A long correspondence also took place about a piece of vacant land that was needed as a parade ground for the troops, of which there were then about a thousand in garrison. The ground in question was the garden of the Jesuits adjoining the {77} barracks, and had been seized by the Crown on the death of Father Cazot, the last of the order in Canada. It was a standing grievance with the French Canadians that this property had been appropriated by the government. The correspondence between President Dunn and Colonel Brock was rather a heated one, and the latter laid the case before the authorities in England. He tells the story of how he had asked permission of the president to use this vacant ground for drilling the troops, and how he had cleared it of weeds on the understanding that the president, although he could not officially allow it to be converted into a parade ground, would shut his eyes and not interfere. The troops had paraded there and at first no notice was taken, but a few days afterwards a letter was received from the acting governor, expressing his disapprobation of the proceedings, and denying that he had given his tacit consent to the measure. It was one of the not unusual differences of opinion between the civil and military authorities. Mr. Dunn had lived for a long time among the inhabitants of the country, and had to consider their prejudices. Brock had his own way, however, for a few years later a writer mentions these once beautiful gardens as a place for the exercise of the troops, and laments the fall of the stately trees that from the foundation of the city had been the original tenants of the ground. {78} At this time, 1807, Mr. Francis Gore was lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. He had entered the 44th Regiment as an ensign in 1787 when eighteen years of age, and had been quartered as a subaltern with Isaac Brock, both in Jersey and Guernsey. Fate had once more thrown them together. After the peace of Amiens in 1802, Gore had retired from the army, but when hostilities had broken out again he was appointed inspecting field officer of volunteers with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He succeeded so well in his new position that Pitt made him governor of Bermuda, and from that post he succeeded General Hunter as lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. He did not, however, supersede Colonel Brock as commander-in-chief, and military returns were sent from the Upper Province to Quebec during the winter by Indians hired for this purpose. Sometimes it took months for communications between the two provinces. There was also some correspondence about Indian affairs, and Colonel Brock announced that although his predecessor, Colonel Bowes, had given directions about the management of Indians in Upper Canada, he intended himself to follow His Majesty's instructions of 1796, and leave the sole control of Indian affairs in that province to the lieutenant-governor. [Sidenote: Strict accounts]