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The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock by Ferdinand Brock Tupper

F >> Ferdinand Brock Tupper >> The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock




His majesty hoped the Indians had seen every thing remarkable in
Windsor, and told us we were welcome to see the interior of the lodge
and pleasure grounds, that Sir Andrew Barnard would accompany us
everywhere, to his stables, menagerie, aviaries, &c., and afterwards he
trusted we would partake of some refreshment. He also offered us the use
of his carriages. The refreshment was a truly royal repast,--we eat on
silver,--the table groaned, as Mr. Heathfield would say, under the
king's hospitality. We made a famous dinner,--pine apple, champagne,
claret, &c.--servants in royal liveries behind our chairs. After dinner
the Indians gave us the war song, when, (in your uncle Savery's poetry
about Maria Easy,)

"Tho' the dogs ran out in a great fright,
The ladies rushed in with much delight."

[NOTE.--These four Indians came to England for the purpose of
endeavouring to recover lands which had been given to their tribe by
Louis the Sixteenth, but it appears that they did not succeed. They were
very pious Roman Catholics, and those who saw them were much amused with
their simple and primitive manners.--ED.]

* * * * *

_Extract of a Letter from Walter Bromley, Esq., dated London, 15th
April, 1825.--From a Halifax N.S. newspaper_.

[The Indian chief, who accompanied me to England, sailed in
the Ward, for New Brunswick, a few days ago, loaded with
presents to his family and people. I think his appearance here
has been more beneficial than if volumes had been printed on
Indian civilization, and I am in hope that on both sides of
the Atlantic a general sympathy has been excited. The four
Canadian chiefs have attracted much attention, and have been
presented to his majesty by the brother of the late General
Brock; they are the most interesting characters I ever
saw--are extremely polite--and speak French fluently.]


_Mrs. (Lieut.-Colonel) Eliot[140] to her sister, in Guernsey_.

QUEBEC, January 12, 1831.

With my kindest love to the Tuppers, tell them that I often
see Colonel Glegg, who was Sir Isaac Brock's aide-de-camp: he
is now Lord Aylmer's civil secretary, and we meet very often.
He speaks affectionately of his old patron, and has made many
inquiries relative to the family: the tears come into his eyes
when he talks to me of old times. He and George
(Lieut.-Colonel Eliot) were a great deal together during the
war in the Upper Province. The other day, at dinner at the
chateau, he told me that he had had a visit from Sir Isaac's
old housekeeper, who is still living here in a similar
situation to the House of Assembly, and gets L50 a year
salary. He knew her directly, and seemed quite affected when
telling me that she had brought her credentials with her in
case he had not recognized her, as many years had elapsed
since they met; and she opened a pocket book carefully, which
she had in her hand, and took a piece of a shirt with the
initials of General Brock's name, which she said she had cut
off when the body was brought in to be buried at Fort George,
and preserved it as a relic of her dear master. This little,
trifling, affectionate remembrance of the old creature, shews
her real attachment. Colonel Glegg gave her a new snuff box,
filled with snuff from Paris, and told her to come again to
see him. Perhaps the Tuppers will be pleased to hear this
little anecdote.

[Mrs. Eliot, whose maiden name was Jane M'Crea, is the daughter of an
American loyalist and a gallant field officer, now deceased, and the
niece and namesake of the unfortunate Jane M'Crea, whose tragical fate
in the American revolutionary war excited so much commiseration, and
gave rise to a correspondence between the American general. Gates, and
General Burgoyne. The former wrote: "Miss M'Crea, a young lady, lovely
to the sight, of virtuous character and amiable disposition, engaged to
an officer of your army, was, with other women and children, taken out
of a house near Fort Edward, carried into the woods, and there scalped
and mangled in a most shocking manner.... The miserable fate of Miss
M'Crea was particularly aggravated by being dressed to receive her
promised husband, but met her murderer employed by you." The latter, in
his reply, stated, that "two chiefs, who had brought her off for the
purpose of security, not of violence to her person, disputed which
should be her guard, and in a fit of savage passion in one, from whose
hands she was snatched, the unhappy woman became the victim."]

