QUEBEC AND NIAGARA
In July, 1810, Brock was still in Quebec. He writes from there to
his brother Irving, thanking him for executing some commissions for
him in London. All had arrived safely with the exception of "a
cocked hat," and not receiving it was a most distressing
circumstance, "as," he added, "from the enormity of my head I find
the utmost difficulty in getting a substitute in this country."
General Brock was most anxious to go to England, but had almost given
up the thought. Several events of a disturbing nature had occurred
in the upper country, and it was agreed that he should be sent there,
whether temporarily or permanently it was not decided. If a senior
brigadier should come out he would certainly himself be fixed in
Upper Canada. With a little bitterness, not often noticed in his
correspondence, he writes: "Since all my efforts to get more actively
employed have failed; since fate decrees that the best portion of my
life is to be wasted in inaction in the Canadas, I am rather pleased
with the prospect of removing upwards." He writes in his letter of
July 10th that three hundred vessels have already arrived in Quebec.
A Guernsey vessel had come, bringing, much {132} to his delight,
letters from his brother Savery, who, after Sir John Moore's death,
had returned home. The May fleet which had arrived from Portsmouth
in thirty days (a very quick passage) had brought nothing for
him--"not the scrape of a pen." His brother Irving was then in
London, writing political pamphlets, which seem to have pleased his
brother very much. He writes: "You have taken a very proper view of
the political discussions which at this moment disgrace England....
Those to whom I have allowed a perusal, and who are infinitely better
judges than I can be, speak of the purity of the language in terms of
high approbation. I am all anxiety for your literary fame."
Quebec seems to have been particularly gay at this time, in spite of
wrangles with the governor on the part of some of the inhabitants.
Two frigates were at anchor in the harbour, and the arrival of
Lieutenant-Governor Gore and his wife from the Upper Province had
given a zest to the gaiety. There were races and country and water
parties, a continual round of festivity. Brock remarks: "Such
stimulus is necessary to keep our spirits afloat. I wish I could
boast a little more patience." We read that General Brock
contributed to the festivities by giving a grand dinner in honour of
Mrs. Gore, at which Sir James Craig was present; and also a ball to a
"vast assemblage" of the _beau monde_ of the place.
In the midst of the gaiety he received his orders {133} to depart for
the Upper Province, to remain there if another brigadier should
arrive in Quebec. He was puzzled what to do with his possessions.
If he left them behind he would be miserably off, as he wrote:
"Nothing but eatables can be obtained there, and the expense will be
ruinous if I move everything and then am ordered back. But I must
submit to all without repining, and since I cannot get to Europe I
care little where I am placed. I leave the most delightful garden
imaginable, with abundance of melons and other good things."
He found time before he left to do an act of kindness to one of the
soldiers of the 49th, an act so natural in him to those who served
under him. He writes: "I have prevailed upon Sir James to appoint
Sergeant Robinson, master of the band, to a situation in the
commissariat at Sorel, worth three and sixpence a day, with subaltern
lodging, money and other allowances. He married a Jersey lass, whose
relations may enquire for him."
He tells his sister that he means to procure in the autumn handsome
skins to make muffs for his two young nieces, Maria and Zelia
Potenger. He wants "the two dear little girls" to write to him, and
bids them appreciate the advantages they are receiving as to
education, so different "from this colony, where the means for
education for both sexes are very limited."
[Sidenote: Brock at Fort George]
By September, 1810, Brigadier-General Brock is settled at Fort
George, and a chatty letter from {134} the Adjutant-General, Colonel
Baynes, tells him what is happening in Quebec--how Baron de
Rottenburg had arrived, and although a year older than Sir James
Craig (who was sixty), looked a much younger man; how his wife,
Madame de Rottenburg, had made a complete conquest of all hearts.
She was remarkably handsome both in face and figure, and her manners
were pleasing, graceful and affable. She was much younger than her
husband, and they both spoke English very well, with but a slight
foreign accent. Sir James Craig was reported as being very well, and
his sixtieth birthday had just been celebrated at a very pleasant
party at Powell Place. Colonel Baynes told Brock that there had just
been a court-martial on some deserters. Two, one of them a Canadian,
had been sentenced to be shot; the others, a dozen in number, were to
be sentenced to be transported to serve for life in Africa.
