CHAPTER XV. Lieut. Connor-Sir James Craig, Governor General of Canada-Baron de Rottenburg. 1808 AND 1809. KENSINGTON PALACE. 13th December, 1808. DEAR DE SALABERRY,-I have, in the joint name of Madame de St. Laurent and my own, to return you many thanks for your kind attention in sending us the fine brace of pheasants that arrived yesterday, and at the same time to apologise to you for her not having replied to your last letter, which has been principally owing to the multiplicity of visitors we have had here ever since, which has left her but few leisure hours for some weeks past. We expect your brother Edward on Friday for the holidays, and I hope to hear he has obtained the remove into the fifth Academy, a circumstance that will probably insure him a commission within six months, if he should make his option for the Artillery, or within twelve, for the Engineers. I hope the two regiments that are under your good General's tuition are advancing rapidly in the study of the new exercise and manœuvres, and that by the time he is summoned to embark for Canada, they will have made sufficient progress to do without their instructor. Pray remember me particularly to him, and accept for yourself the assurance of those sentiments of unalterable friendship and regard with which I always, &c., Brigade Major de Salaberry. EDWARD. KENSINGTON PALACE, 19th December, 1808. DEAR DE SALABERRY,—I am just favored with your letter of yesterday, and hasten to inform you in reply to it, that there is in the Royals at this time a Lieut. Connor, who was Drill Sergeant and Sergeant-Major to the 54th Regt., during the time I last commanded at Gibraltar, and who at that time showed very superior skill in learning my system, in consequence of which I got him his commission in my regiment, but since that time he has been constantly employed in recruiting, in which line he has considerable talent, and has acquitted himself much to my satisfaction. 1 think him well qualified for the situation of Adjutant, and at this time he stands in my list for a commission of that class, so that if Brigadier-General de Rottenburg and Lieut.-Col. Cuyler choose to recommend him for that commission in the 85th, I shall willingly accede to it, for the man's advantage, though he will in every sense be a great loss to me. There is also a Sergeant of the name of Church, a very superior young man, who is in fact an aspirant for a commission, whom I could recommend as a Sergeant-Major, from conduct and steadiness, if once he had acquired a thorough knowledge of discipline; but the interest he has in his own country, has obliged me to keep him to recruiting, and therefore I could only offer him as a piece of the best material to make a Sergeant-Major of; but certainly he should have from four to six months before you can look upon him as an efficient I remain, &c., &c., one. EDWARD. KENSINGTON PALACE, 27th December, 1808. DEAR DE SALABERRY,-I have this day received your's of yesterday, and learn from it with satisfaction, that Lieut.-Col. Cuyler intends recommending Lieut. Connor, of the Royals, for the Adjutancy of the 85th Regiment, as I really think that after a few months instructions he will make a most valuable Adjutant. You will of course apprise him that in transmitting the recommendation to Head Quarters, he is fully at liberty to state, that he had previously obtained my consent, and was authorized to say so. Should Captain Crespigny, who was late in the Royals and exchanged into the 68th Regiment, be present with it, I will thank you to call upon that officer, and acquaint him from me, that I relied on his honor and liberality not to bring up when Lieut. Connor arrives at Ashford, the misunderstanding that took place between him and Captain Smith, on account of which I was obliged to send him recruiting, and that his having the goodness to be silent altogether regarding that transaction, will be particularly obliging me, as Connor obtained his promotion entirely through my protection, in consequence of his exemplary conduct when Grenadier Sergeant of the 54th Regiment, on the night of the mutiny at Gibraltar, and of the talent which he subsequently showed when brought forward as one of the drill-masters to instruct the Garrison in my system. Between you and me the truth of the story was, as I have it from the field officers of the regiment, that though Connor was certainly guilty of an indecorum towards Captain Smith, it was a very venial one, considering the station from which he had risen, and it was generally thought by the field officers of the regiment that the Captain had been much too hard upon him. Your letter to your brother Edward has just been sent to him, and I conclude as soon as he has had an opportunity of consulting with Madame de St. Laurent, he will apprize you what day to expect him. Your gig will be taken up to-morrow to the waggon office in the Boro', and start by the Hythe waggon at 5 o'clock in the evening. I remain, &c., EDWARD. KENSINGTON PALACE, 29th December, 1808. DEAR DE SALABERRY,-I have just received your's of yesterday, and have to thank you for so immediately communicating my message to Lient. Cuyler. I am obliged to you for entering so fully as you appear to do into the commission I gave you for Captain Crespigny, whom you will find an uncommon gentlemanly man in his manners, but he is rather high and mighty, from having rather a long purse, it will therefore be necessary for you to use a little address at the outset with him, and then I am sure you will find no difficulty in insuring his compliance with my wishes. Your gig was taken in by Severn yesterday, to the waggon office in the Boro', from whence I trust it will in a day or two reach you safe. It is I think the cheapest purchase I have ever heard of in my life, for the patent axle alone is worth the money you gave for the whole, and after spending a few guineas in painting it up, it will be just as good as many a one for which 100 guineas are paid. I think the East Suffolk is one of the regiments from which the Royal got men at the last volunteering, if so, and an Act of the Legislature should again pass, as is expected, on the meeting of Parliament, to empower the militia to extend their services into the line, Í should think something might be done with them, in favor of my regiment. I will thank you therefore to keep an eye to that, as I shall have no other person but yourself to look to in that case in your vicinity. Believe me, ever to be, &c., &c., &c. EDWARD. KENSINGTON PALACE, 17th January, 1809. DEAR DE SALABERRY,- -I have many thanks to return you for your letter of yesterday, containing the report of your interview with Captain Crespigny, from which I will candidly tell you that I perceive, notwithstanding his assurances of acquiescing in my wishes, that the high metalled Captain still retains that old leaven he first introduced into the 4th Battalion, and which has been, as Lieut.