Colonel Baron de Rottenburg, of the 60th, was now expected in Canada as a brigadier, and Brock thought his appointment would mean a change for him, as one or the other would have to go to the Upper Province, and de Rottenburg, being the senior, {124} would have the choice. There seemed but little chance for Brock, much as he wished it, to return to Europe, while affairs with the United States were so unsettled. In his letter to his brother, he says: "I rejoice Savery has begun to exert himself to get me appointed to a more active situation. I must see service, or I may as well, or indeed much better, quit the army at once, for not one advantage can I reasonably look for hereafter if I remain buried in this inactive remote corner. Should Sir James Saumarez return from the Baltic crowned with success, he could, I should think, say a good word for me to some purpose." Sir Thomas Saumarez, a brother of Sir James (Admiral Lord de Saumarez), had, in 1787, married Harriet, daughter of William Brock of Guernsey. One of Brock's _confrères_ is mentioned in this letter as having just recovered from a severe illness. This was Colonel Vincent of the 49th, a soldier who was destined to take a very active part in the coming war. Vincent entered the army in 1781, served like Brock in the West Indies, and was also with him in the expedition to Copenhagen under Sir Hyde Parker. In December, 1809, Brock writes to his brother William of the imminence of the war with the United States, and says: "Whatever steps England may adopt, I think she cannot in prudence avoid sending a strong military force to these provinces, as they are now become of infinite importance to her. You cannot conceive the quantities of timber {125} and spars of all kinds which are lying on the beach ready for shipment to England in the spring. Four hundred vessels would not be sufficient to take all away. Whence will England be supplied with these essential articles but from the Canadas?" [Sidenote: Progress of Canada]