Sir Isaac Brock

“ No man ever established a better claim to the affections of a country; and, in recalling the recollections of eight and twenty years, there is no difficulty in accounting for the feeling which has brought us together on this occasion. Among the many who are assembled here from all parts of this province, I know there are some who saw, as I did, with grief, the body of the lamented general borne from the field on which he fell—and many who witnessed, with me, the melancholy scene of his interment in one of the bastions of Fort George. ”

“ I tender you the invaluable blessings of civil, political, and religious liberty, and their necessary result, individual and general prosperity—that liberty which gave decision to our councils and energy to our conduct in our struggle for independence, and which conducted us safely and triumphantly through the stormy period of the revolution—that liberty which has raised us to an elevated rank among the nations of the world, and which has afforded us a greater measure of peace and security, of wealth and improvement, than ever yet fell to the lot of any people. ”

“ Inhabitants of Canada!—After thirty years of peace and prosperity, the United States have been driven to arms. The injuries and aggressions, the insults and indignities of Great Britain, have once more left them no alternative but manly resistance or unconditional submission.
The army under my command has invaded your country, and the standard of union now waves over the territory of Canada. To the peaceable, unoffending inhabitant, it brings neither danger nor difficulty. I come to find enemies, not to make them. ”

“ I remember well the stirring phrases used by the great captain of the age, the commander-in-chief of the British army, the Duke of Wellington, when he asked for the thanks of parliament to the army of China—those were stirring phrases indeed—they were well worth living to hear, and well worth dying to deserve; they are for you to treasure up, and your children yet unborn to hear from your lips. ”

“ His majesty has lost in him not only an able and meritorious officer, but one who, in the exercise of his functions of provisional lieutenant-governor of the province, displayed qualities admirably adapted to awe the disloyal, to reconcile the wavering, and to animate the great mass of the inhabitants against successive attempts of the enemy to invade the province, in the last of which he unhappily fell, too prodigal of that life of which his eminent services had taught us to understand the value. ”

“ The glorious contest in which the British empire is engaged, and the vast sacrifice which Great Britain nobly offers to secure the independence of other nations, might be expected to stifle every feeling of envy and jealousy, and at the same time to excite the interest and command the admiration of a free people; but, regardless of such generous impressions, the American government evinces a disposition calculated to impede and divide her efforts. ”

“ Brock's career, his talents, his services, and his amiable qualities, are so familiar to every native and inhabitant of Guernsey—they have, as it were, become so much the common property of the community—they have been so much the objects of their study—so constantly the theme of their praise and admiration—that it may seem almost a work of supererogation in us to make any observation on them on the present melancholy occasion. ”

“ If the barbarous and savage policy of Great Britain be pursued, and the savages be let loose to murder our citizens, and butcher our women and children, this war will be a war of extermination. The first stroke of the tomahawk, the first attempt with the scalping knife, will be the signal of one indiscriminate scene of desolation. No white man, found fighting by the side of an Indian, will be taken prisoner—instant destruction will be his lot. ”

“ I consider it prudent and politic to avoid any measure which can in its effect have a tendency to unite the people in the American States. Whilst disunion prevails among them, their attempts on these provinces will be feeble; it is, therefore, our duty carefully to avoid committing any act which may, even by construction, tend to unite the eastern and southern states, unless, by its perpetration, we are to derive a considerable and important advantage. But the government of the United States, resting on public opinion for all its measures, is liable to sudden and violent changes ”

“ If their warfare, from being different to that of the white people, be more terrific to the enemy, let him retrace his steps—- they seek him not—and cannot expect to find women and children in an invading army. But they are men, and have equal rights with all other men to defend themselves and their property when invaded, more especially when they find in the enemy's camp a ferocious and mortal foe, using the same warfare which the American commander affects to reprobate. ”

“ He was a native of Guernsey, of an ancient and reputable family, distinguished in the profession of arms. He had served for many years in Canada, and in some of the principal campaigns in Europe. He commanded a detachment of his favorite 49th regiment, on the expedition to Copenhagen with Lord Nelson, where he distinguished himself. He was one of those extraordinary men who seem born to influence mankind, and mark the age in which they live. Conscious of the ascendancy of his genius over those who surrounded him, he blended the mildest of manners with the severity and discipline of a camp ”

“ In the name of my country, and by the authority of my government, I promise protection to your persons, property and rights. Remain at your homes—pursue your peaceful and customary avocations—raise not your hands against your brethren. Many of your fathers fought for the freedom and independence we now enjoy. Being children, therefore, of the same family with us, and heirs to the same heritage, the arrival of an army of friends must be hailed by you with a cordial welcome. ”

“ Even over the minds of the Indians Sir Isaac Brock gained, at and after the capture of Detroit, an ascendancy altogether unexampled, and which he judiciously exercised for purposes conducive equally to the cause of humanity and to the interests of his country. He engaged them to throw aside the scalping knife, implanted in their breasts the virtues of clemency and forbearance, and taught them to feel pleasure and pride in the compassion extended to a vanquished enemy. ”

“ A few traitors have already joined the enemy, have been suffered to come into the country with impunity, and have been harboured and concealed in the interior; yet the general spirit of loyalty which appears to pervade the inhabitants of this province, is such as to authorize a just expectation that their efforts to mislead and deceive will be unavailing. The disaffected, I am convinced, are few—to protect and defend the loyal inhabitants from their machinations, is an object worthy of your most serious deliberation. ”

