At the termination of the memorable war of the revolution
--that war which, on the one hand, severed, and for
ever, the ties that bound the Colonies in interest and
affection with the parent land, and, on the other, seemed
as by way of indemnification, to have rivetted the Canadas
in closer love to their adopted Mother--hundreds of
families who had remained staunch in their allegiance,
quitted the republican soil, to which they had been
unwillingly transferred, and hastened to close on one
side of the vast chain of waters, that separated the
descendants of France from the descendants of England,
the evening of an existence, whose morning and noon had
been passed on the other. Among the number of these was
Major Grantham, who, at the close of the revolution, had
espoused a daughter, (the only remaining child,) of
Frederick and Madeline De Haldimar, whose many vicissitudes
of suffering, prior to their marriage, have been fully
detailed in Wacousta. When, at that period, the different
garrisons on the frontier were given up to the American
troops, the several British regiments crossed over into
Canada, and, after a short term of service in that country,
were successively relieved by fresh corps from England.
One of the earliest recalled of these, was the regiment
of Colonel Frederick De Haldimar. Local interests, however,
attaching his son-in-law to Upper Canada, the latter had,
on the reduction of his corps, (a provincial regiment,
well known throughout the war of the revolution, for its
strength, activity, and good service,) finally fixed
himself at Amherstburgh. In the neighbourhood of this
post he had acquired extensive possessions, and, almost
from the first formation of the settlement, exchanged
the duties of a military, for those of a scarcely less
active magisterial, life. Austere in manner, severe in
his administration of justice, Major Grantham might have
been considered a harsh man, had not these qualities been
tempered by his well known benevolence to the poor, and
his staunch, yet, unostentatious, support of the deserving
and the well intentioned. And, as his life was a continuous
illustration of the principles he inculcated, no one
could be unjust enough to ascribe to intolerance or
oppression, the rigour with which he exacted obedience,
to those laws which he so well obeyed himself. It was
remarked, moreover, that, while his general bearing to
those who sought to place themselves in the scale of
arrogant superiority, was proud and unconciliating, his
demeanour to his inferiors, was ever that of one sensible
that condescension may soothe and gratify the humble
spirit, without its exercise at all detracting from the
independence of him who offers it. But we cannot better
sum up his general excellence, and the high estimation
in which he was held in the town of his adoption, than
by stating that, at the period of his demise, there was
not to be seen one tearless eye among the congregated
poor, who with religious respect, flocked to tender the
last duties of humanity to the remains of their benefactor
and friend.
In the domestic relations of life, Major Grantham was no
less exemplary, although perhaps his rigid notions of
right, had obtained for him more of the respect than of
the love of those who came within their influence, and
yet no mean portion of both. Tenderly attached to his
wife, whom he had lost when Gerald was yet in his twelfth
year, he had not ceased to deplore her loss; and this
perhaps had contributed to nourish a reservedness of
disposition, which, without at all aiming at, or purposing,
such effect, insensibly tended to the production of a
corresponding reserve on the part of his children, that
increased with their years. Indeed, on their mother, all
the tenderness of their young hearts had been, lavished,
and, when they suddenly saw themselves deprived of her
who loved, and had been loved by them, with doting
fondness, they felt as if a void had been left in their
affections, which, the less tender evidences of paternal
love, were but insufficient wholly to supply. Still,
(although not to the same extent,) did they love their
father also; and what was wanted in intensity of feeling,
was more than made up by the deep, the exalted respect,
they entertained for his principles and conduct. It was
with pride they beheld him, not merely the deservedly
idolized of the low, but the respected of the high--the
example of one class, and the revered of another; one
whose high position in the social scale, had been attained,
less by his striking exterior advantages, than the inward
worth that governed every action of his life, and whose
moral character, as completely sans tache as his fulfilment
of the social duties was proverbially sans reproche,
could not fail, in a certain degree, to reflect the
respect it commanded upon themselves.
As we have before observed, however, all the fervor of
their affection had been centered in their mother, and
that was indeed a melancholy night in which the youths
had been summoned to watch the passing away of her gentle
spirit for ever from their love. Isabella De Haldimar
had, from her earliest infancy, been remarkable for her
quiet and contemplative character; and, bred amid scenes
that brought at every retrospect, recollections of some
acted horror, it is not surprising that the bias given
by nature, should have been developed and strengthened
by the events that had surrounded her. Not dissimilar in
disposition, as she was not unlike in form, to her mother,
she was by that mother carefully endowed with those
gentler attributes of goodness, which, taking root within
a soil so eminently disposed to their reception, could
not fail to render her in after life a model of excellence,
both as a mother and a wife. Notwithstanding, however,
this moulding of her pliant, and well directed mind,
there was about her a melancholy, which while it gave
promise of the devoted affection of the mother, offered
but little prospect of cheerfulness, in an union with
one, who, reserved himself, could not be expected to
temper that melancholy, by the introduction of a gaiety
that was not natural to him. And yet it was for this very
melancholy, tender and fascinating in her, that Major
Grantham had sought the hand of Isabella De Haldimar;
and it was for the very austerity and reserve of his
general manner, more than from the manly beauty of his
tall dark person, that he too, had become the object of
her secret choice, long before he had proposed for her.
