General Brock
General Brock
Title page
THE MAKERS OF CANADA
GENERAL
BROCK
BY
LADY (Matilda Ridout) EDGAR
EDITION DE LUXE
TORONTO
MORANG & CO., LIMITED
1904
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada
in the year 1904, by Morang & Co., Limited, in the
Department of Agriculture
PREFACE
Among the men of action who are entitled to be called makers of Canada, Sir Isaac Brock may well take a prominent place. He came to Canada in 1802, and gave ten years of his life to the country in which he was called to serve. Both in a civil and a military capacity he filled a post requiring unique qualities of head and heart. That the distinction he won was not ephemeral is proved by the honour in which his name is still held, although nearly a century has passed since he laid down his life on Queenston Heights.
England has been served well by her soldiers in many lands, and is not ungrateful to those who have built up her empire. At critical times in her history the right man has appeared on the scene possessing the force of character needed for special work. Such a man was Isaac Brock. He entered the English army at the close of the eighteenth century, when the service was at its lowest ebb. Fortune placed him under the command of such enlightened men as Sir Ralph Abercromby and General Stewart, and the lessons he learned from them he afterwards put to good use. When, in 1812, the long-smouldering enmity between the United States and England burst into the flame of war, and Canada was the battleground, he entered upon the defence of the country entrusted to his charge with an indomitable spirit. With very inefficient means at his disposal, he used effectively what came to his hand. He took the untrained militia of Upper Canada and made of them a disciplined soldiery. He taught the youth of the country a lesson in courage and patriotism, and with infinite patience, tact, and judgment, he led them through their first days of trial. By his contemporaries Sir Isaac Brock was looked upon as the saviour of Canada, and time has not tarnished the lustre of his fame.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
HIS BIRTHPLACE
CHAPTER II
SERVICE ABROAD—HOLLAND
CHAPTER III
SERVICE ABROAD—THE BALTIC
CHAPTER IV
IN CANADA
CHAPTER V
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA—1802
CHAPTER VI
MILITARY POSTS
CHAPTER VII
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR
CHAPTER VIII
OLD QUEBEC
CHAPTER IX
AFFAIRS IN EUROPE, 1808
CHAPTER X
POLITICS IN QUEBEC
CHAPTER XI
QUEBEC AND NIAGARA
CHAPTER XII
1811 IN CANADA AND EUROPE
CHAPTER XIII
THE NEW GOVERNOR
CHAPTER XIV
GATHERING CLOUDS
CHAPTER XV
CANADA'S DEFENCE
CHAPTER XVI
ON THE FRONTIER
CHAPTER XVII
A VIGOROUS COMMANDER
CHAPTER XVIII
BROWNSTOWN AND MAGUAGA
CHAPTER XIX
DETROIT
CHAPTER XX
THE ARMISTICE
CHAPTER XXI
CONSEQUENCES OF ARMISTICE
CHAPTER XXII
QUEENSTON HEIGHTS
INDEX
MAP OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER
MAP OF THE DETROIT FRONTIER
CHAPTER I
HIS BIRTHPLACE
"Thou Guernsey! bravely crowned
With rough embattled rocks ...."
—Drayton.
"SÉvÈre et douce."—Victor Hugo.
"In that corner of the old Norman land where live the little people of the sea, in that island of Guernsey, stern yet mild," Isaac Brock was born.
It was a rough cradle, yet not an unkind one. Though for countless ages its shores have been beaten about and broken by its relentless enemy the ocean, yet behind that bold and serried front lie peaceful glens and valleys carpeted with heather and gorse, and fair fields full of lovely ferns. Cruel reefs lie around the island—the terror of sailors, and out from the sea fog that hovers over them loom giant rocks, strange and grotesque shapes, into which the sea has hollowed many a cavern, haunted, as old legends tell, by the evil spirits of the deep.
Guarded by those granite cliffs, apart from the world—for in the eighteenth century there was but little communication with either England or France—the simple folk of the island lived. The women were famed for their beauty, blue-eyed and rosy-cheeked, a combination of Saxon fairness and Norman freshness; the men were hardy, bold and daring, as became those who gained their living in such a precarious way as sailors and fishermen and smugglers of the Channel Islands
In addition to the fishermen and the sailors there were the country people who lived on and cultivated their own estates, the largest of which did not exceed seventy-five English acres. Wheat was the principal crop, and dairy products the chief source of profit. Beside the country people there lived in or near St. Peter's Port, the capital, another distinct set of inhabitants, who may be called the upper or governing class. To this class the family of Brock belonged.
Guernsey contains about twenty-five square miles. Its shape is that of a right-angled triangle. The sides face the south, the east, and the north-west, and are respectively about six and one-half, six, and nine miles long. The only town of importance and the seat of government is St. Peter's Port, situated on the slope of a hill about the middle of the more sheltered eastern coast. South of the town rise the cliffs crowned by a strong fortress. At the entrance of the harbour is Castle Cornet, once a detached island fort, dating from Plantaganet days, afterwards the residence of the governors and also a prison.[1] The appearance of the town on approaching it by sea is imposing, but the streets are narrow, steep and crooked, and the houses, although substantial, are dusky looking and old. The harbour of St. Peter's Port was begun by order of Edward I., and was in course of construction for two centuries. St. Peter's Church, a fine building of the fourteenth century, was consecrated in 1312. It was not until the sixth century that Christianity was introduced into the island by Sampson, Archbishop of St. David's, whose memory the small town of St. Sampson on the east coast still keeps green. Previous to this Druidism had been the religion, and cromlechs and relics of that old system still remain.
