couple. As for Duchesnay, I had the pleasure of seeing him when he was in London two or three years ago, and I can never forget that fine trait in his character, when he employed to purchase a Lieutenancy for his brother the money which his mother had sent him for his own advancement. This trait alone proves that he possesses an excellent heart and fine sentiments of honor, and with such a foundation it is impossible but that he will be a good husband and a good father, if Providence destines him to be a father. The principal part of your 4th letter, that of 27th December, was to announce your appointment to the place previously filled by the deceased Mr. Coffin, on which I will only observe, that for many a day nothing has given me more satisfaction than to find that at last Sir James Craig has kept his word with me, and that the time has at length arrived in which you will enjoy more of what we English call the comforts of life, than has hitherto been the case since the disbanding of the Regiment of Royal Canadians. As in a letter recently received from Sir James Craig, he repeats that he had recommended you as an Executive Councillor, I believe I may assure you that you will not have to wait long, and if you desire to be called to the Legislative Council also, you may depend that it will give me much pleasure to write the Governor General on the subject. As to the Militia of which you speak in the latter part of your letter of 27th December, I believe there is no question but that they will re-assemble under an Act of the Provincial Parliament, which places the Militia when called out under the same footing of discipline as regiments of the line. But I think if this important object is accomplished, the Governor will always keep a certain number on foot, and if you desire to have it, I have no doubt but the command of one of the Battalions will be given to you, for the advantage of having at the head of the corps a chief who is popular cannot have escaped his observation. I arrive now at your fifth letter, that of 29th December, written immediately after that in which de Salaberry informed you of the arrangement for which I had labored, and under which he with his General was to arrive in spring for duty in Canada, and I grieve to say that the positive assurance which I received from the AdjutantGeneral, and which was at the same time given to Sir James Craig, has not been carried out, and that the result has been a disappointment to you and to Madame de Salaberry, but though the preparations for the great expedition with which he was to go to Quebec have been suspended, I like to believe that they will yet be finished and that it will go to its original destination, either this autumn or next spring, and you may depend that I will do my best. In fine having replied to all your letters except the last, that of the 10th last June, which reached me by the hands of Colonel Vesey, it only remains for me to speak of its contents, and as the first part related to the non-arrival of de Salaberry whom you had expected with the first vessels, I need not add anything on the subject to what I have already said. As to Edward, if we wish to place him in the Artillery, in a very few minutes he could get a lieutenancy, but as the Engineers is the branch for which I destined him, being convinced that it is the most advantageous for his future advancement, he is obliged to pursue his studies a good while longer than is required of aspirants for the Artillery, and as there are now only five in the whole Academy before him, I consider that he may leave it at Christmas, when the regulations will oblige him to go, to prosecute for six months surveying under an able master, destined to finish the pupils for the Engineers, and then he will get his lieutenancy, after which there is every appearance of his remaining here for nine or ten months, when I will do everything in my power to have him sent speedily to Canada, if by any means the thing can be effected; but you must not expect to see him before next year, for I believe it is usual to employ them at Chatham or Woolwich for six months before they are permitted to take what we call " Foreign Service." He lives with us always during the Academy vacations, and I hope that you will not think he is among strangers. The report which I have received from his superiors is very satisfactory. He is already well formed, and about five feet eight inches high, and I believe in a couple of years he will not be behind Maurice, who is as tall as I am, according to the report of an officer who saw him in Madras six months ago. Edward has been now here since the 4th July, and will return to the Academy on its re-opening on the 15th of the month, and will quit us with the same regret as I know we feel on parting with him. I am sure he will resume his studies with all possible zeal, being perfectly convinced of the importance of perfecting himself in the qualifications necessary for his profession. I owe you a thousand thanks for the amusement you have afforded me, in sending me the Quebec Gazette, which gives the account of the proceedings of your Colonial Parliament, for certainly the Swiss patois is sufficient to excite the risible muscles; but badinage apart, I believe, after all I have heard, that your Governor General did well in acting with firmness, as he has done on every occasion which required it since his assumption of the Government, for it would not be prudent to permit any opposition to the representative of the Sovereign. You may believe I was very much pleased to observe the proper course you have held during the whole affair, but it was only what I expected from your sentiments of distinguished loyalty. There remains nothing for me to add, but to convey Madame de St. Laurent's kind remembrance, as she will not write you now, having done so recently, and to assure Madame de Salaberry of the continuance of my unalterable regard. I remain always, my dear de Salaberry, A. M. M. de Salaberry, Your affectionate and devoted EDWARD. The reader must have been struck with the expression in the preceding letter, "It would not be prudent to permit any opposition to the representative of the Sovereign;' especially as coming from one whose views were generally in advance of his time, and who was really a very