FRANCE, THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
Shortly after his return to Quebec, Isaac Brock succeeded to the command
of the troops in both Upper and Lower Canada, with the pay and allowance
of a brigadier.
Though no overt act had been committed against Canada by the United
States, relations were strained, and he found much to occupy his time.
His humanity stirred, he set about erecting hospitals, reorganized the
commissariat department, and engaged in an unpleasant dispute with
President Dunn, the civil administrator of Lower Canada, regarding the
fortifications of the Citadel. To-day deep in plans for mobilizing the
militia and the formation of a Scotch volunteer corps of Glengarry
settlers; to-morrow devising the best way of utilizing an Indian force
in the event of war. In June, 1807, the affair between the British
gunboat _Leopard_ and the American frigate _Chesapeake_ occurred. The
former boarded the latter in search of deserters, and on being
challenged, gave the _Chesapeake_ a broadside. While the _Leopard_ was
clearly in the wrong, the United States Government rejected every offer
of reparation made by Britain. Then came retaliation. French
vessels--though France was at war with Britain--were actually allowed by
the United States, a neutral power, full freedom of its harbours. The
ships of Britain, a power at peace with the United States of America,
were refused the same privilege.
For a proper understanding of the position we must unroll a page of
history. Napoleon, though he crushed the Prussians at Jena, could not
efface the memory of his own humiliation at Trafalgar. His ears tingled.
He was waiting to deliver a blow that would equalize the destruction of
his fleet by Nelson. Though Britain remained mistress of the seas,
surely, thought the "little corporal," a way could be found to humble
her. If her sources of food supply, for instance, could be cut off, "the
wings of her war-ships would be clipped."
To this end Napoleon issued an arrogant proclamation, which was of
far-reaching effect. It authorized the destruction of all British goods
and all colonial produce shipped to any European port by a British
vessel. It allowed the seizure by France of all ships, of whatever
nation, which had even _called_ at a British port. To this the United
States raised no objection, though it was in violation of the world's
law in respect to nations which were at peace with each other. The
United States' President evidently believed that British resentment at
Napoleon's decree would sooner or later provide the United States with
an excuse for a disagreement with Britain. He was not mistaken. Britain
at once announced that she in her turn would prohibit the ships of other
nations visiting French ports until they had first called at a British
port. But two wrongs do not make a right. England also, being short of
seamen by desertion, insisted that she had the right to search for
British seamen on American vessels.
This was a questionable proceeding, and not always carried out in the
most amiable manner, as the _Chesapeake_ incident proves, and
occasionally led to seizing American seamen, native-born citizens of the
United States, in mistake for British-born deserters.
Meanwhile Brock found "the military and the people of Quebec divided by
opposing elements of dissatisfaction." His call for one thousand men for
two months to complete the defences of the Citadel was met by the
Provincial Government with what was practically a refusal. He persisted
in his purpose, and despite drawbacks which would have deterred a less
dominant nature, he erected a battery, mounting eight thirty-six pound
guns, raised upon a cavalier bastion, in the centre of the Citadel, so
as to command the opposite heights of Point Levis.
Alive to the probability of invasion, and to the defenceless state of
the Canadian frontier and the extreme apathy of the Quebec Government,
Colonel Brock warned the War Office. He stated that, as the means at his
disposal were quite inadequate to oppose an enemy in the field, with a
provincial frontier of 500 miles, he would perforce confine himself to
the defence of the city of Quebec. The Lower Canadians, willing to
undergo training, had formed themselves into corps of cavalry, artillery
and infantry, at no expense to the Government, but the Government gave
them no encouragement.
This was the state of affairs in Quebec when Lieutenant-General Sir
James Craig arrived to take office as Governor-General of the British
Provinces in North America as well as Commander of the Forces. Brock
soon became the _confidant_ of the new administrator, who was not slow
to observe the exceptional capacity of our hero. The day came all too
quickly for the Governor when occasion arose for the presence of a
strong man to take command in Montreal, and with great reluctance he had
to call upon Isaac Brock to assume the office.