The Channel Islands
The Channel Islands were once included in the "Duchy of Normandie," and are the only parts of that duchy which remain to the English Crown. Again and again Guernsey has been unsuccessfully attacked by the French, who, from the days of Edward I. to those of Edward VI., strove to subdue its Anglo-Norman inhabitants. Through the centuries they retained their northern love of independence, and Guernsey is still governed by its own laws and ancient institutions. It is divided into ten parishes, whose rectors, appointed by the Crown, sit in the elective states. The chief court of justice in the island is the royal court, whose power is very extensive and rather undefined. It consists of the bailiff, appointed by the Crown, who presides, and twelve jurats appointed by the islanders through their delegates to the elective states. There is an appeal in certain cases to the king in council. The French language is used in the courts and on public occasions. The dialect of the people in the eighteenth century was still the pure Norman of many centuries before. Each parish had a school, but the principal one was Elizabeth College, originally a grammar school founded by Queen Elizabeth, where Hebrew, Greek and Latin, French, German, Spanish, Italian, drawing, music, fencing, and drilling were taught for the modest sum of twelve pounds a year.
Although wealth and luxury were almost unknown among them, the governing class in St. Peter's Port formed an extremely aristocratic and exclusive set, vying in dress, manners, and language with society of the same rank in England. Their children were frequently sent there to school, and as their sons grew up, commissions in the English army and navy were eagerly sought, and in many a hard-fought battle on land and sea, the men of Guernsey have won renown. It was not the gentler born alone that were trained to arms. By the law of the island, every male inhabitant between the age of sixteen and thirty-three was bound to render "man service to the Crown," and in the stormy days of the latter half of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, they were often called on to take their share in the king's wars.
The Brocks of Guernsey
For generations the Brocks had lived in St. Peter's Port, and as Guernsey chronicles go back to legendary times, the story that they were descended from one Sir Hugh Brock who came there in the fourteenth century is perhaps a true one.
It seems that in the reign of Edward III. an English knight of that name was keeper of the castle of Derval, in Brittany. When the French overran that country this castle was besieged by the Duke of Bourbon, the Earls of AlenÇon and Perche, and a gallant array of the chivalry of France. Now Sir Hugh Brock's cousin, Sir Robert Knolles, who was governor of the duchy of Brittany, was also at that time besieged in Brest by the famous Bertrand du Guesclin. He succeeded in driving off his assailants, and then marched to the relief of his cousin, Sir Hugh, who was on the point of surrendering when the timely succour arrived. The English were, however, soon after driven out of France by the valiant du Guesclin, and as Guernsey lies directly between the coast of Brittany and England it is not improbable that this same Sir Hugh or some of his family settled there.
Towards the close of the seventeenth century, one William Brock, of St. Peter's Port, had three sons and one daughter. The eldest son, William, married Judith de Beauvoir, also of an ancient Guernsey family. The third son, Henry, married Susan Saumarez, the sister of that valiant sailor, afterwards the celebrated Admiral Lord de Saumarez. The second son, John, born on January 24th, 1729, married in 1758 Elizabeth de Lisle,[2] daughter of the bailiff of the island, whose ancestor, Sir John de Lisle, had been governor of Guernsey in the reign of Henry IV. By her he had fourteen children, of whom ten lived to maturity. Isaac was the eighth son, and was born on October 6th, 1769,[3] the year that also saw the birth of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1777 the family was deprived of a father's care, for Mr. John Brock, formerly a midshipman in His Majesty's navy, died at Dinan in that year at the early age of forty-eight. His two eldest sons had already entered the army, John as an ensign in the 8th (King's), Ferdinand in the 60th, that famous regiment once known as the Royal Americans, which was raised in the colonies in the time of the struggle with France, and which afterwards did such good service in the American war. These were strenuous times, and England was fighting in all parts of the world.
The young ensign
In 1779, just two years after his father's death, Ferdinand, a youth of nineteen, was killed at the defence of BÂton Rouge, on the Mississippi. Isaac was then ten years old, a strong and lusty youth. At that age he was sent to school, for a short time to Southampton, and afterwards under the care of a French pastor in Rotterdam. While in Guernsey he attended Queen Elizabeth's school, where the Rev. C. Crispin was headmaster. But school life and academical distinction were not to be his portion. At the early age of fifteen he followed the example of his brothers, and on March 2nd, 1785, he obtained a commission, by purchase, in the 8th Regiment, in which his eldest brother had just purchased a captaincy, after ten years' service in America. Though young in years he even then showed proofs of that indomitable will which so distinguished him in after life. Feeling the defects of his education he determined to devote his leisure to study, and often the young ensign would, in spite of jeers, turn from his gay comrades to pass his time among his books, with his door locked to prevent intrusion. Not that he was by any means a prig, for, trained to athletic sports from his earliest years, Isaac Brock had the reputation of being the best boxer and the boldest swimmer among his competitors at school and on the island.
When he entered the army it was at a time of peace, when England was recovering from her long and disastrous American war, and the French Revolution with all its horrors had not yet convulsed Europe. It was well for the young soldier that peaceful garrison duty at home was his lot for a few years. There was plenty of work in store for him abroad. In 1790 he purchased his lieutenancy and for a time was quartered in Guernsey and the neighbouring island of Jersey.
At the same time, though not in the same regiment, there was quartered with him Mr. Francis Gore, exactly of his own age, who had entered the army about the same time, and who was destined in after years to be associated with him in Canada.
In 1791, having raised an independent company, Isaac Brock was gazetted as captain and exchanged into the 49th, then ordered on foreign service in the West Indies. He was now no longer a stripling but a man of twenty-two, of commanding stature, very erect, of a strong athletic build, with a frank open countenance and very winning manners. Though of a very gentle disposition he yet possessed that quickness of decision and firmness in peril which on many trying occasions during his military career proved most useful qualities. From 1791 to 1793 he was quartered in Barbadoes and Jamaica.
During those years, though still at peace, England had spent three millions in increasing her navy, and was, therefore, well prepared to hold her supremacy on the sea.
In 1793 the war that the great minister, Pitt, had vainly tried to avert, broke out, and from that time until the peace of Amiens in 1801, England was engaged in a desperate struggle with her hereditary foe led by the consummate genius of Napoleon.[4] On December 1st, 1793, the French Convention declared war on Great Britain and Holland. Pitt thought that the war would be brief, but he had miscalculated the power and resources of the enemy, and for more than seven years it raged without intermission.
