The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, K.B.: Interspersed with notices of the celebrated Indian chief, Tecumseh, and comprising brief memoirs of Daniel De Lisle Brock, Esq., Lieutenant E.W. Tupper, R.N., and Colonel W. De Vic TupperBrock, Isaac, Sir
History
The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, K.B.: Interspersed with notices of the celebrated Indian chief, Tecumseh, and comprising brief memoirs of Daniel De Lisle Brock, Esq., Lieutenant E.W. Tupper, R.N., and Colonel W. De Vic Tupper
The enemy's cavalry, amounting to about fifty, are led by one
Watson, a surveyor from Montreal of a desperate character.
This fellow has been allowed to parade with about twenty men
of the same description as far as Westminster, vowing as they
went along the most bitter vengeance against the first
characters in the province. Nothing can shew more strongly the
state of apathy which exists in most parts of the country; but
I am perhaps too liberal in attributing the conduct of the
inhabitants to that cause.
Mr. Couche has represented to the head of his department the
total impracticability of carrying on the public service
without a remittance of specie, or a government paper
substitute. He was in expectation of making arrangements with
some individuals that would have enabled him to proceed, but I
much fear that the whole project has fallen to the ground. The
militia on this communication were so clamorous for their pay,
that I directed Mr. Couche to make the necessary advances, and
this has drained him of the little specie in his possession.
My present civil office not only authorizes me to convene
general courts martial for the trial of offenders belonging to
the militia, but likewise the infliction of the sentence of
death; whilst, in regard to the military, my power is limited
to the mere assembling of the court. I beg leave to submit to
the consideration of your excellency, whether in times like
the present I ought not to be invested with equal authority
over each service.
I herewith have the honor to transmit two letters, one from
Captain Roberts, commanding at St. Joseph's, and the second
from Mr. Dickson, a gentleman every way capable of forming a
correct judgment of the actual state of the Indians. Nothing
can be more deplorable than his description; yet the United
States government accuse Great Britain of instigating that
people to war. Is not the true cause to be found in the state
of desperation to which they are reduced by the unfriendly
and unjust measures of that government towards them?
* * * * *
On the 27th of July, Major-General Brock returned to York from Fort
George, on which day, accompanied by a numerous suite, he opened the
extra session of the legislature, and delivered the following speeches.
Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen
of the House of Assembly,
The urgency of the present crisis is the only consideration
which could have induced me to call you together at a time
when public, as well as private duties elsewhere, demand your
care and attention.
But, gentlemen, when invaded by an enemy whose avowed object
is the entire conquest of the province, the voice of loyalty,
as well as of interest, calls aloud to every person in the
sphere in which he is placed to defend his country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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