As for Maurice and Chevalier, who left this place for Madras, as Lieutenants of Grenadiers of my 2nd Battalion, it is impossible for us to hear from them before spring, for we must reckon six months before they will reach their destination, and six months before their letters can reach us, but when they left they were in perfect health, and in high spirits, as became young heroes, and loved and esteemed by all their superiors and comrades, so that I have no fears for them. As to my godson Edward, he is the most charming boy that lives, and I do not know whether he is most loved by me or Madame de St. Laurent. He has finished his preparatory course of studies at Marlow (which is for the education of candidates for the Infantry and Cavalry), and to-morrow he will proceed to Woolwich, to follow the course required for his own arm of the service (the Artillery and Engineers). He has spent the intermediate days with us here, where he has hitherto passed all the vacations. Nothing could be more satisfactory than his conduct at college, according to the report of his masters, who have never had any occasion to find fault with him; and while he was with us, I can bear testimony that his conduct has been at least as satisfactory. So you may be assured, I do not flatter you when I say that his conduct and that of his brothers is all that could be wished. I hope this report will content you, and that when you reply to this letter, you will be able to furnish details no less agreeable, as to the health and well being of our dear Madame de Salaberry and your three daughters, in whose happiness I am at least as much interested as in that of your sons, who are the more immediate objects of my care.

I believe that Madame de St. Laurent has spoken to you, in one of her letters, of the appearance of your three sons, (the younger) but lest she has neglected to do so, before quitting this interesting subject, I will add that Maurice is fully as tall as myself, being nearly six feet two inches, that Chevalier is not so tall, being about five feet ten inches, and that Edward promises to be an Hercules, in short, all three are the true stuff to make excellent soldiers, and Í can vouch for their success.

I shall now run over your different letters, to be able to reply to the various points which I shall meet, that is to say, such of them, as notwithstanding the time which has elapsed since they reached me, appear of such a nature as to demand a reply.

I will begin by saying, that, I have not seen Lieut.-Col. Muter of the 6th Regiment, by whom you sent your letter of 28th May, 1805, which announced to me the approaching arrival of your three sons. and I fear much that was in consequence of things which happened in Gibraltar in 1790, when he was a very young man, and which he might be assured I had forgotten, and would not recall after fourteen years, especially on receiving your introduction.

The manner in which we have nursed your eldest son, since his arrival in England in August 1805, up to the month of May fol

lowing, and the pains which I took to have him placed in the 5th Battalion, will have proved to you how much attention I have paid to what you said of his health having suffered in those deadly West Indies, and I hope he now runs no risk of going as Captain there. Your letter of 23rd October in the same year, imparted to me the pleasure which you felt on my promotion to the rank of Field Marshall, and the obligation which you were under to the good Dr. Holmes, for his attention to our dear godson during his illness; I need not assure you how sensible I am of all you have said on the first head, but I beg of you to convey to my deputy Frank Macconnell, how highly I appreciated his conduct in the other.

Your letter of August 1805, furnishing copies of the interesting papers regarding Maurice, and which was followed by that of 28th October, I now keep for him, and as you know my attachment to your family you cannot doubt the deep impression they made on me. The same letter informed me of the truly noble manner in which Bishop Mountain had acted towards you, and you may be sure, I did not fail to show him my sense of it when I saw him in London.

The pains which I have taken to place Maurice and Chevalier in the

same Battalion, will prove to you that your request on this subject,

made in another part of the same letter, has received that attention from me which you will at all times find me willing to accord.

As to the question which you put me in your letter of 28th October, as to the necessity of sending their commissions to your sons, I think it my duty in reply, to advise you, to preserve them carefully in your own hands, until they can receive these honorable testimonials altogether, from your hands, but now there is no need that they should have anything to augment their baggage, which it is very essential to keep as little bulky as possible.

As to you letter of 15th November following, which was to thank me for the care I have taken of your boys, since their arrival in England, I need only observe as before, that you will see in this act of mine an additional proof of the friendship and attachment which I bear to all your family.

Now having replied to all your letters of 1805, I will pass to those of 1806, of which I have three before me, of 23rd June, 11th July, and 25th September. The first is to thank me for the little present which I made you, of the uniform of my Household, and the others only referring to the departure of our dear godson. I beg of you not to fail to put on the uniform when you present yourself at the Chateau for the first time to be introduced to Sir James Craig.

It only remains for me now to speak of your letters of 22nd January and 8th May of the current year. I have seen with pleasure in them and also in a letter which I received from Mr. Dunn himself, that he has recommended your appointment to the Executive Council, and I have no doubt that after a little while, I shall have the satis

faction of knowing, that the new chief has added a place in the Legislative Council, when we will be able to say "the victory is ours.'