Service in West Indies
Service in the West Indies had proved disastrous to Brock, for he fell ill of a fever there which nearly cost him his life, and to which his young cousin succumbed. Through this illness Brock was most tenderly and skilfully nursed by his servant Dobson, who followed his fortunes and was his faithful friend throughout his life. On his recovery, Captain Brock was ordered home on sick leave, and the healing salt breezes of his native island soon restored him to health. In September, 1794, it was the intention of the royal court of Guernsey to raise a local regiment for the defence of the island and the majority in it was offered to Captain Brock, then on leave. He accepted conditionally, but the appointment which would have changed his whole career fell through, as the intention of the government was not carried out.
He was then employed in the recruiting service in England, and on June 24th, 1795, he purchased a majority in his own regiment. That year his mother died. Two years later, at the early age of twenty-eight, he became senior lieutenant-colonel of the 49th. His predecessor had been obliged to sell out on account of some mismanagement, and had left the regiment in a most disorganized state requiring a firm hand to bring it under control.
The year 1797 was one of the most disastrous that England had ever experienced. Although in 1795 the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon had been added to the English Crown, the powers of Europe were now combining against her. Prussia, Sweden, and Spain had come to terms with the republic of France. Bonaparte had overrun the north of Italy, and in October, 1796, Spain had been forced to declare war against England. The Dutch, French and Spanish fleets formed a powerful armada for the invasion of England, while in Ireland the black flag of rebellion had been raised. There was dearth and famine and discontent at home, while generals and armies were uniformly unsuccessful abroad.
Once again, though, as of old, the wooden walls of England proved her salvation. By a brilliant victory off Cape St. Vincent on February 14th, 1797, Jervis and Nelson crushed the Spanish fleet and put a stop to the meditated invasion. Worse than attacks from the enemy abroad was the discontent that had crept into both the army and navy of England, and which broke out into open mutiny during this year. There were grievances, no doubt, for soldiers and sailors at that time were treated with the greatest severity. Recruited as the service was by means of the press gang, it was impossible to expect a high standard of conduct from those who were pressed from the prisons and the slums. It is rather to be wondered at that with such material England's navy did so well.
Mutiny in the navy
It was in the month of April, 1797, that the crews of the Channel fleet rose in rebellion, and the disaffection spread with extraordinary rapidity all over the world. At the Cape of Good Hope the squadron stationed there rose in revolt. In the West Indies, off Porto Rico, the crew of the Hermione, infuriated by the cruelty of their captain, killed all their officers and delivered the ship over to the Spaniards. At the mouth of the Texel, Admiral Duncan, who was blockading the coast of Holland, was deserted by all of his ships save two, and only by skilful manoeuvring succeeded in keeping the enemy in ignorance of his perilous position.
The mutiny came at a time when England was pressed on all sides, and had the state of affairs been known by the French and the Dutch, irredeemable disaster would probably have resulted. Even the army was affected. At Woolwich the artillerymen were insubordinate, and it was believed that secret agents of the French were at work corrupting the army.
The 49th at that time was quartered on the banks of the Thames. As the privates of the regiment evidently sympathized with the mutineers, Brock kept a strict watch over the regiment, seldom going to bed before daylight, and always sleeping with loaded pistols beside him. During the day he frequently visited the barrack rooms to tear down or erase such inscriptions as, "The Navy Forever."
Fortunately for England, the blaze that threatened to break out in both services, died out in a few weeks. The courage, good sense and intrepidity of the officers in command soon restored order, and the glorious victory of Camperdown in October, when Admiral Duncan destroyed the Dutch fleet showed that the "mariners of England" had once more returned to duty.
The young colonel of the 49th now devoted himself to getting his unruly regiment into a good state of discipline. He proved most successful in the management of his men. "SÉvÈre et douce" his stern yet mild rule won the commendation of the commander-in-chief, who declared that Lieutenant-Colonel Brock, from one of the worst, had made the 49th one of the best regiments in the service.
CHAPTER II
SERVICE ABROAD—HOLLAND
Isaac Brock had now been thirteen years in the army, but, although his promotion had been rapid, he had as yet seen but little of active service. In 1798 his regiment was quartered in Jersey. In 1799 it was ordered to England to be in readiness to take part in an expedition against Holland, then occupied by the forces of the French republic.
It was at the breaking out of the war in 1793 that the first expedition to that country had taken place under the command of the Duke of York. At that time England was in alliance with Austria, whose army was commanded by the Prince of Coburg. The campaign, which began auspiciously, ended most disastrously for the allies, and the army was only saved from utter destruction by the skill, energy and wisdom of General Abercromby who conducted the retreat. In spite of his former failure the Duke of York was again entrusted with the command in 1799. With him went also General, then Sir Ralph, Abercromby, who, in 1796, had won such triumphs for England in the West Indies by the capture of Grenada, Demerara, Essequibo, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Trinidad.
General Moore, who had also greatly distinguished himself at the capture of those islands, accompanied the expedition to Holland. England on this occasion had entered into an alliance with Russia who sent to Holland an army of sixteen thousand men. The objects of the expedition were to make a diversion in favour of the Russian general Suwarrow and the Archduke Charles of Austria, who were fighting the French in Italy and Switzerland, and to coÖperate with the English fleet on the coast of Holland. Ostensibly England's purpose was to rescue Holland from the thraldom of France.
The Helder
Abercromby's division of ten thousand men set sail from England on August 13th, 1799, and with it went the 49th Regiment under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Brock who was then just thirty years of age. After a stormy passage they landed near the Helder on the 27th of that month. A short engagement ensued, when the British troops compelled the enemy to retreat and Sir Ralph Abercromby took possession of the peninsula, entrenched himself there, and occupied the evacuated batteries. When the Dutch fleet saw the entrenchments of the Helder occupied by the English they slipped their cables and tried to escape, but were chased by the British fleet and compelled to surrender.