Brock writes to his brother in September, from Fort George, a very
homesick letter. He says: "At present, Vincent, Glegg, and Williams
enliven this lonesome place. They are here on a court-martial, but
will soon depart, and I will be left to my own reflections. I hope
to obtain leave after Christmas. The arrival of Baron de Rottenburg
has, I think, diminished my prospect of advancement in this country.
I should stand, evidently, in my own light if I did not court fortune
elsewhere."
He had taken a trip to Detroit which he thought {135} had most
delightful surroundings, far exceeding anything he had seen on the
continent. "As to the manners of the American people, I do not
admire them at all. I have met with some whose society was
everything one could desire, and at Boston and New York such
characters are, I believe, numerous, but these are the exceptions."
He had not had a letter from Europe since May. He continues, "I wish
you would write to me by way of New York. I avail myself of an
unexpected passenger to scribble this in presence of many of the
court, who tell me it is time to resume our labours, therefore, my
beloved brother, adieu."
[Sidenote: Life at Niagara]
A list still remains of the books which helped to enliven his
solitude at Niagara.[1] Among them one finds Johnson's Works, twelve
volumes; Reed's and Bell's Editions of Shakespeare; Plutarch's Lives;
Hume's Essays; Arthur on Courts' Martial; Rollins' Ancient History;
Marshall's Travels; Life of Condé; Wharton's Virgil; Francis's
Horace; Gregory's Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; Pope's Works;
Expedition to Holland; Siècle de Louis Quatorze; Guibert's OEuvres
Militaires; Réglement de l'Infanterie; Aventures de Telémaque;
Voltaire's La Henriade; Walcheren Expedition; Erudition Militaire;
King of Prussia's Tactics; European Magazine; Edinburgh Review;
Memoirs of Talleyrand; Wolfe's Orders; {136} Réflexions sur les
Prégugés Militaires; Hume's Works. He writes to his brother, "I read
much, but good books are scarce, and I hate borrowing, I like to read
a book quickly and afterwards revert to such passages as have made
the deepest impression and which appear to me important to remember,
a practice I cannot conveniently pursue unless the book is mine.
Should you find that I am likely to remain here I wish you to send me
some choice authors in history, particularly ancient history, with
maps, and the best translation of ancient works. I read in my youth
Pope's translation of Homer, but till lately never discovered its
exquisite beauties. I firmly believe the same propensity was always
inherent in me, but strange to tell, although many were paid
extravagantly, I never had the advantage of a master to guide and
encourage me. I rejoice that my nephews are more fortunate."
[Sidenote: Letter from Quebec]
Brock's application for leave was not favourably received by Sir
James Craig, who was strongly impressed with the necessity of having
some one like him in the Upper Province to correct the errors and
neglect that had crept in there. Baynes writes: "In confidence
between ourselves, I do not think he will be more ready to part with
you in consequence of the arrival of Colonel Murray, who is not at
all to his taste." It seems that Colonel (afterwards the
distinguished Major-General Murray), had offended the governor at a
dinner by warmly espousing and defending the opinions of Cobbett
respecting {137} German troops and foreign officers, although sitting
opposite to Baron de Rottenburg.
Baynes writes that Brock's successor, the baron, was a good kind of
man and devoted to his profession, "but," he continues, "it would be
vain to attempt to describe the genuine admiration and estimation of
his _cara dolce sposa_. Young, only twenty-three--fair, beautiful,
lively, discreet, witty, affable--in short, so engaging, or rather,
so fascinating that neither my courier nor my paper will admit of my
doing her justice. Nevertheless the charms of madame have not
effaced you from the recollection of your friends, who very sincerely
regret your absence."
He reports that two hundred volunteers for Colonel Zouch, from other
veteran battalions, had arrived and landed. The regiment was to be
completed in this manner to one thousand.