Keenly alive to the happiness of her daughter, Mrs. De
Haldimar had feared that such union was ill assorted,
for, as she called to mind the manner and character of
her unfortunate uncle, it seemed to her there were points
of resemblance between him and the proposed husband of
her child, which augured ill for the future quiet of
Isabella; but, when she consulted her on the subject,
and found that every feeling of her heart, that was not
claimed by her fond and indulgent parents, was given to
Major Grantham, she no longer hesitated, and the marriage
took place. Contrary to the expectation, and much to
the delight of Mrs. De Haldimar, the first year of the
union proved one of complete and unalloyed happiness,
and she saw with pleasure, that if Major Grantham did
not descend to those little empressemens which mark the
doting lover, he was never deficient in those manlier,
and more respectful attentions, that by a woman of the
mild and reflecting disposition of Isabella, were so
likely to be appreciated. More than the first year,
however, it was not permitted Mrs. De Haldimar to witness
her daughter's happiness. Her husband's regiment having
been ordered home; but, in the past, she had a sufficient
guarantee for the future, and, when she parted from
Isabella, it was under the full conviction, that she had
confided her to a man in every way sensible of her worth,
and desirous of making her happy.
So far the event justified her expectation. The austerity
which Major Grantham carried with him into public life,
was, if not wholly laid aside, at least considerably
softened, in the presence of his wife, and when, later,
the births of two sons crowned their union, there was
nothing left her to desire, which it was in the power of
circumstances to bestow. But Mrs. De Haldimar had not
taken into account the effect likely to be produced by
a separation from herself--the final severing, as it
were, of every tie of blood. Of the four children who
had composed the family of Colonel Frederick De Haldimar,
the two oldest, (officers in his own corps,) had perished
in the war; the fourth, a daughter, had died young, of
a decline; and the loss of the former especially, who
had grown up with her from childhood to youth, was deeply
felt by the sensitive Isabella. With the dreadful scenes
perpetrated at Detroit--scenes in which their family
had been the principal sufferers--the boys had been
familiarized by the old soldiers of their father's
regiment, who often took them to the several points most
worthy of remark, from the incidents connected with them;
and, pointing out the spots on which their uncle Charles
and their aunt Clara had fallen victims to the terrible
hatred of Wacousta, for their grandfather, detailed the
horrors of those days with a rude fidelity of coloring,
that brought dismay and indignation to the hearts of
their wondering and youthful auditors. On these occasions,
Isabella became the depository of all that they had
gleaned. To her they confided, under the same pledge of
secrecy which had been exacted from themselves, every
circumstance of horror connected with those days; nor
were they satisfied until they had shewn her those scenes
with which so many dreadful recollections were associated.
On one naturally of a melancholy temperament, these oft
recurring visits could not fail to produce a deep effect;
and insensibly that gloom of disposition, which might
have yielded to the influence of years and circumstances,
was more and more confirmed by the darkness of the imagery
on which it reposed. Had she been permitted to disclose
to her kind mother all that she had heard and known on
the subject, the reciprocation of their sympathies might
have relieved her heart, and partially dissipated the
phantasms that her knowledge of those events had conjured
up; but this her brothers had positively prohibited,
alleging, as powerful reasons, not merely that the men
who had confided in their promise, would be severely
taken to task by their father, but also that it could
only tend to grieve their mother unnecessarily, and to
re-open wounds that were nearly closed.
Thus was the melancholy of Isabella fed by the very
silence in which she was compelled to indulge. Often was
her pillow wetted with tears, as she passed in review
the several fearful incidents connected with the tale in
which her brothers had so deeply interested her, and she
would have given worlds at those moments, had they been
hers to bestow, to recal to life and animation, the
beloved but unfortunate uncle and aunt, to whose fate,
her brothers assured her, even their veteran friends
never alluded without sorrow. Often, too, did she dwell
on the share her own fond mother had borne in those
transactions, and the anguish which must have pierced
her heart, when first apprized of the loss of her, whom,
she had even THEN loved with all a mother's love. Nay,
more than once, while gazing on the face of the former,
her inmost soul given up to the recollection of all she
had endured, first at Michilimackinac, and afterwards
at Detroit, had she unconsciously suffered the tears to
course down her cheeks without an effort to restrain
them. Ignorant of the cause, Mrs. De Haldimar only ascribed
this emotion to the natural melancholy of her daughter's
character, and then she would gently chide her, and seek,
by a variety of means, to divert her thoughts into some
lively channel; but she had little success in the attempt
to eradicate reflections already rooted in so congenial
a soil.