Finally the letters and the pretty work of which M. Lanaudiére was the bearer, have arrived in good order, and I think that Madame de St. Laurent, who has written you by this opportunity, has not failed to say how much this mark of remembrance and attachment on the part of Madame de Salaberry and your dear daughters, has given pleasure to us both, but at any rate I beg to assure yourself and the others that I have been not a little touched.

I think that having arrived at this point, I have said quite enough, and I shall only add a few words, to repeat to you, that at all times and places you may command my services, when you think that I can be useful to yourself or any member of your family, and that neither absence nor distance can ever change those sentiments of friendship and consideration with which I always am, my dear Major, Your affectionate and devoted EDWARD.

Major de Salaberry,

Beauport.

CHAPTER XIII.

De Salaberrys-Letter to the King-Duke of York's Letters-Letter to Lord Castlereagh.

1807 & 1808.

KENSINGTON PALACE,

9th October, 1807.

DEAR DE SALABERRY,-I had great pleasure in learning from your letter of the 28th ult., received three days since, that although you had a tedious and severe passage to your destined port, you had at length reached it in safety.

You did perfectly right in sending the letter I gave you for Lord Harrington, to his Lordship at Dublin, as you saw no early prospect of being able to deliver it to him in person. A copy of his answer which reached me at the same time with your letter, I herewith inclose, and though his Lordship does not do more than express in it his general good intentions in your favour, and his regret that he has but few opportunities of being of service to any one, I trust that you can contrive to discover when a Brigade Majorship is likely to be yacant, that by my receiving timely information of the vacancy occurring, and repeating the application, I shall be able to accomplish your appointment to a situation of that class.

There was no occasion for you to apologise for addressing me at the time you did, as I am ever happy and ready to make any exertion in your favor, when there is the smallest chance of its being of service to you, and whenever I can succeed in that, I shall consider myself as more than compensated for any little trouble which the attaining that object may have occasioned me.

As the investigation of Baptiste Laurence's claim, at the Head Quarters of the 4th Batt., is suspended till the return of your friend Major Muller, to Edinburgh, from South Britain, I intend sending to my friend Lieut.-Colonel Hay, an extract of as much of your letter as relates to that subject, as I consider what you say as extremely material towards the elucidation of the business. I cannot tell you how provoked I am when I reflect on the manner in which you have been plagued by the commanding officer of my 3rd Battalion, from first to last, in the course of your recruiting for the Royals, but thank God, that is now over, and no evil has arisen from it, so it will be best to pass a sponge over the past, especially as I hope you have not lost anything in that service, although it has not turned out as I

wished it to have done, advantageously for your pocket. I must not however dismiss the subject, without assuring you, that though I lament the necessity there was for your remitting to the Adjutant of the 3rd Battalion, the amount of the guinea per man, which under the sanction of the Secretary of War, you retained from each of the first batch of volunteers from the first Garrison Battalion, whom you sent to Horsham, I am extremely glad you did so, as it puts an end to any future ill-natured remarks from those who are not your friends.

By this time I trust that Sir James Craig is well on his way to Quebec, and that your good father will be in possession of a volume I wrote him, by that opportunity, and also introducing him to that officer, upon whose faithful promise of serving him, at an early day after his arrival, I hope I may sincerely depend.

Madame de St. Laurent desires her kind remembrance to you, and

Capt. de Salaberry,
Cork.

I remain, &c., &c.,
EDWARD.

CORK, October 30th, 1807.

MY DEAR FATHER,-Although it had been my intention of not troubling you by this packet, having so lately written you a long letter, yet as I have since received two communications from Maurice and Chevalier, and fearing that their letters to you may not arrive to hand as soon as this, I am induced in consequence to address you.

The first of their letters was dated off the Cape de Verd Islands on the 24th May. Although they had been a little sick, they were then well and in good spirits. Their second, a very short one, reached me two days ago; it was dated at Rio Janeiro, in the Brazils, the 16th of August, and had an uncommon quick passage to England, from whence it was sent me by the Duke of Kent. This letter announced another written by Maurice on the 10th of the same month, sent by the Buffalo man of war, which contained all the particulars of the voyage, and which he supposed I would receive shortly after that of the 16th sent by the Buffalo; his surmise has therefore been verified. He merely says that the "Surat Castle" their ship, alone, had been obliged to put into Rio, in distress, and that they had been there ever since the 1st July, and expected to leave on the 28th August, that is four days after the date of this letter; they were both well and amused themselves highly. If they quitted the Brazils as soon as they expected, they no doubt are now in India; truly a long passage, but still not expensive, as the captain of the ship is obliged to feed them all the way for a small proportion of their pay.