Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Vol. 93, No. 571, May, 1863Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Vol. 93, No. 571, May, 1863
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
attracted at once the attention of scientific men both at home and
abroad, and led to frequent correspondence between the author and all
persons capable of appreciating and taking an interest in so important a
matter.
Promoted to the rank of Major-General, Sir Howard was nominated in 1824
to the Governorship of New Brunswick, and to the command of the troops
stationed there, and in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island,
Newfoundland, and Bermuda. Mr Fullom tells an amusing story of Sir
Howard being met on the pier at Halifax by Mr Justice Haliburton, which
fails in this respect, that it happens unfortunately not to be accurate.
It was not Sam Slick, but his cousin of the same name, who in 1796 had
served in the Fusiliers, and in 1824 greeted his old comrade as Governor
of New Brunswick. But there is so much of _vraisemblance_ in the matter,
that the anecdote may very well remain where it is. On the other hand,
Mr Fullom’s narrative of Sir Howard’s administration of the province is
not only correct to the letter, but extremely interesting. It came to
pass while he was there that one of those fires occurred, of the
appalling effects of which we in this old world of Europe can form no
conception. It was an unusually dry summer, the third of a succession of
such, when first in the town, and by-and-by far off in the forest,
flames suddenly broke out. Government House was the first to be burned
down; then whole streets ignited at once; and just as a line began to be
drawn between what remained of the town and the ashes of dwellings
consumed, a lurid glare, seen afar off, gave warning that even a worse
calamity was in progress.
“Several days elapsed before the fire subsided, and then it became
masked by a smoke which darkened the whole country. But night proved
that it had not burned out; for showers of flame shot up at intervals,
and trees stood glaring in the dark, while the mingled black and red
of the sky seemed its embers overhead. Thus a week passed, when Sir
Howard determined to penetrate the forest, and visit the different
settlements. A friend has described his parting with Lady Douglas and
his daughters, whose pale faces betrayed their emotion, though they
forbore to oppose his design, knowing that nothing would keep him from
his duty. But this was not understood by others, and the gentlemen of
the town gathered round his rough country waggon at the door, and
entreated him to wait a few days, pointing to the mountains of smoke,
and declaring that he must be suffocated if he escaped being burned.
He thanked them for their good feeling, grasped their hands, and
mounted the waggon. It dashed off at a gallop, and wondering eyes
followed it to the woods, where it disappeared in the smoke.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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