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

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"Some hours before the time appointed for the ceremony, the inhabitants
of the country parishes, mostly clothed in respectable mourning, were
seen thronging into town; and by eleven o'clock a considerable crowd was
collected in the front of Mr. Savery Brock's house, from whence the
procession was to issue. Punctually at the time appointed, (twelve
o'clock,) the authorities and other gentlemen invited to take part in
the ceremony, together with a large number of persons who attended
spontaneously to pay the last mark of respect to the deceased, were
assembled; and having been marshalled by the deputy sheriffs and the
special constables, in the manner laid down in the programme, the
mournful _cortege_, comprising nearly 500 persons, issued into the
Grange Road in the following order of procession:

Four Assistant Constables,
(each with his Staff of office.)
Two Deputy Sheriffs.--Deputy Greffier.--Deputy Sergeant.
Deputy, Harbour Master.--Postmaster.--Surveyor of
Works.
Receiver of Impost.--Assistant Supervisor.--Harbour Master.
The Principal Officer and the Comptroller of
Her Majesty's Customs.
Deputy Judge Advocate.--Barrack Master.--Ordnance
Storekeeper.
Fort Major.--Government Secretary.
Officers of the five Regiments of Guernsey Militia.
Officers of the 48th Depot.
Officers of the Royal Artillery.--Colonel Moody.
Clerk of the Town Parish and Clerk of St. Martin's Parish.
Rev. W. Le Mottee. Rev. Henry Benwell.
Rev. E. Guille. Rev. George Guille.
Rev. F. Jeremie. Rev. Peter Carey.
Rev. Daniel Dobree. Rev. W.L. Davies.
Rev. William Guille. Rev. W.J. Chepmell.
Rev. Thomas Brock. The Very Rev. the Dean.

Frederick Mansell, Jurat. Hilary O. Carre, Jurat.

John Hubert, Jurat. John Le Messurier, Jurat.

James Carey, Jurat. John Guille, Jurat.

Rev. R. Potenger.} Mourners. { F.B. Tupper.
John Carey, jun. } { Henry Tupper.

Lieut.-General Sir James Douglas.--His Excellency Major-General
W.F.P. Napier, Lieut.-Governor.--Lieut.-General Ross.

Peter B. Dobree. } Jurats. { T.W. Gosselin.
Thomas Le Retilley. } { H. Dobree, jun.

The Queen's Procureur.--The Queen's Comptroller.--Her Majesty's
Receiver-General.--Greffier.--Sheriff.
The Advocates of the Royal Court.
The late Bailiff's Medical Attendants.
The Douzeniers of each parish, headed by their respective
Constables, four abreast.
Relatives, with Hat Bands, four abreast.
The Order of Rechabites in full procession.
A Deputation of the Total Abstinence Society,
headed by Mr. Edmund Richards.

"The procession proceeded in solemn order down the Grange Road, until it
reached the College, when it turned to the left, and passed on to the
eastern entrance of the new burying ground, and from thence proceeded to
the grave, near the opposite extremity of the cemetery, which was
destined to be the final resting place of the aged patriot. The persons
who composed the _cortege_ having been formed in order round the grave,
the sublime and solemn ritual of the Church of England was read in a
feeling and impressive manner by the Very Reverend the Dean, the coffin
being at the proper period of the service committed to the bosom of the
earth in profound and solemn silence. When the service was concluded, a
great many persons approached the border of the grave to take a farewell
look at the narrow tenement which now contained the remains of a man
who, but a few short hours back, had occupied so prominent a position in
his native land. Many a sigh was breathed, many a tear was shed upon
that grave; and many and various were the expressions of affection and
regret which there found utterance, and which seemed to say

'We ne'er shall look upon his like again.'

"On no similar occasion had there ever been collected so large a
concourse of persons in this island. Some pains were taken to ascertain
the number of those who entered the burial ground, and it is believed
that they considerably exceeded 4,000. An equal, or perhaps a larger
number, were dispersed, as spectators, in the Grange Road and adjacent
parts. Every house that commanded a glimpse of the procession, or the
interment, was crowded. The windows, even, to the attics, were peopled;
whilst walls, gardens, and every spot from which any thing could be
seen, were in like manner occupied. Notwithstanding the extraordinary
number of persons collected, a very creditable degree of order and
decorum was maintained throughout the whole of the proceedings."[163]

The union jack was hoisted half mast at Fort George and Castle Cornet
from the day succeeding the bailiff's death to that of his funeral, on
which days also the bells of the parish church of St. Peter-Port were
tolled, and the flags of the vessels in the two harbours and roadstead
were hoisted half mast. On the day of the interment, the shops in St.
Peter-Port were entirely closed until the mournful ceremony was
completed.