“ Brothers,—The white men despise and cheat the Indians; they abuse and insult them; they do not think the red men sufficiently good to live.
The red men have borne many and great injuries; they ought to suffer them no longer. My people will not; they are determined on vengeance; they have taken up the tomahawk; they will make it fat with blood; they will drink the blood of the white people.
Brothers,—My people are brave and numerous; but the white people are too strong for them alone. I wish you to take up the tomahawk with them. ”

“ Separated by an immense ocean, and an extensive wilderness from Great Britain, you have no participation in her councils, no interest in her conduct. You have felt her tyranny, you have seen her injustice—but I do not ask you to avenge the one or redress the other. The United States are sufficiently powerful to afford you every security, consistent with their rights and your expectations. ”

“ I will not comment on American politics, in which we all appear to agree that the deep-rooted jealousy and hatred of that people must in the end lead to hostilities, and that it behoves us not to lose sight of an event which, if not prepared to meet, we shall find more difficult to repel;—under this impression, Sir George is disposed to promote the several plans you have recommended to him, relating to the general line of conduct you would wish to adopt in the defence of the important province committed to your charge. ”

“ From Amherstburg to Fort Erie, my chief dependance must rest on a naval force for the protection of that extensive coast; but, considering the state to which it is reduced, extraordinary exertions and great expense will be required before it can be rendered efficient. At present, it consists only of a ship and a small schooner—the latter of a bad construction, old, and in want of many repairs; yet she is the only king's vessel able to navigate Lake Huron, whilst the Americans have a sloop, and a fine brig capable of carrying twelve guns, both in perfect readiness for any service. ”

“ Let no man suppose that if, in this unexpected struggle, his majesty's arms should be compelled to yield to an overwhelming force, the province will be eventually abandoned; the endeared relations of its first settlers, the intrinsic value of its commerce, and the pretensions of its powerful rival to repossess the Canadas, are pledges that no peace will be established between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, of which the restoration of these provinces does not make the most prominent condition. ”

“ And let not any man marvel that I, a man of peace, come among you, who are men of war, for I hold that there is not a truer man of peace than a Christian soldier. When he conquers, it is not for national aggrandizement, nor the mere raising of your names, but for the insuring of peace in future time. Many a brave man has bled on the field, or expired on a bed of agony, that his countrymen might be preserved from the horrors of war. With respect to the services of the 49th, I might go back to a time antecedent to the present century. ”

“ The heroic militia of Upper Canada, more particularly, had knit themselves to his person; and it is yet to be ascertained whether the desire to avenge his death can compensate the many embarrassments it will occasion. It is indeed true that the spirit, and even the abilities, of a distinguished man often carry their influence beyond the grave; and the present event furnishes its own example, for it is certain, notwithstanding General Brock was cut off early in the action, that he had already given an impulse to his little army, which contributed to accomplish the victory when he was no more. ”

“ Major-General Brock to Colonel Baynes, the Adj.-General.
YORK, February 12, 1812.
The assurance which I gave, in my speech at the opening of the legislature, of England co-operating in the defence of this province, has infused the utmost confidence; and I have reason at this moment to look for the acquiescence of the two houses to every measure I may think necessary to recommend for the peace and defence of the country. A spirit has manifested itself, little expected by those who conceived themselves the best qualified to judge of the disposition of the members of the house of assembly. ”

“ But I give him as a public man, who, to a sound, vigorous, and cultivated understanding, joins a liberal and enlightened mind—an innate love of justice, and hatred of oppression—an inflexible adherence to that which appears to him to be right—a man too wise to be cunning. Armed with the 'mens conscia recti,' he marches straightforward to his object, nor turns into the devious path of crooked policy, and left-handed wisdom. ”

“ The brave bands of aborigines which inhabit this colony were, like his majesty's other subjects, punished for their zeal and fidelity, by the loss of their possessions in the late colonies, and rewarded by his majesty with lands of superior value in this province. The faith of the British government has never yet been violated—the Indians feel that the soil they inherit is to them and their posterity protected from the base arts so frequently devised to over-reach their simplicity. ”

“ We were admiring the fine lawn when the Marquess Conyngham asked the Indians if they would like to take a turn, at the same time opening the beautiful door that leads to it. The party was no sooner out than we saw the king standing quite still, and as erect as a grenadier on a field day, some forty yards from us. We were all immediately uncovered, and advanced slowly towards the handsomest, the most elegant, the most enchanting man in the kingdom; the Indians conducted by Marquess Conyngham, Sir Edmund Nagle, Sir Andrew Barnard, Lord Mount Charles, &c. ”

“ This inconsistent and unjustifiable threat of refusing quarter, for such a cause as being found in arms with a brother sufferer, in defence of invaded rights, must be exercised with the certain assurance of retaliation, not only in the limited operations of war in this part of the king's dominions, but in every quarter of the globe; for the national character of Britain is not less distinguished for humanity than strict retributive justice, which will consider the execution of this inhuman threat as deliberate murder, for which every subject of the offending power must make expiation. ”

“ Sir George expressed himself very sensible of the policy of the line of conduct you would wish to pursue respecting the Indians; but as other considerations of the greatest political delicacy are so minutely interwoven with them, and as the American government are already inclined to view every transaction with those people with a jealous and suspicious eye, he would recommend the utmost caution and forbearance, lest a different line of conduct might tend to increase the irritation between the two governments, which it is evidently the wish of Great Britain to allay. ”