Baynes writes again about Brock's leave and says that he had talked
with the commander-in-chief, who expressed his desire to forward his
views, but said that he had been contending so long for the necessity
of a third general officer being kept constantly on the staff of the
Canadas, that he did not feel at liberty to overset the arrangement
which he had been two years soliciting. When he (Baynes), said that
Brock regretted inaction, and looked with envy on those employed in
Spain and Portugal, the governor replied, "I make no doubt of it; but
I can in no shape aid his plans {138} in that respect." "If he liked
you less," Baynes continued, "he might perhaps be more readily
induced to let you go."
Brock had taken a great interest in an old veteran, formerly in the
8th, or King's, the regiment in which he had begun his military life,
and in which his brother John had served. Colonel Baynes writes, "I
have not failed to communicate to Sir James your account of and your
charity towards the poor old fellow. He has in consequence directed
the allowance of the ration to be authorized and continued to him;
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 hitherto resisted all
applications of this sort."
At this time, early in 1811, Lieutenant-Governor Gore was
contemplating a visit to England, and there was some correspondence
between him and General Brock about the location of a grant of five
thousand acres of land that had been made some years before to
Colonel Vesey. Brock had promised the latter to arrange about it
before the lieutenant-governor left Canada, and wrote that there were
tracts of excellent land on Lake Erie belonging to the Crown, and
also that a new township was being surveyed near the head of Lake
Ontario, either of which situations would be eligible. The {139}
lieutenant-governor replied that it was not in his power to comply
with Colonel Vesey's wish in respect of location without a special
order from the king, as in the case of Colonel Talbot, and that it
was impossible in any township to obtain five thousand acres in a
block.
The lieutenant-governor remarked in his letter that he thought
President Madison's address very hostile to England, but that
congress would hesitate before consenting to go the length he
proposes. "Taking forcible possession of West Florida may provoke a
war sooner than any other act. It is impossible to foresee how this
may be viewed by the Cortez."
[Sidenote: West Florida]
As to Florida, a convention of American citizens settled near the
borders of West Florida, had attacked the Spanish fort at Bâton
Rouge, and announced that country to be a free and independent state.
The leader of the convention then wrote to the secretary of state,
urging that it should be annexed to the United States, but claiming
all public lands for themselves. In reply the president sent a sharp
message to the revolutionary convention saying that their
independence was an impertinence and their design on public lands
something worse. He also issued a proclamation announcing that
Governor Claiborne would take possession of West Florida. The
military occupation of the country was, in fact, an act of war
against Spain, but that kingdom which had once held sway {140} over
two American continents, from the sources of the Missouri and the
Mississippi, to the borders of Patagonia, was powerless to resist.[2]
Letters of this date speak of the awful suspense felt in England
while the armies of Wellington and Massena were in such close
proximity, and the latter was advancing on the lines of Torres Vedras
to drive the English army into the sea. They speak, too, of the sad
illness of the old king, who after the death of the Princess Amelia
had relapsed into hopeless insanity. Brock writes, "If we are to be
governed by a regent I trust that ambition, jealousy or party
interests, will not conspire to diminish or circumscribe his regal
powers."
He writes to his brother, Irving Brock, that he had seen "Thoughts on
Political Transactions," in answer to his admirable pamphlet, and
remarks that the author appears to proclaim his servile attachment to
Bonaparte without in any way refuting his (Irving's) arguments.
[Sidenote: Colonel Kempt]
Another notable man among General Brock's friends writes to him in
January. This was Colonel Kempt, afterwards General Sir James Kempt,
G.C.B., governor-general of British America.
Colonel Kempt was at this time quartermaster-general in Canada, and
had, under Sir James Craig, {141} superintended the building of roads
and bridges in the Lower Province. In November, 1811, he was made
local major-general in Spain and Portugal. He afterwards served on
the staff in America and in Flanders. He was made a K.C.B. in
January, 1815, was wounded at Waterloo, and was then promoted to be a
Grand Cross. The sovereigns of Austria, Russia and the Netherlands
also decorated him for his services. In 1820 he was governor of Nova
Scotia in place of the Earl of Dalhousie, whom he succeeded as
governor-general of Canada. He died in England after a long and
glorious career, at the age of ninety.