-Colonel Barnes tells me in confidence, of such serious injury to that part of my corps, that he despairs of being able to eradicate it, without having recourse to very coercive measures; I would have you however, as I now see how the land lays pretty clearly, the moment Lieutenant Connor arrives, lecture him in my name, as to the necessity of his appearing not to know Captain Crespigny at all, and above all to start on the new regiment, by observing a very polite yet distant line of conduct with all the officers, devoting himself entirely to his commanding officer and his duty; and as to messing with the officers, don't let him think of it, at least till the two regiments separate. It would be well for you also to give a hint to Major Hill, who is a very old and zealously attached friend of mine, to keep an eye to Connor, and to advise him how to govern himself so as to acquire the confidence of Colonel Cuyler, explaining to himself at the same time, that Lieut. Connor had got into a difficulty with the Captain of my 4th Battalion, in which I thought, as well as some other officers of the regiment, that he had been very hardly treated; that he was the same man whom he must remember at Gibraltar, Grenadier Sergeant of the 54th Regiment, and who was instructed in the drill by Sergeant Major Stewart of the Royals, whom I had brought with me from the Fusileers; you may also mention him to Paymaster Manby, who is no less devoted to me than Major Hill, and then I am sure with the aid of your further good offices, you will soon get the man into that kind of proper train which he only wants proper advice to adopt, for he is an active, clever, useful fellow, and if well managed will do credit to my recommendation of him. Your brother Edward arrived here safe on Saturday, passed Sunday with us here, went into London yesterday with an order for our box, to enable him to treat his friends, and to-day has returned to his duty at Woolwich. Brigade Major de Salaberry, I remain ever, &c. EDWARD. KENSINGTON PALACE, 21st January, 1809. DEAR DE SALABERRY,-I have had the pleasure of receiving to-day your letter of yesterday, from which I am happy to perceive that you so perfectly understand my ideas relative to Lieut. Connor, who I believe under the protection of a steady commanding officer, and guided by the judicious advice of Major Hill and Captain Manby, possesses every requisite to form a very valuable Adjutant to any regiment in the service, for he knows every minutia of duty well, and the drill in perfection, at least according to my system; but like every Irish man he is inclined to be forward, and in consequence of the indifferent education he has had, does not understand how to discriminate; I shall however enjoin him strictly to be governed by you at the outset, as you possess my confidence, and I feel pretty sanguine that he will not do discredit to my recommendation, though I am free to confess, that with such a domineering disposition as that of the captains of my 4th Brigade, thanks to the bad example set them by Captain Crespigny, and not seen through sufficiently early by Colonel Hay to curb it in time, it is impossible that either he or any other Adjutant who does his duty as he ought should stand his ground. Notwithstanding what I have said of Captain Crespigny as an officer, I am far from wishing to set you against him as a man, for he certainly is very gentlemanlike in his manners, and I believe in his principles. You may inform Col. Cuyler from me, that Lieut. Connor's address is Belfast, north of Ireland, and that I am confident he is ready to start whenever he receives a summons to join the 85th, but I would suggest the propriety of his getting it conveyed through the Adjutant General's Office, as it will require an authority from thence for him to leave his recruiting party before an officer arrives to receive it from him. You are very kind in your enquiries about my health, I have unfortunately been confined since the 12th inst., with one of the heaviest colds and coughs, attended with fever and pains in all my limbs, that I ever yet remember having experienced, but I hope I am beginning gradually to get over it, and that I shall be quit of the complaint by another ten days or fortnight's confinement, having already gone through all the discipline of medicine, the lancet, &c., which has made me as weak as water. Madame de St. Laurent still continues, I am sorry to say, under the influence of the same violent cough that has kept her confined now for above five weeks, and I fear much that there is very little chance of her getting about again till the return of milder weather, for this is a tribute she annually pays to the climate of this country. Believe me, &c., &c., EDWARD. KENSINGTON PALACE, 28th February, 1809. DEAR DE SALABERRY,-I have just had the pleasure of receiving yours of yesterday, from which I perceive that you must of late have had an immense deal of labour in collecting your returns from the motley crew that has poured in upon you since the return of the army from Spain, but it is excellent practice, and I am sure when the trouble is past you will not regret it, in consideration of the experience which it will enable you to acquire. |