General Brock: The Makers Of Canada Series (1909)

THE MAKERS OF CANADA GENERAL BROCK BY EDGAR TORONTO MORANG CO., LIMITED 1010 llittj f Aci nf the. ttrliiinwitt i in the year L904, by Afantuy A C r, Limifat, in of AgrimxMwm PREFACE A MONG the men of action who are entitled to . jLjL 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 Abereromby 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 PREFACE war, and Canada was the battleground, he entered upon the defence of the country entrusted to his charge with an indomitable spirit. With very ineffi cient means at his disposal, he used effect cly what came to his hand. He took the untrained militia of Upper Canada and made of them a disciplined soldiery. He taught the youth ofthe country a lesson In courage and patriotism, and with infinite patience, tact, and judgment, he led them through their first days of trial By hk contemporaries Sir Isaac Brock was looked upon as the saviour of Canada and time has not tarnished the huttro of Ms fame. M. K DO All CONTENTS CHAPTER Page HIS BIRTHPLACE ., , . OJffAPTJSJR fl 8KRVICE ABROAD-HOLLANI ., 13 in HKKVK K ABROAD THIS BALTIC . . .23 c xx APT a xi iv IN CANADA 33 OBAPTER r UPPER AND IX WXR CANADA 1602 . 45 MILITARY IOBTO Til IRKPARATIONH FOR WAR . CONTENTS CHAPTER VHl Pif OLD QUEBEC W CHAPTER IX AFFAIRS IN EUROPE, 1800 . CttAPTSRX POLITICS IN QUEBEC .... 110 CBAPTKR XI QUEBEC AND NIAGARA . . . .131 xt i 1811 IN CANADA AND EUROPE ... 149 OttAPTSR XIII THB NEW GOVERNOR . . . . Jilt CBAPTXRXtr GATHERINa CLOUDS . .. CANADAS DEFENCE 18B OSAPTSR xn ONTHBPEONTIER . . . .801 CONTENTS OBAPtm XVII Page A VIGOROUS COMMANDER ... 228 BROWNSTOWN AND MAGUAGA . . . 23fi CEEUPHU XIX DBTROIT . . . . . .245 0BAPTEX XX THE ARMISTICE .... 261 OSAPTER XXI CONSEQUENCES OF ARMISTICE INDEX . .. OSAPTSS XXII QUEBNSTON HEIGHTS ..... 295 MAP Off THE NIAGARA FRONTIER . . . Facing 201 1LAP OF TSE DETROIT FRONTIER ., Facing 245 CHAPTER I HIS BIRTHPLACE Thou Qtsemiayt fcmwly crowned With rouffc mbtttttai rock. . . . Sftrta et douce, M TN that corner of the old Norman land where 1 live the little people of the sea, in that island of Guernsey stern yet mild Isaac Brock was bora 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 gorsc and fair fields fullof lovely ferns. Cruel reefa 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 worldfor in the eighteenth century there was but little communication with either England or France the simple folk of the island lived. The women wow feraed for their beauty blue-eyed and rosy-1