The lieutenant-governor of the island, Major-General Napier, the
celebrated historian of the Peninsular war, evinced, in a manner as
creditable to his feelings as it was gratifying to those of the family,
an anxious desire to pay every respect to the memory of the deceased,
his excellency, with the officers of his staff, and Lieut.-General
Ross, and Lieut.-General Sir James Douglas, ex-lieutenant-governors,
attending the funeral in full uniform, as did all the officers of the
garrison, and the officers of the five regiments of militia. All the
civil and military authorities, as well as the whole of the clergy of
the island, were present.

* * * * *

The following remarks are extracted from a long and ably written article
of nearly two columns, in the Guernsey _Star_ of Monday, September 26,
1842, in which the last moments and character of Mr. Brock were
feelingly portrayed by the editor, an English gentleman:

"Mr. Brock's career, his talents, his services, and his
amiable qualities, are so familiar to every native and
inhabitant of Guernsey--they have, as it were, become so much
the common property of the community--they have been so much
the objects of their study--so constantly the theme of their
praise and admiration--that it may seem almost a work of
supererogation in us to make any observation on them on the
present melancholy occasion. We cannot, however, allow the
grave to close upon him without strewing it with some of those
offerings of respect and praise which spontaneously spring to
our hand as we pen the notice of his death. We feel that we
enjoy considerable latitude on this occasion, because, from
having been for years the political antagonists of Mr. Brock,
and having braved his hostility when living, our tribute to
his memory cannot be looked on as other than the genuine
offspring of our feeling and our judgment.

"Mr. Brock was not an ordinary man. He was constituted of
materials which would have led their owner to distinction in
whatever sphere he might have been placed. Indebted but little
to early education, he possessed within himself a faculty of
extracting knowledge from every thing that came within his
observation; and, gifted with a powerful memory, a reflecting
mind, and the art of methodizing and arranging the ideas and
information which he acquired, he was enabled at all times to
bring a mass of well digested and pertinent knowledge to bear
upon and illustrate any subject which he was required to
discuss. He had a singular talent for comprehending principles
and for seizing information, and arranging and applying it; so
that there were few subjects upon which he entered on which he
could not lay down sound principles, and illustrate and
maintain them by sound arguments. Too confident of his
strength, and perhaps over-elated with his many victories, he
would sometimes venture on untenable ground, and expose
himself to the inroads of an able enemy; but these
indiscretions were of rare occurrence, and the memory of his
temporary checks was generally cancelled by the skilfulness of
his retreats.

"If Mr. Brock was thus distinguished for his mental powers, he
was no less so by the strength and felicity of his style of
writing. He had the rare talent of putting proper words in
their proper places. He wrote English with English plainness
and English force. There was nothing affected or _modish_ in
his manner. He gave his readers an impression that he was
clear in the conception of his own meaning, and he made it
equally so to them. He aimed at no ornament: the beauty of his
writings consisted in their perspicuity and strength. A verbal
critic might discover inaccuracies in his compositions, but
the man of sense would find in them nothing unmeaning---
nothing useless--nothing vapid. He was not a turner of fine
periods--he was not a _fine writer_--but he wrote with
strength, precision, and lucidity; and his compositions, even
where they failed to produce conviction, could never be read
without creating respect for the masculine talents of their
author......

"But the main ground on which the memory of Daniel De Lisle
Brock must rest its claims on the affection, the respect, and
the gratitude of his fellow countrymen, is the devoted--the
engrossing love which, during his whole life, he bore to his
native land. Every thought, every wish, every feeling of pride
or ambition, centered in his beloved Guernsey. She was the
idol of his affections--the object of all his solicitude--the
glory of his inmost heart. His endeavours for her welfare may
occasionally have been misdirected--his objections to change
in her institutions may have been ill-founded--but his motives
have ever been beyond the reach of suspicion or reproach. They
were concentrated in the desire for her good. Her people, her
soil, her laws, her customs, nay, even her prejudices, were
dear to him--they were his household gods. He worshipped them,
he lived for them, and he would have died for them......