We have in a preceding chapter described the monument, on Queenstown
Heights, to the memory of Sir Isaac Brock, a monument which "the
popularity of the general had caused to be regarded with more
affectionate veneration than any other structure in the province." On
Good Friday, the 17th of April, 1840,[141] a miscreant of the name of
Lett introduced a quantity of gunpowder into this monument with the
fiendish purpose of destroying it; and the explosion, effected by a
train, caused so much damage as to render the column altogether
irreparable. Lett, who was by birth an Irishman and by settlement a
Canadian, had been compelled to fly into the United States for his share
in the recent rebellion; and "well knowing the feeling of attachment to
the name and memory of General Brock, as pervading all classes of
Canadians, he sought to gratify his own malicious and vindictive spirit,
and at the same time to wound and insult the people of Upper Canada" by
this demon's deed. The universal indignation of that people was aroused,
and a public meeting was appointed to be held on Queenstown Heights, on
the 30th of July following, for the purpose of adopting resolutions for
the erection of another monument, the gallant Sir Allan Mac Nab
especially making the most stirring exertions to promote this great
object. The gathering, as it was called, was observed in Toronto (late
York) as a solemn holiday; the public offices were closed, and all
business was suspended; while thousands flocked from every part of the
province to testify their affection for the memory of one who, nearly
thirty years before, had fallen in its defence! History, indeed, affords
few parallels of such long cherished public attachment. "Steam vessels,
engaged for the occasion, left their respective ports of Kingston and
Coburg, of Hamilton and Toronto, in time to arrive at the entrance of
the Niagara river about ten o'clock in the forenoon. The whole of these,
ten in number, then formed in line, and ascended the river abreast, with
the government steamer, containing the lieutenant-governor, Sir George
Arthur, and his staff, leading the way. The British shore was lined with
thousands, and the fleet of steamers filled with hundreds, each shouting
and responding to the cheers of welcome from ship to shore, and from
shore to ship again. The landing being effected, the march to the ground
was accompanied by military guards, and a fine military band. The public
meeting was then held in the open air, near the foot of the monument,
and Sir George Arthur was in the chair. The resolutions were moved, and
speeches made, by some of the most eminent and most eloquent men,
holding high official stations in the province;[142] and considering
that amidst this grand and imposing assemblage, there were a great
number of veteran officers of the Canada militia, who had fought and
bled with the lamented chief, whose memory they were assembled to honor,
and whose monument they had come to re-establish over his remains, the
enthusiasm with which the whole mass was animated may readily be
conceived; while the grand and picturesque combination of natural
objects of scenery, beheld from the heights on which they were met, and
the brightness of the day, added greatly to the effect of the whole."
The gathering[143] was attended by about 8,000 persons, and the
animation of the scene was increased by a detachment of royal artillery,
who fired a salute; by a detachment of the 1st dragoon guards, with
their bright helmets glittering in the sun; and by the 93d regiment,
(Highlanders,) in full costume.

There were altogether eleven resolutions, of which the fifth was the
following:

Resolved,--That we recall to mind, with admiration and
gratitude, the perilous times in which Sir Isaac Brock led
the small regular force, the loyal and gallant militia, and
the brave and faithful Indian warriors, to oppose the
invaders--when his fortitude inspired courage, and his
sagacious policy gave confidence, in despite of a hostile
force, apparently overwhelming.

We cannot refrain from transferring to these pages parts of the long and
eloquent speech of the chief justice, Robinson, who, on advancing to the
front of the hustings to move the sixth resolution, was received with
the most enthusiastic cheers.