liberal and enlightened man, and when he looks at the constitutional liberty which is now so fully enjoyed in Canada, he will be still more astonished when he turns to the Journals of that day. The military education and experience of Sir James Craig had most thoroughly imbued him with the propriety of carrying into the Civil Government modes of procedure, which though considered necessary in military affairs, were very arbitrary, and he most sincerely entertained the sentiment enunciated by the Duke of Kent. Holding these views, he supported his Council in the imprisonment of several prominent Canadians, under suspicion of sedition, arising from their having struggled for the establishment of principles which the Imperial Government subsequently conceded to the fullest extent, but which the then Provincial Government regarded as arising from disaffection. Sir James was at direct issue with the Assembly, and concluded the address, with which he opened the House on the 10th April 1809, by cautioning them against jealousies among themselves, or of the Government which could have no other object in view than the general welfare. The House in their reply had introduced an indirect reproof for the hints which had fallen from the Governor, and before proceeding to the business for which they had been called together, proceeded to enquire into certain grievances; they were thus occupied at the end of five weeks, when the patience of Sir James became exhausted, and he dissolved them in an angry speech which reminds one strongly of Oliver Cromwell. The following extract will convey a correct idea of its general tenor: "You have wasted in fruitless debates, excited by private and personal animosities, or by frivolous contests upon trivial matters of form, that time and those talents to which within i. your walls the public have an exclusive title. This abuse of your functions, you have preferred to the high and important duties which you owe to your Sovereign, and to your constituents, and you have thereby been forced to neglect the consideration of matters of moment and necessity which were before you, while you have at the same time prevented the introduction of such others as may have been in contemplation. So much of intemperate heat has been manifested in all your proceedings, and you have shown such a prolonged and disrespectful attention to matters submitted to your consideration by the other branches of the Legislature that whatever might be the moderation and forbearance on their parts, a general good understanding is scarcely to be looked for without a new Assembly." The state of public feeling in Canada, at this time will be understood from an extract from a letter from Louis de Sala berry, dated from Hyderabad: "By the bye, I was very much hurt the other day in reading a paper by the highly infamous behaviour of some Canadians. The paper mentioned that there was a conspiracy discovered, which was to murder all the English inhabitants; it must have been written by some Canard, for I cannot imagine that my poor countrymen would disgrace themselves by such an infamous act. The paper in question mentions that Mr. Bedford (who is Mr. Bedford?) was in gaol and several other Canadian gentlemen. The Speaker of the House of Assembly was also mentioned, as being at the head of the party. I sincerely hope the report is exaggerated, for it is so vile that it cannot be true. In a former paper I saw your name mentioned, it was when Sir James Craig delivered that curious speech; it was most honorably mentioned, and I am sorry to find that the others were not so. I hope your letters will inform me of the whole transaction, however strange it may be." The Mr. Bedford, was M. Bedard, a distinguished member of the House, who was imprisoned by a warrant of three members of the Executive Council, but who was never brought to trial, though urgently demanding it, but shortly after the prorogation was released, without any explanation of the cause of his imprisonment, or of the motives of his enlarge ment. CHAPTER XVI. Walcheren.-The Duke of Cumberland and Sellis-Death of Princess Amelia- 1809, 1810. KENSINGTON PALACE, 18th September, 1809. DEAR DE SALABERRY,-Although I have hitherto left your three interesting letters of the 7th, 8th and 20th August, which I received successively on the 12th and 30th of the same month, unanswered, be assured they gave me infinite pleasure, and that I felt, as I ought, your kind attention in thinking of me, in the midst of all the fatigues you had to encounter from the first moment of your landing until the date of your last. But exclusive of a certain apprehension which I was led to entertain (from reports that were in circulation here, of a degree of jealousy existing at your Head Quarters, in regard to the officers who correspond with me,) and which made me feel backward in writing to you, for fear of its doing you disservice there, I have been too much harassed for the last month with an over pressure of business and engagements, that I really for a long time was unable to find leisure to do it, and latterly I was inclined to hope that you would have been included in the number of officers to come home, which would have afforded me the opportunity of thanking you personally for your several communications. However, having yesterday obtained a return of the Brigade, destined for the present to form the Garrison of Walcheren, and finding that your General is one of them, I conclude you remain with him, and therefore am unwilling to delay longer assuring you of my friendly remembrance. Without entering into any particulars of those details you have favored me with, I cannot help expressing my regret at the misapplication of the noble army that has been so uselessly employed upon a service, the result of which is so far from being commensurate with the extent of the means employed upon it, that it could hardly be justified if two-thirds less force had done so little. But when I say this, pray understand me right, that I do not mean to detract from the gallantry of the troops that have been employed on the attack on Walcheren, or to deprecate the extent of the hardships and pri vations they have experienced, which is but too well established by the deplorable return of sick that has been received from the corps 1 |