"The private character of Mr. Brock presents an embellishing
and graceful adjunct to his public qualities. Bold even to
temerity in his acts; firm even to obstinacy in his opinions;
entertaining an exalted estimate of the office that he filled,
and of the interests that he embodied or represented in his
person, he was, at the same time, simple, courteous, and
benevolent in his private manner, to a degree that was as
honorable to himself, as it was gratifying to those who came
in contact with him. Mr. Brock on the bench, and Mr. Brock in
private, were distinct characters. In the former position,
conscious, probably, of his talents and his authority, he was
firm, and sometimes, though rarely, in appearance even
imperious; in the latter, resigning himself to the feelings
of the gentleman, he was affable, kind, and even diffident. In
his privacy he displayed all the attributes of a superior
mind. He was entirely devoid of pride and ostentation: his
mind was superior to the weakness they denote. He disdained
the conventional habits of society, for nature had created him
a gentleman, and he needed not the aid of art. He mingled not
in that society where he might have received the homage to
which his talents were entitled. He spent his time in study,
or in working for the public welfare; his relaxations being in
his fields and garden, or in the conversation of casual
visitors who, uninvited, occasionally resorted to his
unceremonious and hospitable roof. Ardent as he was in
political discussions, prone as he was to enter into
controversy, the feelings of animosity which he expressed died
in their utterance. The adversary of to-day was the welcome
guest of the morrow. The hand which had distilled the gall of
disputation at one moment, was readily extended in kind
fellowship the next. Mr. Brock was probably not exempt from
failings, but he had certainly nothing of littleness about
him. He respected an honorable and open adversary, more than a
flattering and servile friend. His hostility was strong, but
it was shortlived: his enmity was vigorous, but it had no
memory. In other respects, too, he evinced a generous and
benevolent heart. At all seasons and under all circumstances,
his time and attention were willingly devoted to those who
sought his assistance or advice. He was the friend and
counsellor of all. Many is the angry feeling he has
allayed--many the lawsuit he has prevented--many the family
division he has closed. His kind offices were at the command
of all. No labour was too great for him, when called on for
his assistance; but if at any time he found himself obliged to
reject a claim which was made on him, he so softened his
refusal with courtesy and kindness, that the disappointed
seldom left him without experiencing a sense of obligation.

"Possessing these characteristics, which are hastily sketched
by the pen of a political opponent, Mr. Brock, it must be
admitted, was a distinguished man. His sphere of action was
limited, but within that sphere he acted an honorable, a
useful, and a noble part. Had he been cast upon a wider stage,
there can be little doubt that his talents and his resolution
would have acquired for him a more extensive reputation; but,
even as it is, his fate is enviable. He sought the welfare of
his country, and desired its respect and gratitude as his
reward. Both objects have been attained; and he now sleeps, at
the close of a long and honorable life, regarded by all his
country men as the most able, the most useful, the most
disinterested, and the most patriotic of the rulers to which
its destinies have ever been committed. No man has been more
beloved and respected in his life, and none more regretted at
his death. _Peace to his manes!_"

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 161: There are some of the public papers written by Mr. Brock
which may be profitably studied as models of this kind of
composition.--_Guernsey Star, September 26, 1842._]

[Footnote 162: Mr. Brock was no doubt ambitious, but his ambition was
gratified in beholding the advancement of his country. Personal
advantage--individual distinction--were things that never occurred to
his imagination, or occurred only to be contemned. He might have had an
augmentation of salary--he might have received the honor of
knighthood--he might have had the sources of fortune opened to him--but
these would have brought no advantages to Guernsey, and he rejected
them.--_Guernsey Star, September 26, 1842._]

[Footnote 163: The extracts in inverted commas are from the Guernsey
_Star_ of Thursday, 29th September, 1842.]

APPENDIX C.

The common ancestor of the Guernsey family of this name was John Tupper,
who settled in the island about the year 1592. He was an English
gentleman, of German, extraction, his forefather, it appears, having,
about the year 1525, fled from Cassel during the religious persecution
in the reign of Charles the Fifth. The elder son of this John Tupper
married Elizabeth, daughter of Hilary Gosselin,[164] procureur du roi,
or attorney-general--the younger removed to England.