Colonel Kempt wrote to Brock on the subject of his leave. He assured
him that he had no reason to dread being unemployed in any rank while
he wished to serve. "This opinion, my dear general," he writes, "is
not given rashly or upon slight grounds--before I came to this
country I had, you must know, several opportunities of hearing your
name mentioned at head-quarters, both by General Calvert and Colonel
Gordon, who unquestionably spoke the sentiment of the then
commander-in-chief, and in such a way as to impress me with a
thorough conviction that few officers of your rank stood higher in
their estimation. In short, I have no manner of doubt whatever that
you will readily obtain employment upon active service the moment
that you do get home, and with this view I recommend you to express,
through Baynes, your sense {142} of His Excellency's good intentions
and wishes to you in respect to leave of absence, and your hopes that
when the circumstances of the country are such as will permit him to
grant six months' leave to a general officer, that this indulgence
will be extended in the first instance to you.
"I am very happy that you are pleased with Mrs. Murray. I have just
received a long letter from her, giving me an account of a splendid
ball given by you to the _beau monde_ of Niagara and its vicinity.
The manner in which she speaks of your liberality and hospitality
reminds me of the many pleasant hours I have passed under your roof.
We have no such parties now. Sir James being ill prevents the usual
public days at the Castle, and nothing more stupid than Quebec now is
can be imagined."
The Mrs. Murray mentioned in this letter was a cousin of Colonel
Kempt. Brock, in one of his letters from Fort George, says, "Colonel
Murray of the 100th went home last year and brought out a charming
little wife, full of good sense and spirit. They dined with me
yesterday." A letter from Colonel Baynes also mentions receiving a
letter from Murray, and he congratulates General Brock on having
found means to enliven the solitary scene that had so long prevailed
at Fort George.
Letters from home had cheered the general's heart. "What can I say,"
he writes, "from this remote corner in return for the pleasure I
experience {143} at the receipt of your letters." He speaks of his
life as sombre, and yet thinks that the enforced quiet has done his
health good. He begs his brother Irving to dispel all fears about
him.
[Sidenote: A visit to York]
He had just returned in February from York, where he had spent ten
days with the lieutenant-governor, whom he pronounces "as generous
and honest a being as ever existed." He found Mrs. Gore perfectly
well and very agreeable. Their society, he said, was ample
compensation for travelling over the worst roads he had ever met
with. He and the governor, who had formerly been quartered with the
44th in Guernsey, had talked over old days in the Channel Islands,
and had recalled with pleasure the simple hospitality that reigned
there, and the charming society of Guernsey and Jersey, "where,
although there was little communication with England, there were
always officers in the garrison to be entertained."
Brock writes of the reports from New York as to the many failures
there, and says, "Merchants there are in a state of great confusion
and dismay. A dreadful crash is not far off."
The news he had received from Quebec was that Sir James had triumphed
completely over the French faction in the Lower Province, and that
the House of Assembly had passed every bill required of it, among
others, one authorizing the governor-general and three councillors to
imprison any one without assigning a cause.
{144}
The House of Assembly at Quebec had met on December 10th, 1810, and
the inaugural address had been very conciliatory. The governor did
not allude to any vexed questions, but protested that he had never
doubted the loyalty and zeal of the previous assemblies he had
convoked. In reply, the assembly observed, "We shall earnestly
concur in all that is done tending to the maintenance of unbroken
tranquillity, a state all the more difficult to preserve in this
province as those who inhabit it cherish a diversity of ideas,
habitudes and prejudices, not easy to reconcile."
The governor justified the acts committed as to imprisonment of
members, and said that only those who had too much reason to dread
the law inclined to object to its potency, and the united clamour of
such might have deceived the assembly as to their real number.
In the meantime the vexatious Bédard still remained in prison. The
assembly drew up an address on his behalf, and the elder Papineau had
an interview on the subject with the governor at the Castle. The
latter in his reply to M. Papineau, said: "It is the common discourse
of the assembly that they intend to oblige me to release M. Bédard.