The second division of the army, under the Duke of York, followed on September 9th, as soon as news was received of the successful landing of the first. It consisted of thirty battalions of infantry, five hundred cavalry and a train of artillery. The fleet remained at anchor off the coast of North Holland. It was certainly unfortunate, as results proved, that the chief command, by the arrival of the Duke of York, was taken from Sir Ralph Abercromby, for the position of the army on a hostile shore opposed by that skilful French general, Marshal Brune, required a leader of consummate experience. Abercromby's methods had inspired the troops under him with confidence, while, to say the least, the Duke of York had but an indifferent reputation as a commander.
Isaac Brock was accompanied on this campaign by his younger brother Savery, who had entered the navy some time before as a midshipman but had been compelled to retire from that service on account of some breach of discipline. He had volunteered for this expedition and had been allowed to join his brother's regiment as paymaster.
The account of the landing and subsequent events is related by Brock in a letter to his brother John, who was then stationed at the Cape of Good Hope in command of the 31st Regiment. Brock says:—"After beating the seas from the 8th to the 27th of August we landed near the Helder. The fourth brigade was under General Moore and consisted of the Royals, 25th, 49th, 79th and 92nd. To our utter astonishment the enemy gave us no annoyance. On the contrary he evacuated the town which we took quiet possession of on the following morning. The next evening a reinforcement of five thousand men arrived, but could not land for two days, and in the meantime our troops lay exposed on the sand hills without the least shelter to cover them from the wind and rain. At length the army moved forward eleven miles and got into cantonments along a canal extending the whole breadth of the country from the Zuyder Zee on the one side to the main ocean on the other, protected by an amazingly strong dyke running half a mile in front of the line."
Egmont op Zee
The army, by the arrival of sixteen thousand Russians, was now increased to thirty-five thousand men, but these allies became rather a source of trouble than a help. Though brave, they were undisciplined, and in the advance on Bergen, on September 19th, after driving the enemy before them, they dispersed for plunder, whereupon the French rallied, and drove the disorganized Russians at the point of the bayonet before them, without giving them a chance to reform. At last they encountered a British brigade whom they blamed for not coming sooner to their support. The Russians had, unfortunately, been entrusted by the Duke of York with the principal attack, while Sir Ralph had been detached with ten thousand men to attack the town of Hoarn. October 2nd was fixed upon for a final assault on Bergen. In this, Abercromby led the right column along the sand to Egmont op Zee. He was successful, but by the failure of the other division the victory was of no avail in the final disaster that overtook the English troops.
In his letter to his brother, Brock, who was in Abercromby's column, describes the battle known as Egmont op Zee. He says:—"No commanding officer could have been more handsomely supported than I was on that day, ever glorious to the 49th. Poor Archer brought his company to the attack in a most soldier-like manner; and even after he had received his mortal wound he animated his men, calling on them to go on to victory, to glory, and no order could have been more effectually obeyed. I got knocked down soon after the enemy began to retreat, but never quitted the field, and returned to my duty in less than half an hour."
On this occasion Brock's life was saved, it is said, by his wearing, as the weather was cold, a stout cotton handkerchief over a thick, black silk cravat, both of which were perforated by the bullet. The violence of the blow was so great that it stunned and dismounted him. Another fellow-officer wounded at the same time was Lord Aylmer, afterwards governor-general of Canada.
The letter continues: "Savery acted during the whole of this day as aide-de-camp either to Sir Ralph or to General Moore, and nothing could surpass his activity and gallantry. He had a horse shot under him, and had all this been in his line he must have been particularly noticed as he has become the astonishment of all who saw him. We remained that night and the following on the sand hills; you cannot conceive our wretched state as it blew and rained nearly the whole time. Our men bore all this without grumbling, although they had nothing to eat but the biscuits they carried with them which were completely wet. We at length got into Egmont, and the following day, the 5th, into Alkmaar, where we enjoyed ourselves amazingly."
Savery Brock
It is always with pride and affection that Isaac Brock speaks of his brother Savery, who resembled him much both in appearance and character. The offence for which this young midshipman had been dismissed from the navy was one occasioned by the goodness of his heart, for, indignant at the cruel punishment of mast-heading then prevalent, he had dared to sign a round robin asking for its discontinuance. Savery remained in his brother's regiment as paymaster for about six years and then volunteered for Sir John Moore's expedition to Spain, where he acted as aide-de-camp to that general until his fall at Corunna. In the Peninsular epoch, to have been one of Sir John Moore's men carried with it a prestige quite sui generis.
A sergeant of the 49th (Fitz Gibbon[1]) gives this tribute to the young paymaster's conduct during the battle of Egmont op Zee. He writes:—"After the deployment of the 49th on the sand hills I saw no more of Lieutenant-Colonel Brock, being separated from him with that part of the regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Sheaffe. Soon after, we commenced firing on the enemy and at intervals rushing from one line of sand hills to another, behind which the soldiers were made to cover themselves and fire over their summits. I saw at some distance to my right, Savery Brock, the paymaster, directing and encouraging the men while passing from the top of one sand hill to another. He alone kept continually on the tops of the hills during the firing, and at every advance from one range to another he led the men, and again was seen above all the others. Not doubting but that great numbers of French soldiers would be continually aiming at him—a large man thus exposed—I watched from moment to moment for about two hours expecting to see him fall, while in my view, he remained untouched. Being at this time only eighteen years of age, I did not venture to give any orders or instructions although a sergeant, but after witnessing Savery Brock's conduct I determined to be the first to advance every time at the head of those around me. I made up my mind then to think no more, if possible, of my own life, but leave the care of it to Divine Providence and strain every nerve to do my duty. I make this statement to show that to the conduct of Savery Brock on that day I was indebted for this valuable example and lesson." As an instance that discretion is sometimes the better part of valour the narrator continues, "About five o'clock p.m., on the same day, while overheedlessly running too far ahead of my men, I was cut off by some French soldiers who issued from behind a sand hill on my flank, and made me prisoner alone. After my return from prison in the January following I heard the soldiers repeat Colonel Brock's words to the paymaster when he first saw him among the men in action on that day, 'By the Lord Harry, Master Savery, did not I order you, unless you remained with the general, to stay with your iron chest? Go back to it, sir, immediately,' to which he answered playfully, 'Mind your regiment, Master Isaac, you would not have me quit the field now?'"