In the memorable year of 1692, John Tupper, Esq., (the grandson of the
said John Tupper and Elizabeth Gosselin,) at some expense and risk of
capture, conveyed to Admiral Russell, who commanded the combined English
and Dutch fleets lying at St. Helen's, the intelligence that the French
fleet, under Admiral Tourville, was in the channel. This intelligence
led to the battle of La Hogue; and as a reward for this patriotic
service, Mr. Tupper was presented by his sovereigns, William and Mary,
with a massive gold chain and medal, which are now in possession of his
heir male; his descendants being permitted to bear them as an honorable
augmentation to their arms and crest.

The elder son of John Tupper, who acquired the medal, by his wife,
Elizabeth Dobree, of Beauregard, had three sons, of whom the eldest died
without issue; the second was Elisha, a much-respected jurat of the
Royal Court, who died in 1802, leaving five surviving children;[165]
and the youngest was John, who obtained, in 1747, a commission, by
purchase, in General Churchill's regiment of marines, that corps being
then differently constituted to what it is now. He served as a captain
at the celebrated defeat of the French fleet in Quiberon bay, by Sir
Edward Hawke, in 1759; as a major and commandant of a battalion at
Bunker's Hill, in 1775,[166] where he was slightly wounded, and where
the marines, having greatly distinguished themselves, won the laurel
which now encircles their device; and as a lieutenant-colonel in
Rodney's victory of the 12th of April, 1782, having been especially sent
from England to command the marines in the fleet, about 4,000 men, in
the event of their being landed on any of the enemy's West India
islands. At his decease, in January, 1795, he was a major-general in the
army, and commandant-in-chief of the marines. Had the honors of the Bath
been extended in those days to three degrees of knighthood as they have
been since, he would probably have been a knight commander of that
order.

The fatality which has attended the descendants of the two brothers just
named, will appear in the following brief summary:

1.--Lieutenant Carre Tupper, of his majesty's ship Victory, only son of
Major-General Tupper, slain at the siege of Bastia, on the 24th of
April, 1794.

2.--William De Vic Tupper, (son of E. Tupper, Esq.) mortally wounded in
1798, in a duel in Guernsey, with an officer in the army, and died the
day following.

3.--John E. Tupper, aged twenty, perished at sea, in 1812, in the
Mediterranean, the vessel in which he was a passenger, from Catalonia
to Gibraltar, having never been heard of since.

4.--Charles James Tupper,[167] aged sixteen, captain's midshipman of his
majesty's 18-gun brig Primrose, drowned on the 17th August, 1815, at
Spithead, by the upsetting of the boat in which he was accompanying his
commander, Captain Phillott, to the ship.

5.--Lieutenant E. William Tupper, of his majesty's ship Sybille, aged
twenty-eight, mortally wounded in her boats, June 18, 1826, in action
with a strong band of Greek pirates, near the island of Candia.

6.--Colonel William De Vic Tupper, Chilian service, aged twenty-nine,
slain in action near Talca, in Chile, April 17, 1830. The four last sons
of John E. Tupper, Esq., and Elizabeth Brock, his wife; and nephews of
William De Vic Tupper, Esq., already named, and also of Major-General
Sir Isaac Brock, K.B.; of Lieut.-Colonel John Brock, and of Lieutenant
Ferdinand Brock, who all fell by the bullet.

7.--Colonel William Le Mesurier Tupper, of the British Auxiliary Legion
in Spain, and a captain in the 23d, or Royal Welsh Fusiliers, mortally
wounded near San Sebastian, May 5, 1836, aged thirty-two. Colonel Tupper
was also nephew of W. De Vic Tupper, Esq., and first cousin of the four
brothers last named.

* * * * *

LIEUT. E. WILLIAM TUPPER, R.N.