I think, therefore, that it is time the people should be made to
understand the rightful limits of the several powers in the state,
and that the House, while it represents, yet has no right to directly
govern the country."
{145}
[Sidenote: Bédard's release]
The session passed peacefully, and at its close, when all the members
had returned to their homes, Bédard was quietly and unconditionally
released by the executive. It was the last public act of Sir James
Craig's administration.
The act which had been the cause of so much trouble, namely that of
excluding the judges from the assembly, was one of the laws passed,
and strange to say, in proroguing the House, the governor said,
"Among the acts to which I have just declared His Majesty's assent,
there is one which I have seen with peculiar satisfaction. I mean
the act for disqualifying the judges from holding a seat in the House
of Assembly."
The opinions of the official and military class as to the proceedings
of the House, may be gathered from a letter of Colonel Baynes to
Brock, in March. "You will see by Sir James' speech the very
complete triumph his firmness and energy have obtained over the
factious cabal of this most contemptible assembly. Bédard will
shortly be released. That fellow alone of the whole gang has nerve,
and does not want ability or inclination to do mischief whenever
opportunity offers; the rest, old Papineau and the blustering B.
(Bourdages), are all white livered renegades to a man; but when Sir
James' back is turned they will rally and commence the same bullying
attack on his successor, who, I trust, will follow his example."
In the meantime, Mr. Ryland in England had {146} not found his task
an easy one, nor had he met with the reception he had hoped for. Mr.
Perceval, the prime minister, Lord Liverpool, the minister of war,
and Mr. Robert Peel, the under secretary for the colonies, received
him with perfect courtesy, and asked many questions, but Mr. Ryland
made no progress in his design of changing the constitution. One
point he particularly wished to press, namely, the necessity of
controlling the patronage of the Roman Catholic Church so that the
clergy would be on the government side. The assembly in its session
of 1810, had offered to undertake the expenses of the civil
government hitherto borne by England. Ryland's scheme was to take
possession of the Jesuit estates and also of those of the seminary at
Montreal. From these he proposed to grant a certain sum for
education, and to apply the rest to the civil government, and thus do
away with the necessity of supplies being voted by the assembly. In
fact, his intention was to break the power of the Roman Catholic
Church in Canada by taking away its endowments. Mr. Ryland also
proposed that the province should revert to government by the
legislative council without the assembly, as it was previous to the
Canada Act.
[Sidenote: Ryland's mission]
Lord Liverpool was afraid, if the act of 1791 was annulled, that Lord
Grenville, the father of the act, would rally his followers in favour
of the French Canadians. He suggested a redivision of constituencies
so as to obtain a greater number of English {147} representatives,
and also thought that members might be conciliated by other means.
Several matters were referred to the attorney-general, who said that
it was possible for parliament to unite the two provinces under a
single government, but that he thought no new division could be made
of electoral districts, nor in the number of representatives. As to
the question of _Le Canadien_, the ministers did not think the
passages quoted from it were strong enough to fix on its publishers a
charge of treason, and it might be difficult, they thought, to
justify what had been done in the matter of their arrest and
imprisonment. They were inclined to call the passages quoted
seditious libels. The extreme measures taken were, perhaps,
excusable, but not strictly justifiable. In fact, the
attorney-general said that such an arbitrary measure as the
suppression of _Le Canadien_ would not have been tolerated in England.
Mr. Ryland's mission was a failure, but in order to conceal his
discomfiture he decided to remain in England for the winter, nor did
he return to Canada until the spring of 1812. In the meantime this
poor governor's health broke down utterly. General Brock wrote in
March, 1811: "Sir James cannot long survive the frequent attacks of
his disorder. His death will be bewailed by all who possess the
feelings of Englishmen in this country."
[1] Dr. James Bain, of the Public Library, Toronto, discovered this
list amongst some old papers left in the residence of the late Hon.
G. W. Allan.
[2] As to the occupation of Florida, Monroe declared that no
satisfaction had been made by Spain for spoliation on the commerce of
the United States in 1798-9, nor for denying to the United States the
right of deposit at New Orleans. He also contended that West Florida
was a part of Louisiana, which had been acquired by purchase from
France.
{149}