If it were intended by those who committed this shameful
outrage, that the injury should be irreparable, the scene
which is now before us, on these interesting heights, shews
that they little understood the feelings of veneration for the
memory of BROCK which still dwell in the hearts of the people
of Upper Canada. No man ever established a better claim to the
affections of a country; and, in recalling the recollections
of eight and twenty years, there is no difficulty in
accounting for the feeling which has brought us together on
this occasion. Among the many who are assembled here from all
parts of this province, I know there are some who saw, as I
did, with grief, the body of the lamented general borne from
the field on which he fell--and many who witnessed, with me,
the melancholy scene of his interment in one of the bastions
of Fort George.[144] They can never, I am sure, forget the
countenances of the soldiers of that gallant regiment which he
had long commanded, when they saw deposited in the earth the
lamented officer who had for so many years been their pride;
they can never forget the feelings displayed by the loyal
militia of this province, when they were consigning to the
grave the noble hero who had so lately achieved a glorious
triumph in the defence of their country: they looked forward
to a dark and perilous future, and they felt that the earth
was closing upon him in whom, more than in all other human
means of defence, their confidence had been reposed. Nor can
they forget the countenances, oppressed with grief, of those
brave and faithful Indian warriors, who admired and loved the
gallant Brock, who had bravely shared with him the dangers of
that period, and who had most honorably distinguished
themselves in the field, where he closed his short but
brilliant career.

* * * * *

It has, I know, Sir, in the many years that have elapsed, been
sometimes objected, that General Brock's courage was greater
than his prudence--that his attack of Fort Detroit, though it
succeeded, was most likely to have, failed, and was therefore
injudicious--and that a similar rashness and want of cool
calculation were displayed in the manner of his death.

Those who lived in Upper Canada while these events were
passing, can form a truer judgment; they know that what may to
some seem rashness, was, in fact, prudence; unless, indeed,
the defence of Canada was to be abandoned, in the almost
desperate circumstances in which General Brock was placed. He
had with him but a handful of men, who had never been used to
military discipline--few, indeed, that had ever seen actual
service in the field; and he knew it must be some months
before any considerable reinforcement could be sent to him. He
felt, therefore, that if he could not impress upon the enemy
this truth, that--wherever a major-general of the British
army, with but a few gallant soldiers of the line, and of the
brave defenders of the soil, could be assembled against
them--they must retire from the land which they had invaded,
his cause was hopeless. If he had begun to compare numbers,
and had reserved his small force in order to make a safer
effort on a future day, then would thousands upon thousands of
the people of the neighbouring States have been found pouring
into the western portions of this province; and when at last
our mother country could send, as it was certain she would,
her armies to our assistance, they would have had to expend
their courage and their strength in taking one strong position
after another, that had been erected by the enemy within our
own territory.

And at the moment when the noble soldier fell, it is true, he
fell in discharging a duty which might have been committed to
a subordinate hand; true, he might have reserved himself for a
more deliberate and stronger effort; but he felt that
hesitation might be ruin--that all depended upon his example
of dauntless courage--of fearless self-devotion. Had it
pleased Divine Providence to spare his invaluable life, who
will say that his effort would have failed? It is true his
gallant course was arrested by a fatal wound--such is the
fortune of war; but the people of Canada did not feel that his
precious life was therefore thrown away, deeply as they
deplored his fall. In later periods of the contest, it
sometimes happened that the example of General Brock was not
very closely followed. It was that cautious calculation, which
some suppose he wanted, which decided the day against us at
Sackett's Harbour--it was the same cautious calculation which
decided the day at Plattsburg; but no monuments have been
erected to record the triumphs of those fields--it is not thus
that trophies are won.

The Hon. Mr. Justice Macaulay, in moving the third resolution, thus
elegantly expressed himself:

It was not my good fortune to serve in the field under the
illustrious Brock, but I was under his command for a short
period, when commandant of the garrison of Quebec, thirty
years ago, and well remember his congratulating me upon
receiving a commission in the army, accompanied with good
wishes for my welfare, which I shall never forget. I feel
myself a humble subaltern still when called upon to address
such an auditory, and upon such a topic as the memory of
Brock. Looking at the animated mass covering these heights in
1840, to do further honour to the unfortunate victim of a war
now old in history, one is prompted to ask, how it happens
that the gallant general, who has so long slept the sleep of
death, left the lasting impression on the hearts of his
countrymen which this scene exhibits; how comes it that the
fame of Brock thus floats down the stream of time, broad,
deep, and fresh as the waters of the famed river with whose
waters, it might be almost said, his life's blood mingled? In
reply, we might dwell upon his civil and military virtues, his
patriotic self-devotion, his chivalrous gallantry, and his
triumphant achievements. (Here one of the auditors added, "and
that he was an honest man"--an attribute most warmly responded
to on every side, for an honest man is the noblest work of
God.) Still it might be asked, What peculiar personal
qualities predominated and gave him the talismanic influence
and ascendancy over his fellow men, which he acquired and
wielded for his country's good? I answer, Are there any seamen
among you? (Yes, yes, answered from the crowd)--then I say it
was the Nelsonian spirit that animated his breast; it was the
mind intuitively to conceive, and the soul promptly to dare,
incredible things to feeble hearts--with a skill and bearing
which infused this chivalrous and enterprising spirit into all
his followers, and impelled them energetically to realize
whatever he boldly led the way to accomplish. It displayed
itself too, not only in the ranks of the disciplined soldiers,
but in those also of the untrained militia of Upper Canada, as
was amply proved on this memorable ground. Such were the
shining and conspicuous qualities of the man that have
rendered very dear his memory and his fame. Gentlemen, the
resolution which I hold in my hand is expressive of the
indignation felt throughout the province at the lawless act,
the effects of which are visible before us.

After the resolutions had been carried by acclamation, and the public
proceedings had terminated, 600 persons sat down to dinner in a
temporary pavilion erected on the spot where the hero fell, "Chief
Justice Robinson presiding; and at this, as at the morning meeting,
great eloquence was displayed in the speeches, great loyalty evinced in
the feelings, and great enthusiasm prevailed." After the queen's health
had been drunk, the chief justice rose and said:


I have now to propose the memory of the late gallant Sir Isaac
Brock, of Colonel M'Donell, and those who fell with them on
Queenstown Heights. That portion of you, gentlemen, who were
inhabitants of Upper Canada while General Brock served in its
defence, are at no loss to account for the enthusiastic
affection with which his memory is cherished among us. It was
not merely on account of his intrepid courage and heroic
firmness, neither was it solely because of his brilliant
success while he lived, nor because he so nobly laid down his
life in our defence; it was, I think, that he united in his
person, in a very remarkable degree, some qualities which are
peculiarly calculated to attract the confidence and affection
of mankind,--there was, in all he said and did, that honesty
of character which was so justly ascribed to him by a
gentleman who proposed one of the resolutions,--there was an
inflexible integrity, uncommon energy and decision, which
always inspire confidence and respect,--a remarkable union in
his whole demeanour of benevolence and firmness,--a peculiarly
commanding and soldierlike appearance,--a generous, frank, and
manly bearing,--and, above all, an entire devotion to his
country. In short, I believe I shall best convey my own
impression, when I say it would have required much more
courage to refuse to follow General Brock, than to go with him
wherever he would lead.

"The meeting presented a proud display of high and noble feelings,
honorable to the memory of the dead, and equally so to the character of
the living. It was conducted with great dignity and judgment, and no
accident occurred to interrupt the pleasures of the day; the steam
vessels re-embarking their passengers soon after sun-set, and conveying
back the individuals composing this congregated multitude to their
respective homes in safety."[145]

It having been resolved by the meeting that the most suitable monument,
to replace the shattered column, would be an obelisk on the site of the
mutilated structure, the committee offered a premium for a design,
which, in February, 1843, was awarded to Mr. T. Young, architect to the
university of king's college, Toronto. The style of the intended obelisk
is the simplest and purest Egyptian, the artist having strictly avoided
all minuteness of detail in order that the massive proportions of the
design might harmonize with the bold and beautiful scenery by which it
will be surrounded. The total height of the base, pedestal, and obelisk,
will be 120 feet. The obelisk will measure at the lower base 16 feet 6
inches square, diminishing to 10 feet at the base of the upper, the
proportions of that known as Cleopatra's needle having been strictly
adhered to. The estimated cost of this obelisk is about L5,000 currency,
the materials of the old monument being used as far as possible; and as
above L4,000[146] have already been contributed, it is expected that the
new structure will be commenced in the spring of 1845.[147]

