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 {38} 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. [Sidenote: St. Domingo]