In the victory of Egmont op Zee several pieces of cannon, a great number of tumbrels, and a few hundred prisoners were taken, and the loss of the French was estimated at more than four thousand men. Unfortunately the success of the division led by Abercromby was more than counterbalanced by the disasters that befell the rest of the army. The Russians alone in this short campaign lost four thousand men and two of their generals were taken. The allies now were unable to advance or to draw any resources from the country, but had to obtain their supplies from the fleet.
When the Duke of York first arrived in Holland he had issued a proclamation announcing that the invasion was undertaken to deliver the country from the servile yoke of France, and calling on all patriotic Dutchmen to rise in arms. This invitation had not been accepted.
Alkmaar
The Duke then assembled a council of war, and in spite of Abercromby's protest, it was decided that the allied forces should fall back and await orders from the British government. In the meanwhile the English and Russian troops concentrated behind their entrenchments on the Zyp, where they were hard pressed by the enemy. As the season was so far advanced and winter made the navigation of the coast more dangerous, the Duke was ordered to evacuate the country. He therefore sent a flag of truce to General Brune proposing a capitulation on the basis of an armistice or free embarkation of his army. The English restored their prisoners on condition of being allowed to sail immediately. This was agreed to at Alkmaar on October 18th, and thus ended this memorable expedition, which, in spite of individual bravery, reflected but little credit on British arms. One result of it was the withdrawal of Russia in anger from the alliance. That country had certainly been most unfortunate not only during the campaign, but afterwards.
As foreign troops were not allowed in England and as it was too late in the season to send them home, the Russians were quartered in Jersey and Guernsey where a disease contracted in the marshy lands of Holland broke out and carried off great numbers.
The 49th Regiment returned to England, and then was sent to Jersey. Lieutenant-Colonel Brock obtained leave of absence and spent some time at his home in Guernsey. His junior, Lieutenant-Colonel Sheaffe, was left in command, but for some reason or other incurred the dislike of the men. At the first regimental parade after Brock's return, the men as soon as they saw him gave him three cheers. For this breach of discipline their beloved colonel marched them into the barrack square, rebuked them for unmilitary conduct and confined them to barracks for a week.
CHAPTER III
SERVICE ABROAD—THE BALTIC
"Of Nelson and the North sing the day."
—Campbell.
Europe was now engaged in a death struggle with her great foe who was everywhere victorious. After the battle of Hohenlinden on December 3rd, 1800, Austria consented to peace with France, and England was left without an ally. Paul, the half-mad emperor of Russia, had quarrelled with her, partly on account of the ill-starred expedition to Holland, partly because she would not give up to him the island of Malta. Bonaparte, whose astute mind saw where advantage was to be gained, promoted the quarrel, and in order to gain the czar's friendship collected all the Russian prisoners in France, clothed them, supplied them with muskets and sent them back to Russia. This had the desired effect, and Paul, from an enemy, became for the time a devoted friend to France.
As a first proof of his friendship he seized the English vessels in his harbours, his excuse being that England had sent a fleet to Copenhagen to oblige Denmark to acknowledge the navigation laws and the right of search of neutral vessels.
In December, 1800, the Russian emperor concluded a coalition or alliance with Denmark and Sweden, to which Prussia afterwards acceded. In consequence of this step, England put an embargo on the vessels of the Baltic powers.
Bonaparte now had visions of a greater empire beyond Europe, and secretly concerted with Russia for an expedition to India. In the meantime, he hoped by commercial embarrassment, by the weight of arms, and by the skilful management of the powers of Europe, to overthrow England, his last and greatest enemy. He had reckoned without Nelson.
In order to meet the dangers that threatened her on all sides, Great Britain brought together the most powerful fleet she could collect in the northern waters. There were eighteen sail of the line, besides frigates, bombs, fire ships, etc., amounting in all to fifty-three sail. On February 17th, 1801, Nelson received orders to place himself under the command of Sir Hyde Parker, and to prepare for an expedition against the combined Danish and Russian fleets in the Baltic. It was Isaac Brock's good fortune to assist in this memorable expedition, and he was placed second in command of the land forces engaged.
Colonel, afterwards General, Sir William Stewart, second son of the Earl of Galloway, was in chief command of the marines on this occasion. It was another fortunate occurrence for Brock to be thus associated with one of the most progressive soldiers of the age. Colonel Stewart had served in the West Indies in command of the 67th Foot, and afterwards with the Austrian and Russian armies in the campaign of 1799. On account of what he saw there of the rifle shooting of the Croats and Tyrolese he organized a corps of riflemen in the British army, afterwards known as the Rifle Brigade. Colonel Stewart was much in advance of his times. He brought into the army modern methods such as lectures and schools for the men, classification in shooting, athletic exercises, and medals for good conduct and valour. Nelson called him "the rising hope of our army." His brother, Charles James Stewart, was the well-known and beloved Bishop of Quebec.
Sails to Elsinore
Colonel Brock embarked at Portsmouth with his own regiment of about seven hundred and sixty rank and file on board Nelson's squadron, and sailed to Yarmouth Roads, where they joined the fleet under Sir Hyde Parker. Nelson was anxious to proceed at once before the Danes would have time to prepare for them, but there were many vexatious delays. It was March 20th before the fleet anchored in the Kattegat, eighteen miles from Elsinore, where the Sound narrows to three miles. The Russian navy was divided, part being at Cronstadt and part hemmed in by the ice at Revel.
The British fleet advanced very deliberately, a frigate being sent ahead to land the British envoy, Mr. Vansittart, whose instructions were to allow the Danes forty-eight hours to accept the demands of Great Britain and withdraw from the coalition. This delay annoyed Nelson, who much preferred action to parley, and believed that delay only gave advantages to the defence. "A fleet of British ships are the best negotiators in Europe," he had written. "Strike quick and home," was his motto. On the 23rd Vansittart returned with terms rejected, and brought a report that the batteries at Elsinore and Copenhagen were much stronger than they had been informed. So strong did Vansittart think the defences, that he said if the fleet proceeded to attack, it would be beaten. The numerous delays had given the Danes time to line the shoals and harbours with a formidable flotilla, and to stud the shores with batteries.