A concluding notice of Sir Isaac Brock's favorite regiment will scarcely
be deemed superfluous, although, as the records of the 49th were
destroyed at the evacuation of Fort George, in May, 1813, we cannot give
many further details of its services previous to that period. In 1759,
it assisted at the reduction of Fort Niagara, then held by the French,
(page 160,) and it served in the American revolutionary war, as, by the
records still existing, the flank companies were to be permitted to
wear, the grenadiers a black, and the light company a red, feather, for
services at Bunker's Hill; but the books being lost, the regiment cannot
shew the authority, and consequently is not allowed this distinction.
The 49th was repeatedly engaged in Upper Canada, and was especially
distinguished at the battles of Stoney Creek and Chrystler's Farm. In
1815, the regiment returned to England, after an absence of above
thirteen years; and in January, 1816, "in consequence of its doing duty
over her royal highness the princess Charlotte of Wales, at Weymouth,
she was graciously pleased to nominate it her regiment." In December,
1821, the 49th embarked for the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1828 proceeded
on to Bengal. In April, 1840, the regiment embarked for China, where it
distinguished itself, and suffered much from climate. In gaining
possession of the heights which overlook the city of Canton, on the 25th
May, 1841, "as the two brigades advanced together, there was some little
rivalry between the 49th and 18th regiments, as to which should have the
honor of commencing the attack upon the two forts. The 49th, having the
advantage of a shorter and perhaps rather better road, got the lead,
which they maintained; so that the left brigade carried BOTH the eastern
forts before the 18th came up, and with little loss."[148] In February,
1843, after the Chinese had been coerced into a peace, the 49th returned
to Calcutta, and the following month embarked for England, where the
head quarters arrived on the 24th August, after an absence of nearly
twenty-two years--an example of the arduous services in which the
British infantry of the line is constantly engaged. The 49th, (the
Princess Charlotte of Wales',) or Hertfordshire regiment, bears on its
colours and appointments the distinctions of Egmont op Zee, Copenhagen,
Queenstown, the Dragon, and China.

On the 27th August, 1844, new colours were presented to the 49th, at
Winchester, by Lady Pakenham, the wife of Major-General the Hon. Sir
Hercules Pakenham, commanding the district, the colours being first
consecrated by Doctor C. R. Sumner, the Lord Bishop of Winchester, who
thus addressed the troops:

Soldiers of the 49th, I have solicited and obtained permission
of your gallant commanding officer to address you a few
moments before I invoke the blessing of Almighty God upon the
colours which are never to be sullied by any act of yours, and
are not to be abandoned but with life itself. And let not any
man marvel that I, a man of peace, come among you, who are men
of war, for I hold that there is not a truer man of peace than
a Christian soldier. When he conquers, it is not for national
aggrandizement, nor the mere raising of your names, but for
the insuring of peace in future time. Many a brave man has
bled on the field, or expired on a bed of agony, that his
countrymen might be preserved from the horrors of war. With
respect to the services of the 49th, I might go back to a time
antecedent to the present century. We must remember what a
debt of gratitude we owe to your companions in arms for their
prowess in many a well-fought field. And what did we not owe
also to the naval power for the preservation of our soil from
the insults and the cruelties of our enemy? I must bid you
look back to the recollection of those days when you won glory
in Holland, Copenhagen, and Canada, and since in India and
China. I remember well the stirring phrases used by the great
captain of the age, the commander-in-chief of the British
army, the Duke of Wellington, when he asked for the thanks of
parliament to the army of China--those were stirring phrases
indeed--they were well worth living to hear, and well worth
dying to deserve; they are for you to treasure up, and your
children yet unborn to hear from your lips. When you unfold
those banners, you look upon them as the memorials of former
days, and in centuries yet to come they will be memorials of
your country's renown, of your country's prosperity, and of
your country's peace. On these grounds I hold that the
Christian soldier is an instrument of good to the nation at
large, and I bid you God speed in the name of the Lord, and,
as a Christian bishop, I would bid you remember Him who is the
God of battles, Him by whom nations are led to victory and
preserved in peace. Be men of resolution and men of energy,
pacific in your profession and disinterested in your
patriotism, observant of your duty to your queen, your
country, and your God.

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