This promising young officer, third son of John E. Tupper, Esq., by
Elizabeth Brock, his wife, was educated at Harrow, and commenced his
naval career in 1810, in the Victory, of 110 guns, under the care and
patronage of the late Lord de Saumarez, with whom he continued some
time in the Baltic. He served on the American coast during the latter
part of the war, in the Asia, 74; and was present at the disastrous
attack of New Orleans, in January, 1815, forming one of a party landed
from the fleet, to co-operate with the army. On the night of the storm,
this party, in conjunction with the 85th light infantry, under Colonel
Thornton,[168] attacked some fortified works on the right bank of the
Mississippi, and were completely successful; but the failure of the main
assault rendered this success unavailing. In the same year he joined the
flag ship of Sir Thomas Fremantle, who, having been an intimate friend
of his late uncle, Sir Isaac Brock, kindly assured him of his influence
and support; but peace taking place before he had attained the requisite
age for promotion, all the bright prospects with which he entered the
service were blighted. In November, 1817, on his return in the Active
frigate, Captain Philip Carteret, from the Jamaica station, he passed at
the naval college at Portsmouth, and was one of four midshipmen
complimented as having undergone a superior examination. In 1823, he was
appointed to the Revenge, Sir Harry Neale's flag ship, in the
Mediterranean, and placed on the admiralty list for advancement. Early
in 1826, he was at length promoted into the Seringapatam frigate; but
Sir John Pechell, under whom he had previously served for a short time,
prevailed upon the admiral to transfer him to his own ship, the Sybille,
of 48 guns, "a crack frigate," in a high state of discipline, the crew
of which was remarkable for its skill in gunnery.

The Sybille was at Alexandria, when intelligence arrived there of the
plunder of a Maltese vessel, under atrocious circumstances, by a nest of
Greek pirates, on the southern coast of Candia. Sir John Pechell set
sail immediately in quest of these lawless and desperate men. On Sunday,
the 18th of June, 1826, at daylight, two misticoes were observed under
sail, near Cape Matala, standing towards the frigate; but on discovering
their mistake, they made for the land, and were followed by the Sybille,
into a narrow creek formed by a rocky islet and the mainland of Candia.
On this islet were posted from 200 to 300 armed Greeks, chiefly the
crews of three or four piratical misticoes at anchor in the creek; and
in a desperate attempt to cut out these misticoes, with the boats,
Midshipman J.M. Knox and twelve men were killed; and the first
lieutenant, Gordon, dangerously; Lieutenant Tupper, mortally; Midshipmen
William Edmonstone and Robert Lees, both very severely; and twenty-seven
men were wounded, of whom five died in a few days. Two of the misticoes
were afterwards sunk, and many of the pirates were killed and wounded by
the frigate's guns.[169]

Lieutenant Tupper commanded the launch, and although severely wounded in
three places, he stood up the whole time, and retained the command of
her until he returned to the ship. The bullet, which proved fatal,
entered his right breast, and was extracted from under the skin over the
false ribs. He lingered until the 26th June, when he breathed his last,
in a state of delirium, on board the Sybille, at Malta, where his
remains were interred, and a monument was erected to his memory by his
captain and messmates. In person he was rather above the middle height,
with a pleasing and intelligent countenance; and when his brother
Charles and he were midshipmen together in the Victory, in the Baltic,
they were designated on board as the handsome brothers.[170]

The surgeon of the Sybille, in a letter to the family in Guernsey, wrote
of Lieutenant Tupper:

"When I first saw him he was firm and cool. He asked me to
give my opinion without reserve, and knowing him to be
possessed of
great fortitude, I told him that the wound in the chest was of a
most _dangerous_ nature, but not _necessarily_ fatal. He had by
this time lost a great deal of blood, but the internal hemorrhage,
though the most alarming, was slight. He remained so low for three
days, that it was expected he would have sunk, though he still
continued collected and firm. On the fourth day he rallied, his
pulse became more distinct, and he evidently encouraged hopes. Need
I say that I felt myself incapable of destroying them--indeed I was
not altogether without hope myself. The principal danger was from
hemorrhage upon the separation of the sloughs, and my fears were
fatally verified, for on the 25th, at noon, it commenced and
increased internally, until his lungs could no longer perform their
functions, and he died at about three o'clock on the morning of the
26th. During the whole time he was resigned, evincing the greatest
strength of mind. As it was with unfeigned sorrow that I saw a fine
and gallant young man fall a victim to such a cause, so it was with
admiration that I witnessed his heroic bearing when the excitement
was past, and hope itself was almost fled. I have seen many support
their firmness amidst danger and death, but it belongs to few to
sustain it during protracted suffering, which is indeed a trial
often too severe for the bravest, but through which your lamented
brother came with a spirit and resignation which reflected lustre
upon himself and family, and endeared him to all his shipmates."

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