[Sidenote: Colonel Kempt] Another notable man among General Brock's friends writes to him in January. This was Colonel Kempt, afterwards General Sir James Kempt, G.C.B., governor-general of British America. Colonel Kempt was at this time quartermaster-general in Canada, and had, under Sir James Craig, {141} superintended the building of roads and bridges in the Lower Province. In November, 1811, he was made local major-general in Spain and Portugal. He afterwards served on the staff in America and in Flanders. He was made a K.C.B. in January, 1815, was wounded at Waterloo, and was then promoted to be a Grand Cross. The sovereigns of Austria, Russia and the Netherlands also decorated him for his services. In 1820 he was governor of Nova Scotia in place of the Earl of Dalhousie, whom he succeeded as governor-general of Canada. He died in England after a long and glorious career, at the age of ninety. Colonel Kempt wrote to Brock on the subject of his leave. He assured him that he had no reason to dread being unemployed in any rank while he wished to serve. "This opinion, my dear general," he writes, "is not given rashly or upon slight grounds--before I came to this country I had, you must know, several opportunities of hearing your name mentioned at head-quarters, both by General Calvert and Colonel Gordon, who unquestionably spoke the sentiment of the then commander-in-chief, and in such a way as to impress me with a thorough conviction that few officers of your rank stood higher in their estimation. In short, I have no manner of doubt whatever that you will readily obtain employment upon active service the moment that you do get home, and with this view I recommend you to express, through Baynes, your sense {142} of His Excellency's good intentions and wishes to you in respect to leave of absence, and your hopes that when the circumstances of the country are such as will permit him to grant six months' leave to a general officer, that this indulgence will be extended in the first instance to you. "I am very happy that you are pleased with Mrs. Murray. I have just received a long letter from her, giving me an account of a splendid ball given by you to the _beau monde_ of Niagara and its vicinity. The manner in which she speaks of your liberality and hospitality reminds me of the many pleasant hours I have passed under your roof. We have no such parties now. Sir James being ill prevents the usual public days at the Castle, and nothing more stupid than Quebec now is can be imagined."