The attempt to take the place was nearly given up by Sir Hyde Parker, but Nelson was determined to persevere, and prevailed upon his chief to adopt his plan of action. Twelve ships of the line were given to the daring admiral in addition to his smaller vessels—in all thirty-three ships, while the rest of the fleet remained to the north four miles away.
It was on March 30th, 1801, that Nelson's squadron came to anchor between the island of Huen and Copenhagen. On the morning of April 2nd he shifted his flag from the St. George to the Elephant, placed his ships in order of battle and gave the signal to advance. Then came a check. Two vessels, the Bellona and Russell, grounded, and although they could use their guns, they were too crippled to be of much use. Nelson's ship followed, and when he saw them ground and realized that he had lost their support he hailed the Ganges on which was the 49th Regiment and told it to keep as close as possible ahead of the Elephant. Colonel Brock was now ordered to lead the 49th in storming the principal battery in conjunction with five hundred seamen under Captain Freemantle of the Ganges, as soon as the fire of seventy guns should be silenced.
A narrow escape
The Danes made a heroic defence, and the plan of assault with small boats being impracticable, Brock and his men remained on board the Ganges. Savery Brock was with him, and while in the act of pointing one of the guns a grape shot tore his hat from his head and threw him on his back. "Poor Savery is killed," his brother exclaimed, but the apparently wounded youth jumped up, rubbed his head, and fired the gun as if nothing had happened. In the early part of the action, when it was expected that the 49th would land to storm the batteries, Savery had announced his intention of going in the boat with his brother, who, knowing the hopeless character of the attempt to be made, insisted on his remaining on board, observing, "Is it not enough that one brother should be killed?" The captain of the Ganges then gave Savery command of the gun and his narrow escape put an end to the discussion,
With crippled ships and mangled crews Nelson fought on in spite of the signal that came from Admiral Parker to leave off action.[1] In heroic disobedience he still persevered until what might have been an overwhelming disaster turned to victory. When the heavy fire south of the three-crown battery had ceased, when most of the Danish vessels were helpless hulks, four of them remained through which the batteries and the British kept firing. The ships that had struck were resisting the attempts of the British to board them, and it was then that Nelson sent his famous message to the Crown Prince calling upon him to surrender in the name of humanity. It was Brock's good fortune to be near the admiral when he wrote it, and the lesson he learned that day was one he remembered and acted on years afterwards when he had to send a similar message to a beleaguered foe. The message was:—"To the brothers of Englishmen, the Danes,—Lord Nelson has directions to spare Denmark when no longer resisting; but if the firing is continued on the part of Denmark, Lord Nelson will be obliged to set on fire all the floating batteries he has taken, without having the power of saving the brave Danes who have defended them. (Signed) Nelson and BrontÉ."
It was in the preparation and despatch of this note that Nelson gave another illustration, often quoted, of his cool consideration of all the circumstances surrounding him, and of the politic regard for effect which he ever observed in his official intercourse with men. It was written by his own hand, a secretary copying as he wrote. When finished the original was put into an envelope, which the secretary was about to seal with a wafer, but this Nelson would not permit, directing that taper and wax should be brought. The messenger sent for these was killed. When this was reported to the admiral, his only reply was, "Send another messenger"; and he waited until the wax came and then saw that particular care was exercised to make a full and perfect impression of the seal which bore his own arms. Colonel Stewart said to him, "May I take the liberty of asking why, under so hot a fire, and after so lamentable an accident, you have attached so much importance to a circumstance so trifling?" Nelson replied, "Had I made use of the wafer, it would still have been wet when presented to the Crown Prince; he would have inferred that the letter was sent off in a hurry, and that we had some very pressing reasons for being in a hurry. The wax told no tales."[2]
A verbal message by his principal aide-de-camp was sent back by the Crown Prince asking the particular object of sending the flag of truce, to which Nelson replied, "Lord Nelson's object in sending on shore a flag of truce is humanity; he therefore consents that hostilities shall cease till Lord Nelson can take his prisoners out of the prizes, and he consents to land all the wounded Danes, and to burn or remove his prizes." By this time the Crown Prince had sent orders to the batteries to cease firing, so the battle ended, and both sides hoisted flags of truce.
It was acknowledged by Nelson that his ships had suffered more than in any other battle he had ever fought. His success, however, was complete. Niebuhr, the Danish historian, wrote, "We cannot deny it, we are quite beaten." As to the importance of the victory, by it the great coalition of the northern powers was broken and Bonaparte once more was foiled in his great game.
Unknown to the combatants at the time, however, was the death of the chief supporter of the coalition—the Czar Paul. On the night of March 24th he had been murdered, and his young son Alexander reigned in his stead. This news did not reach Copenhagen until after the armistice was signed.
Treaty of Amiens
In October of the same year preliminaries of peace were entered into in London, and on March 27th, 1802, at Amiens, Great Britain, on the one part, and France, Spain, and Holland on the other, concluded a treaty of peace. The Marquis Cornwallis was the plenipotentiary for England and Joseph Bonaparte for France. By this treaty France agreed to evacuate Naples and the states of the church; England on her side gave up all her conquests during the war to the powers to which they had formerly belonged, excepting the islands of Trinidad and Ceylon. Egypt was restored to Turkey, the Cape of Good Hope to Holland, and it was promised that within three months the English should evacuate Malta, which was to be given back, under certain conditions, to the Knights of St. John. After the victory of Copenhagen, when the 49th returned to England, it was stationed for a time at Colchester, and in the spring of 1802 was ordered to Canada where it was destined to remain many years.
CHAPTER IV
IN CANADA
Regarde, me disait mon pÈre
Ce drapeau vaillamment portÉ;
Il a fait ton pays prospÈre
Et respecte ta libertÉ.
Un jour, notre banniÈre auguste
Devant lui dut se replier;
Mais alors, s'il nous fut injuste,
Il a su le faire oublier.