Her sister died very young, and she scarcely felt her
loss; but, when, subsequently, the vicissitudes of a
military life had deprived her for ever of her beloved
brothers, her melancholy increased. It was, however, the
silent, tearless melancholy, that knows not the paroxysm
of outrageous grief. The quiet resignation of her character
formed an obstacle to the inroads of all vivacious sorrow;
yet was her health not the less effectually undermined
by the slow action of her innate feeling, unfortunately
too much fostered by outward influences. By her marriage
and the birth of her sons, whom she loved with all a
mother's fondness, her mental malady had been materially
diminished, and indeed, in a great degree superseded,
but, unhappily previous to these events, it had seriously
affected her constitution, and produced a morbid
susceptibility of mind and person, that exposed her to
be overwhelmed by the occurrence of any of those afflictions
which, otherwise, she might, with ordinary fortitude,
have endured. When, therefore, intelligence from England
announced that her parents had both perished in a hurricane
on their route to the West Indies, whither the regiment
of Colonel De Haldimar had been ordered, the shock was
too great for her, mentally and personally enfeebled as
she had been, to sustain, and she sank gradually under
this final infliction of Providence.
Major Grantham beheld with dismay the effect of this blow
upon his beloved wife. Fell consumption had now marked
her for his own, and so rapid was the progress of the
disease acting on a temperament already too much
pre-disposed to its influence, that, in despite of all
human preventives, the sensitive Isabella, before six
months had elapsed, was summoned to a better world.
And never did human being meet the summons with more
perfect resignation to the Divine will. The death-bed
scene between that tender mother and her sorrowing family,
was one which might have edified even the most pious.
Gerald, as we have already said, was in his twelfth year
at the period of this afflicting event--his brother Henry,
one year younger; both were summoned from school on the
morning of her death--both knew that their fond mother
was ill--but so far were they from imagining the scene
about to be offered to their young observation, that when
they reached home it was with the joyous feeling of boys,
exulting in a momentary liberation from scholastic
restraint, and eagerly turning into holiday, that which
they little deemed would so soon become a day of mourning.
How rapidly was the deceitful illusion dispelled, when,
on entering the sick chamber of their adored parent, they
beheld what every surrounding circumstance told them was
not the mere bed of sickness, but the bed of death.
Propped on pillows that supported her feeble head--her
beautiful black hair streaming across her pallid, placid
brow, and her countenance wearing a holy and religious
calm, Mrs. Grantham presented an image of resignation,
so perfect, so superhuman, that the disposition to a
violent ebullition of grief, which at first manifested
itself in the youths, gave place to a certain mysterious
awe, that chained them almost spell-bound at the foot of
her bed. A strict observer of the ordinances of her
religion, she had had every preparation made for her
reception of the sacrament, the administering of which
was only deferred until the arrival of her children.
This duty being now performed, with the imposing solemnity
befitting the occasion, the venerable clergyman, who had
known and loved her from her infancy, imprinted a last
kiss upon her brow, and left the apartment deeply affected.
Then, indeed, for the first time, was a loose given to
the grief that pervaded every bosom, even to the lowest
of the domestics, who had been summoned to receive her
parting blessing. Close to the bed-side, each pressing
one of her emaciated hands to his lips, knelt her
heart-broken sons, weeping bitterly, while, from the
chest of a tall negro, apparently an old and attached
servant, burst forth at intervals convulsive sobs. Even
the austere Major Grantham, seated at some little distance
from the bed, contemplating the serene features of his
dying wife, could not restrain the tears that forced
themselves forth, and trickled through his fingers, as
he half sought to conceal his emotion from his servants.
In the midst of the profound sorrow which environed her,
Mrs. Grantham alone was unappalled by her approaching
end: she spoke calmly and collectedly, gently chiding
some and encouraging others; giving advice, and conveying
orders, as if she was merely about to undertake a short
customary journey instead of that long, and untravelled
one, whence there is neither communication nor return.
