Sir Isaac Brock. Eayrs Hugh Sterling

      Brock himself learned much from the Battle of the Baltic. He took heed of Nelson’s wise and bold action in continuing the engagement in the face of definite orders from Sir Hyde Parker to retire, and pigeon-holed the occurrence in his mind. Eleven years later he himself was to take a similarly bold and strong course when he sent his message to General Hull commanding the American forces at Detroit, even though his commander-in-chief had instructed him not to attack the enemy. But Brock, after Copenhagen, knew that it sometimes paid to risk all and say: “What men dare, I dare!”

      CHAPTER III

      Canada: Mutiny in the 49th

      Brock collected his men and returned to England. At Copenhagen it will be remembered that he had part of the regiment with him on the Ganges, but others had been on different vessels. In August of 1801 he reviewed the 49th at Colchester, to which place they were ordered. They were now experienced, in some sort, in battle and had shown themselves to be brave soldiers. Brock could look with pride on the men he had trained.

      In the spring of the next year the 49th Regiment was ordered to Canada. Probably Brock received his orders regretfully. It meant leaving Europe when in England war was daily imminent, and Brock, as a man of action, loved action. So did his men. America, at this time, was peaceable enough, and even had Canada been attractive in other ways, the commander and men of the 49th would rather have stayed where there was a prospect of fighting. Moreover, Canada was deemed, at that time, a land of hard weather and few attractions. It was little known and supposed to be even less livable. The journey over the Atlantic was feared by some, far more than the fire of the enemy in battle. The 49th had no very pleasant memories of garrison duty, and this was all there was to look forward to.

      We can imagine a not very cheerful regiment crossing the uncertain and treacherous ocean under conditions much less agreeable than exist to-day.

      One wonders what must have been Brock’s thoughts when he first saw the St. Lawrence. He was seaborn, and the salt and the breeze were his inheritance. He must have been greatly impressed as the ship sailed up the stately river, its shores heavily wooded and all the wonder of its rolling might stretched out in front of him. He came in time to Quebec, and no doubt as his eyes rested on those defences which had withstood siege after siege, his thoughts often turned to Wolfe and Montcalm and how, within this area on which he now gazed, they had made history. He was by now a man of grave and serious character and, as many another in lowlier state has done since, he may have asked himself what this vast unknown country held for him. It was to hold much, and he for it.

      We may try and think, for a moment, what the Canada of those early years looked like to this new-comer from the Mother country. There were not more than three hundred thousand people in this country of ours whose people now number over eight million. More than half were in Lower Canada. Brock was a military man and he early noticed how badly protected were the supposedly fortified posts. York, the capital of Upper Canada, had no defences. Montreal, the greatest city then as now, had little to repel attack. Kingston had fairly good fortifications, and Quebec was in a position stubbornly to resist an enemy. These things Brock came soon to see.

      Perhaps even more portentous to Brock was the state of mind of the average soldier in Canada. These men had come from Britain where the garrison life was pleasant and full of incident and where the cities offered excitement and amusement. Canada was a great contrast. It was sparsely populated. There were no cities, as these British soldiers understood the term, and the sameness of the life aroused unrest and discontent. The United States offered an easy refuge for deserters. There was to be had across the border the daily eventfulness and excitement which soldiers wanted. Desertions were frequent, and becoming more so, and Brock saw the danger for his men of the 49th. He did all he could to make their lot, under not very accommodating circumstances, a happy one, but the spirit of the regiment was not the cheerful one it had been a year or so before.

      Brock had not been long in Canada before trouble began in the regiment. He had an idea that one of his men, Carr by name, was waiting his chance to desert. He questioned him closely, but the man was sullen. “Tell me the truth like a man,” said Brock. “You know I have always treated you kindly.” The man broke down at the words and tone of his commander and confessed that he and others were planning to desert to the United States. Here we see that Brock was a man who knew human nature. He decided to cure by kindness, and he ordered Carr to tell his companions of what had happened. “Tell them that, notwithstanding what you have told me, I shall still treat you all kindly,” he said. “Let them desert me if they please.” Wise Isaac Brock! He knew the value of placing a man on his honor.

      After a short stay at Quebec, Brock and his men began their journey to York, the small but important town that was later to become the great city of Toronto. The 49th journeyed by water, for there were no trains. A schooner took the men up to Montreal, where, after resting, they took boats up the St. Lawrence. Picture what it meant to brave the wildness and storm of our great river, to these voyagers a waterway quite unknown, in small and open boats. They had a new experience in portaging their boats where the rapids were too strong for them. They plied their oars through the exquisite loveliness of the Thousand Islands, and Brock, remembering the fairyland of Guernsey, must have marvelled at this country which, in one place, had a thousand islands, some of them almost as big as Sark. Eventually the 49th arrived at Kingston, the second stage. They made the rest of the journey over Lake Ontario in another swiftly sailing schooner.

      By the time the whole trip was completed Brock had been afforded much food for thought. He saw a country whose resources were barely touched. Where we now have thriving communities, he saw settlements where the people might be counted by handfuls. In the long journey up the St. Lawrence the abundance of fish and game and the vast sources of wealth contained in the land alone must have amazed him. He came from a country across which the stage coach could travel in two or three days. But his journey across but a section of Canada took him weeks. In England the lakes were not a twentieth of the size of the one upon which York stood. The meadows and lanes of England were a far cry from the densely timbered stretches of Canada. The contrast between his country and ours is sharp enough to-day. It must have been infinitely more so when Brock made his first Canadian journey.

      It was not long after the pardoning of Carr that Brock had again to face a similar trouble. Part of his men had gone on to Fort George, while the others remained with him at York. Brock’s kind treatment of Carr had had a salutary effect upon most of the regiment, but there were still a few malcontents. The next summer six of these, at the instigation of a corporal in another regiment stationed near, deserted, and in a military batteau – a big flat-bottomed boat, forty feet in length – which they had stolen, started for Niagara. Brock, the man of action, thought quickly. He took his servant, Dobson, and manning two boats, started in pursuit. It was midnight and Lake Ontario was to Brock an unknown quantity, but the boy who had played with the English Channel in all its moods was unafraid. After a hard row the pursuers reached Fort George in the morning, and search parties were organized. The deserters were secured and made prisoners at Fort George. Brock was as stern this time as he had been kind before, and his prompt action and personal pursuit put an end to desertions when he himself was commanding the regiment. It is said that the commander-in-chief, Lieutenant-General Hunter, who was then at York, was very much annoyed with Brock for risking his life by going in person to seek the deserters and read him a severe lecture on his conduct.