Et si maintenant son pli vibre
A nos remparts jadis gaulois,
C'est an moins sur un peuple libre
Qui n'a rien perdu de sea droits.
Oublions les jours de tempÊtes.
Et, mon enfaut, puisqu' aujourd'hui
Ce drapeau flotte sur nos tÊtes,
Il faut s'incliner devant lui.
"Le Drapeau Anglais."—FrÉchette.
It was early in the spring of 1802 that Isaac Brock with the 49th Regiment sailed up the St. Lawrence after a long and stormy journey across the Atlantic. One can well imagine the feelings of the young colonel as he gazed for the first time at the rocky height of Quebec crowned by that fortress, once the stronghold of French rule in America. In the forty years that had passed since the conquest, Quebec had changed but little. There before him rose the craggy steep where Wolfe had climbed to victory. The grey wall, pierced with arched gateways and bristling with guns, still enclosed the town. On one side stood out the great cathedral whose bell had rung its summons for more than a century, regardless of the change of earthly monarchs. Here, too, was the Ursuline Convent to which Montcalm had been carried in his death agony. Above on the cliff rose the old, half-ruined Chateau St. Louis, bearing the traces of destruction by shot and shell. All spoke to Brock of stirring deeds which even then could be recounted by those who had taken part in them. He was fresh from fighting the French in the Old World, and the scene of England's triumph might well rekindle the ardour that a year's peace had not extinguished. Did a premonition come to him that on another height in this new land, he too would find fame and death? Perhaps not, for Brock was not given to much dreaming. He only knew that there was work to be done and as an apt pupil from the school of Nelson and Abercromby he was ready to do it in the best way possible.
When Brock arrived in Canada the administration of affairs there was in the hands of Sir Robert Shore Milnes, the lieutenant-governor. Sir Robert Prescott, who had been governor and commander-in-chief from 1797, in succession to Lord Dorchester, had left Canada in 1799, and although he held his rank as governor until 1807, he never returned to service in the country.
Canada's governors
Canada had been fortunate in the men entrusted with her government, and owing to their wise administration there had been very little discontent among the new subjects of His Majesty. The French Canadians had increased and prospered under British rule. First in the roll of governors stands James Murray, that good and true soldier who saved Quebec for England in the stormy year that followed Wolfe's death, when the Marquis de LÉvis brought all his consummate genius to the task of winning it back for France. While the army of Vaudreuil held the river at Montreal, and when it looked for many a weary month as if Amherst would never come to its relief, the half-starved, sickly but gallant garrison at Quebec struggled through the terrible winter of 1759 and 1760. The story cannot be told too often of how Murray kept up the courage of his men, and cared also for the feeble folk who were left with him in the town; how, when spring came, both French and English watched the river for the coming sails, well knowing that the side to which food and arms came first would win the day; how, when it was the English ships that came, de LÉvis' army melted away and Murray marched to join with Amherst at Montreal; and how Vaudreuil and his abler lieutenant laid down their arms, and the reign of France in the New World was over.
Haldimand and Dorchester
General Murray remained as governor until 1767, when he was succeeded by Sir Guy Carleton, that gallant soldier and statesman, whose life reads like a romance, and who, with but a slight intermission was to rule the country until 1796. It was he who led the grenadiers in 1759 on the Plains of Abraham and was wounded just before his general sank in death. It was he who, in 1775, as governor and commander-in-chief, drove back from Quebec the American invaders led by Montgomery and Arnold, and who, in spite of traitors around him and a people half sullen, half apathetic, encouraged the remnant to fight for their country and British rule. It was he who pleaded the cause of the old inhabitants before a committee of the English parliament. He understood the difficulties to be met with in the government of Canada when the population was so preponderatingly French, and he helped to draw up the Quebec Act of 1774, which gave to these new subjects the liberties and privileges that in time made them loyal to England. Even the English population (there were but two thousand, to a hundred thousand French) were a little sulky, and inclined to think that too much had been granted to the Gallo-Canadians, but time has proved the wisdom of the act. No wonder that Carleton was welcomed by priest and peasant when he returned as Lord Dorchester in 1792! It was Carleton, too, who, when the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists had increased the number of English-speaking citizens, saw the difficulties under which they laboured, and revised the act of 1791, which gave to Upper Canada the laws it required. Between his two administrations, General Haldimand had been governor from 1778 to 1786. He too had been a gallant soldier, and had fought in the old French war in America, as well as on many a field in Europe. He was Swiss French by birth, and, speaking their language and understanding their customs, he was well fitted to be the governor of a French population. His administration was held under trying circumstances, during those dark days for England when her armies were waging an unsuccessful campaign in the neighbouring colonies, and when her prestige had fallen in the New World. Haldimand succeeded, however, in steering a very safe course through a stormy sea, and when he handed the government over to Lord Dorchester he left behind him many wise improvements that he had made in the condition of the country. Stern as his rule had been, this testimony has been paid him by Garneau, the French Canadian historian: "Good intents are recognizable on his part, through much of what he did, his chief aim really being to preserve Canada as a British dependency. It was he who recommended the conservation of the territory situated between the St. Lawrence and the United States frontiers, and caused Lord Sydney, contrary to the mind of Lord North, to adopt, in 1784, the right view of this matter. Now that we retrospectively view Haldimand's leaden tyranny without prejudice, now that we discern what was his master thought, few of us, perhaps, will refuse to pardon him for his rough but honest absolutism, out of regard for his efforts to preserve intact a portion of the soil reclaimed by aliens, which had been gained to civilization by our ancestors." After Lord Dorchester came Sir Robert Prescott, who was the titular governor when Brock arrived in 1802.
In England at this time Addington had succeeded Pitt as prime minister, and had concluded a delusive peace with the first consul, who had now taken upon himself the title of president of the Italian republic. In America, Jefferson had been elected president and Madison had been appointed his secretary of state. Both of these men were hostile to England and friendly to France.