To her unhappy sons she gave it in tender injunction to
recompense their father by their love for the loss he
was about to sustain in herself; and to her servants she
enjoined to be at once dutiful to their master and
affectionate to her children. Having made her peace with
God, and disposed, of herself, her consideration, was
now exclusively for others--and, during the hour which
intervened between the departure of the clergyman and
her death, the whole tenor of her thoughts was directed
to the alleviation of the sorrow which she felt would
succeed the flight of her spirit from earth. As she grew
fainter, she motioned to her husband to come near her--He
did so, and, with a smile of rapt serenity that bespoke
the conviction strong at her heart, she said in a low
tone, as she clasped his warm hand within her own, already
stiffening with the chill of death: "Grieve not, I entreat
you, for recollect that, although we part, it is not for
ever. Oh, no! my father, my mother, my brothers, and you
my husband, and beloved children, we shall all meet
again." Exhausted with the energy she had thrown into
these last words, she sank back upon the pillow, from
which she had partially raised her head. After a short
pause, she glanced her eye on a portrait that hung on
the opposite wall. It represented an officer habited in
the full uniform of her father's regiment. She next
looked at the negro, who, amid his unchecked sorrow, had
been an attentive observer of her every action, and
pointed expressively first to her kneeling children, and
then to the portrait. The black seemed to understand her
meaning; for he made a sign of acquiescence. She then
extended her hand to him, which he kissed, and bedewed
with his tears, and retreated sobbing to his position
near the foot of the bed. Two minutes afterwards, Mrs.
Grantham had breathed her last, but so insensibly that,
although every eye was fixed upon her, no one could tell
the precise moment at which she had ceased to exist.
We will pass over the deep grief which preyed upon the
hearts of the unfortunate brothers, for weeks after they
had been compelled to acknowledge the stern truth that
they were indeed motherless. Those who have, at that
tender age, known what it is to lose an affectionate
mother, and under circumstances at all similar to those
just described, will be at no loss to comprehend the
utter desolation of their bruised spirits: to those who
have not sustained this most grievous of human afflictions,
it would be a waste of time to detail what cannot possibly
be understood, save through the soul-withering ordeal of
alike experience.
If, in early youth, however, the impressions of sorrow
are more lively, so is the return to hope more rapid.
Time, and the elasticity of spirit common to their years,
gradually dissipated the cloud of melancholy that had
rested on the hearts of the Canadian Brothers; and,
although they never ceased to lament their mother with
that tenderness and respect which her many virtues, and
love for them especially, demanded, still did their
thoughts gradually take the bias to which a variety of
outward and important circumstances afterwards directed
them. It was soon after this event, that the first seeds
of disunion began to spring up between England and the
United States, the inevitable results of which, it was
anticipated, would be the involving of Canada in the
struggle; and, notwithstanding the explosion did not take
place for several years afterwards, preparations were
made on either shore, to an extent that kept the spirit
of enterprise constantly on the alert.
Inheriting the martial spirit of their family, the
inclinations of the young Granthams led them to the
service; and, as their father could have no reasonable
objection to oppose to a choice which promised hot merely
to secure his sons in an eligible profession, but to
render them in some degree of benefit to their country,
he consented to their views. Gerald's preference leading
him to the navy, he was placed on that establishment as
a midshipman; while Henry, several years later, obtained,
through the influence of their father's old friend General
Brock, an Ensigncy in the ---- Regiment then quartered
at Amherstburg.
Meanwhile, Major Grantham, whose reserve appeared to have
increased since the death of his wife, seemed to seek,
in the active discharge of his magisterial duties, a
relief from the recollection of the loss he had sustained;
and it was about this period that, in consequence of many
of the American settlers in Canada, having, in anticipation
of a rupture between the two countries, secretly withdrawn
themselves to the opposite shore, his exaction of the
duties of British subjects from those who remained, became
more vigorous than ever.
We have already shewn Desborough to have been the most
unruly and disorderly of the worthless set; and as no
opportunity was omitted of compelling him to renew his
oath of allegiance, (while his general conduct was strictly
watched,) the hatred of the man for the stern magistrate
was daily matured, until at length it grew into an
inextinguishable desire for revenge.
The chief, and almost only recreation, in which Major
Grantham indulged, was that of fowling. An excellent shot
himself, he had been in some degree the instructor of
his sons; and, although, owing to the wooded nature of
the country, the facilities afforded to the enjoyment of
his favorite pursuit in the orthodox manner of a true
English sportsman, were few, still, as game was every
where abundant, he had continued to turn to account the
advantages that were actually offered. Both Gerald and
Henry had been his earlier companions in the sport, but,
of late years and especially since the death of their
mother, he had been in the habit of going out alone.
