
quartermaster-general, he acted as inspector of engineers
and as a special-service officer for work of an
exceptionally confidential nature. As quartermaster-general
he superintended the supply and transport branches.
Considering that the army was operating in a devastated
hostile country, a thousand miles away from its bases at
Halifax and Louisbourg, and that the interaction of the
different services--naval and military, Imperial and
Colonial--required adjustment to a nicety at every turn,
it was wonderful that so much was done so well with means
which were far from being adequate. War prices of course
ruled in the British camp. But they compared very favourably
with the famine prices in Quebec, where most 'luxuries'
soon became unobtainable at any price. There were no
canteen or camp-follower scandals under Carleton. Then,
as now, every soldier had a regulation ration of food
and a regulation allowance for his service kit. But
'extras' were always acceptable. The price-list of these
'extras' reads strangely to modern ears. But, under the
circumstances, it was not exorbitant, and it was slightly
tempered by being reckoned in Halifax currency of four
dollars to the pound instead of five. The British Tommy
Atkins of that and many a later day thought Canada a
wonderful country for making money go a long way when he
could buy a pot of beer for twopence and get back thirteen
pence Halifax currency as change for his English shilling.
Beef and ham ran from ninepence to a shilling a pound.
Mutton was a little dearer. Salt butter was eightpence
to one-and-threepence. Cheese was tenpence; potatoes from
five to ten shillings a bushel. 'A reasonable loaf of
good soft Bread' cost sixpence. Soap was a shilling a
pound. Tea was prohibitive for all but the officers.
'Plain Green Tea and very Badd' was fifteen shillings,
'Couchon' twenty shillings, 'Hyson' thirty. Leaf tobacco
was tenpence a pound, roll one-and-tenpence, snuff
two-and-threepence. Sugar was a shilling to eighteen
pence. Lemons were sixpence apiece. The non-intoxicating
'Bad Sproos Beer' was only twopence a quart and helped
to keep off scurvy. Real beer, like wine and spirits,
was more expensive. 'Bristol Beer' was eighteen shillings
a dozen, 'Bad malt Drink from Hellifax' ninepence a quart.
Rum and claret were eight shillings a gallon each, port
and Madeira ten and twelve respectively. The term 'Bad'
did not then mean noxious, but only inferior. It stood
against every low-grade article in the price-list. No
goods were over-classified while Carleton was
quartermaster-general.
The engineers were under-staffed, under-manned, and
overworked. There were no Royal Engineers as a permanent
and comprehensive corps till the time of Wellington.
Wolfe complained bitterly and often of the lack of men
and materials for scientific siege work. But he 'relied
on Carleton' to good purpose in this respect as well as
in many others. In his celebrated dispatch to Pitt he
mentions Carleton twice. It was Carleton whom he sent to
seize the west end of the island of Orleans, so as to
command the basin of Quebec, and Carleton whom he sent to
take prisoners and gather information at Pointe-aux-Trembles,
twenty miles above the city. Whether or not he revealed
the whole of his final plan to Carleton is probably more
than we shall ever know, since Carleton's papers were
destroyed. But we do know that he did not reveal it to
any one else, not even to his three brigadiers, Monckton,
Townshend, and Murray.
Carleton was wounded in the head during the Battle of
the Plains; but soon returned to duty. Wolfe showed his
confidence in him to the last. Carleton's was the only
name mentioned twice in the will which Wolfe handed over
to Jervis, the future Lord St Vincent, the night before
the battle. 'I leave to Colonel Oughton, Colonel Carleton,
Colonel Howe, and Colonel Warde a thousand pounds each.'
'All my books and papers, both here and in England, I
leave to Colonel Carleton.' Wolfe's mother, who died five
years later, showed the same confidence by appointing
Carleton her executor.
With the fall of Quebec in 1759 Carleton disappears from
the Canadian scene till 1766. But so many pregnant events
happened in Canada during these seven years, while so
few happened in his own career, that it is much more
important for us to follow her history than his biography.
In 1761 he was wounded at the storming of Port Andro
during the attack on Belle Isle off the west coast of
France. In 1762 he was wounded at Havana in the West
Indies. After that he enjoyed four years of quietness at
home. Then came the exceedingly difficult task of guiding
Canada through twelve years of turbulent politics and
most subversive war.