St. Domingo
Peace in Europe had made Bonaparte turn his attention to another quarter of the world. In 1801, Spain, by treaty, had handed back to France the immense territory of Louisiana, which had been ceded to Spain by France in 1763. It stretched from the Rio del Norte on the south to the boundaries of Canada on the north. The great dictator now dreamed of restoring the old colonial power of France in America. What would be easier than to send an army by the Mississippi and Ohio to reach, by that route, Lake Erie and the Niagara peninsula, while a fleet might ascend the St. Lawrence, where he fondly imagined the French population would easily be seduced from their allegiance to Great Britain? The first step he took in the scheme was to plan an expedition to occupy the island of St. Domingo, which he intended to make a rendezvous for the French navy. The story of this expedition is an interesting one, and as it has a bearing on the events that happened afterwards in Canada, it may be as well to glance at it.
The eastern part of the island of St. Domingo belonged to France, the western to Spain. Before the French Revolution it contained a population of six hundred thousand, over half a million being black slaves, while French planters and officials, with their families, numbered about fifty thousand, and mulattoes made up the remainder. The trade with it was very extensive. Its combined exports and imports were valued at one hundred and forty million dollars, while seven hundred ocean vessels with eighty thousand seamen were employed in the coffee, sugar, and indigo trade between France and the West Indies. After the revolution the white population remained royalist, while the mulattoes were republican. This involved the island in civil war, which led to a general rising of the negroes and a massacre of the whites in 1791. Slavery was then abolished in the French part by order of the national assembly. Then Spain attempted the conquest of the whole of the island, but the Spaniards were defeated and driven out of the country. Toussaint L'Ouverture, the grandson of a negro chief, joined the forces of the French republic, and obtained the rank of general in 1798. He was a man of the Napoleon type, never resting, of boundless ambition and energy, and possessing also the same love of display—"The gilded African," as the first consul called him, while others named him "The Bonaparte of the Antilles."
In 1800, L'Ouverture assumed the title of governor, and took possession of all the French territory ceded by Spain to France in the Treaty of Basel of 1795. He then declared it an independent republic. Bonaparte now determined to send an expedition there under the command of his brother-in-law, General Le Clerc, to subdue the insurgents. It sailed in November, 1801, from Brest, and landed in St. Domingo in January, 1802. At first Le Clerc met with some success, though at an immense cost of men, but the island remained unconquered. Toussaint L'Ouverture took to the mountains and carried on a guerilla warfare, most harassing to the French troops. At last, by a stratagem, the rebel leader was seized and carried off to France, where he was imprisoned in the fortress of Joux in the Jura Mountains, and soon succumbed to the cold of the climate.
The purchase of Louisiana
In the island, however, things went from bad to worse for the French. Fifty thousand troops had been sacrificed either in action or from the effects of the climate, and vast sums of money had been squandered. Plantations had ceased to be cultivated and anarchy ruled. In 1802 Le Clerc wrote that only four thousand men out of twenty-eight thousand were fit for duty. More men and money were needed. General Le Clerc died of fever in January, 1803, and Rochambeau was sent out, but met with no better luck than his predecessor. He demanded thirty-five thousand more men to get the French out of their predicament. At this time there was a feeling against France in congress because Le Clerc had seized supplies belonging to American traders, and therefore America was not looking quite so kindly on the occupation of Louisiana by the French. Bonaparte had intended to send twenty thousand men there, but the demands of St. Domingo made this impossible. The United States had now begun to feel the need of obtaining possession of the mouths of the Mississippi, so as to have freedom of commerce by that river to supply the needs of Ohio and Kentucky. Spain had given American traders the right to land produce at New Orleans, but suddenly revoked the permission, and now Jefferson was determined to acquire that place for the United States. Monroe was therefore sent to France early in 1803 as a special envoy to negotiate for its transfer. His instructions were, in case of failure, to propose an alliance with England, so that the end might be gained. It was also proposed by Jefferson that the United States should obtain possession of Louisiana by purchase, and should grant commercial privileges to Great Britain. Monroe was very well received in London. The prime minister agreed that it would be well for the United States to obtain Louisiana, but if this were not possible they should prevent it from going to France. In the preceding year the United States had been quite content that France should occupy Louisiana, if only West Florida could be added to the republic. However, the question was soon settled by Bonaparte. He had become disgusted with his expedition to St. Domingo, and his fruitless outlay there of men and money. He could not afford to lose prestige in Europe, and he wanted to cover up the disasters that had overtaken him in the West Indies. He therefore suddenly determined to give up his plans in America and to sell his right to Louisiana to the United States. He then made a definite offer for the sale to Livingstone, the American minister in Paris. Livingstone replied that the United States did not want the country west of the Mississippi, but simply Florida and New Orleans. Negotiations, however, went on, and were completed on the arrival in Paris of Monroe. The price asked was one hundred millions of francs. This was not accepted, but finally the price was fixed at sixty millions, equal to about eleven million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Florida was not included in the purchase. The United States also agreed to meet the claims for damages at St. Domingo made by American merchants, amounting to about three millions in addition. Spain protested vainly against the sale, for on ceding the territory to France the stipulation had been that it should not be alienated. Livingstone strenuously endeavoured to have Florida included in the bargain but failed, though the first consul promised his support towards obtaining it for the republic.
The acquisition of Louisiana changed the whole attitude of the United States towards Great Britain,[1] as now they would not require her assistance to secure the mouth of the Mississippi and the Floridas. From this time President Jefferson showed a spirit of animosity in his dealing with England.
The short-lived peace of Amiens was drawing to a close. In order to cover up his disasters Bonaparte resolved to renew hostilities in Europe. As an excuse he declared that he would not tolerate the British occupation of Malta. England had refused to give it up without a guarantee from the powers that it would be left in possession of the Knights of St. John. At a meeting of the corps lÉgislatif on February 20th, 1803, these words were used: "The French government says with pride that England alone cannot struggle against France." This arrogant statement of course aroused the British lion, and on March 8th, George III sent a message to the House of Parliament, then assembled, that owing to the military preparations of the French he had judged it necessary to take precautions for the safety of his kingdom. On May 16th, 1803, England declared war, a war that was destined to last more that twelve years, and to tax to the utmost the resources of the country.