It was one morning in that season of the year when the
migratory pigeons pursue their course towards what are
termed the "burnt woods," on which they feed, and in such
numbers as to cover the surface of the heavens, as with
a dense and darkening cloud, that Major Grantham sallied
forth at early dawn, with his favorite dog and gun, and,
as was his custom, towards Hartley's point. Disdaining,
as unworthy of his skill, the myriads of pigeons that
every where presented themselves, he passed from the
skirt of the forest towards an extensive swamp, in the
rear of Hartley's, which, abounding in golden plover and
snipe, usually afforded him a plentiful supply. On this
occasion he was singularly successful, and, having bagged
as many birds as he could conveniently carry, was in the
act of ramming down his last charge, when the report of
a shot came unexpectedly from the forest. In the next
instant he was sensible he was wounded, and, placing his
hand to his back, felt it wet with blood. As there was
at the moment several large wild ducks within a few yards
of the spot where he stood, and between himself and the
person who had fired, he at once concluded that he had
been the victim of an accident, and, feeling the necessity
of assistance, he called loudly on the unseen sportsman,
to come forward to his aid; but, although his demand was
several times repeated, no answer was returned, and no
one appeared. With some difficulty he contrived, after
disembarrassing himself of his game-bag, to reach the
farm at Hartley's, where every assistance was afforded
him, and, a waggon having been procured, he was conducted
to his home, when, on examination, the wound was pronounced
to be mortal.
On the third day from this event, Major Grantham breathed
his last, bequeathing the guardianship of his sons to
Colonel D'Egville, who had married his sister. At this
epoch, Gerald was absent with his vessel on a cruise,
but Henry received his parting blessing upon both,
accompanied by a solemn injunction, that they should
never be guilty of any act which could sully the memory,
either of their mother or himself. This Henry promised,
in the same of both, most religiously to observe; and,
when Gerald returned, and to his utter dismay beheld the
lifeless form of the parent, whom he had quitted only a
few days before in all the vigour of health, he not only
renewed the pledge given by his brother, but with the
vivacity of character habitual to him, called down the
vengeance of Heaven upon his head, should he ever be
found to swerve from those principles of virtue and honor,
which had been so sedulously inculcated on him.
Meanwhile, there was nothing to throw even the faintest
light on the actual cause of Major Grantham's death. On
the first probing and dressing of the wound, the murderous
lead had been extracted, and, as it was discovered to be
a rifle ball it was taken for granted that some Indian,
engaged in the chase, had, in the eagerness of pursuit,
missed an intermediate object at which he had taken aim,
and lodged the ball accidentally in the body of the
unfortunate gentleman; and that, terrified at the discovery
of the mischief he had done, and perhaps apprehending
punishment, he had hastily fled from the spot, to avoid
detection. This opinion, unanimously entertained by the
townspeople, was shared by the brothers, who knowing the
unbounded love and respect of all for their parent, dreamt
not for one moment that his death could have been the
result of premeditation. It was left for Desborough to
avow, at a later period, that he had been the murderer;
and with what startling effect on him, to whom the
admission was exultingly made, we have already seen.
When Desborough was subsequently tried, there was no
other evidence by which to establish his guilt, than the
admission alluded to, and this he declared, in his defence,
he had only made with a view to annoy Mr. Grantham, to
whom he owed a grudge for persecuting him so closely on
the occasion of his flight with his son; and, although,
on reference to the period, it was found that Major
Grantham had received the wound which occasioned his
death two days after Desborough had been ordered, on pain
of instant expulsion from the country, to renew his oaths,
and perform service with the militia of the district,
still, as this fact admitted only of a presumptive
interpretation the charge could not be sufficiently
brought home to him, and he was, however reluctantly,
acquitted. The rifles which, it will be remembered, were
seized by Henry Grantham on the occasion of his detection
of the settler in an act of treason, were still in his
possession, and, as they were of a remarkably small
calibre, the conviction would have taken place, had the
ball which killed Major Grantham been forthcoming, and
found to fit either of the bores. Unfortunately, however,
it so happened that it had not been preserved, so that
an essential link in the chain of circumstances had been
irrecoverably lost. When the question was mooted by the
court, before whom he was tried, the countenance of the
settler was discovered to fall, and there was a restlessness
about him, totally at variance with the almost insolent
calm he had preserved throughout; but when it appeared
that, from the impression previously entertained of the
manner of the death, it had not been thought necessary
to preserve the ball, he again resumed his confidence,
and listened to the remainder of the proceedings unmoved.
We have seen him subsequently escaping from the confinement
to which he had been subjected, with a view to trial for
another offence, and, later still, unshackled and exultingly
brandishing his knife over the head of one of the objects
of his bitterest hatred, on the deck of the very vessel
in which he had so recently been a prisoner.