to giving you any hope of succeeding to the place of Major Burnbury, if he should vacate it; but it was not at all necessary for you feel regret at having mentioned it. General Hunter could not have done otherwise than he did on the subject of your youngest son, ignorant as he was of the date when Alexander entered the 60th, at the moment he received my order to appoint him. My last has informed you that I would make a point of ascertaining the exact date for insertion in the commission of your young officer. Certainly, my dear Major, you may look upon all your sons as appointed, for, as for the youngest, whenever he shall be of age to carry the colors he shall be made Ensign. I am very sensible of the gratitude of Madame de Salaberry; say to her, I pray, that she has no occasion to thank me for what I have done for her sons; but, on the contrary, that the obligation is on my side, from the pleasure I feel in having rendered a service to so respectable a family. You already know from my last letter, that Madame de St. Laurent had wholly recovered from her fall; she has passed the winter without any sickness, a thing which we feared, as the climate of North America is by no means favorable; but for the last few days she has been a little indisposed. As to the future, I flatter myself that after a little she will be quite well again. As to myself, the excessive application which I have to give to the affairs of my command, and which have kept me a prisoner for more than three-fourths of my time since my return from England, confining me to my office for thirteen or fourteen consecutive hours, has seriously affected me, as it has deprived me of the exercise to which I have all my life been accustomed, and which is indispensable to my health. In consequence I fear I will not be able to hold out long. You know that the Union of Ireland is said to be so far completed, that I have reason to believe that the command of the troops there is destined for me. Though I will certainly leave you all with regret, this mark of the confidence of the King is too flattering for me not to accept it with gratitude, the more so as it will bring me almost within the family circle. The likelihood of this arrangement, or at any rate an order of leave for the winter, in order to discuss the plans and points necessary to be determined before adoption, will oblige me to remain here till the arrival of the June or July packet, one or other of which will certainly determine these points. Consequently I am under the necessity of altering my intentions of going to Canada this year, for if I should winter in America after all, it would be too late to undertake a voyage without being exposed to encounter hard weather on my return. I have only to add, &c., EDWARD. HEAD QUARTERS, Halifax, 23rd June, 1800. SIR,-I have received the commands of His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent to acknowledge the duplicate of your letter of the 14th July last, but which having been sent to England and detained there from various accidental circumstances, did not arrive at Halifax until the 27th ultimo. His Royal Highness had obtained a promise in your favor from the Duke of York, that no one should be promoted to your prejudice unless the vacancy should be occasioned by purchase, when, however mortifying it may appear, yet the custom and general rule of the service has established the practice beyond the possibility of its being obviated. Lieut. Col. Ainslie, having written by a late opportunity to His Royal Highness, has been kind enough to mention your conduct in the handsomest and most flattering manner, and which was received by the Duke with the greatest satisfaction, as it afforded an ample proof of your desire to merit his approbation and patronage, by a close attention to the various duties of your profession. Your father, Major de Salaberry, is at present residing with his family at Beauport, in perfect health and ease, having obtained from the patronage of His Royal Highness, the place in the Indian Department, formerly held by Major de Chambault. Your two brothers have also both commissions in the Canadian Volunteers, the elder having been appointed by General Prescott, and the younger by the Duke, and are at present doing duty at St. John's, Lower Canada, in the Battalion of which your father is Major. Your mother and the rest of the family, His Royal Highness desires me to add, by the last accounts which he received and which are of a recent date, were all in good health also. I cannot conclude without communicating to you, that your letter to Lieut.-Col. Wetherall, having in his absence been opened by me, I am commanded by H. R. Highness to express thanks for the present of the two turtles, which arrived in good condition on the 30th ult., and were very acceptable. I have the honor to be, Sir, &c., Capt. de Salaberry, 4th Batt., 60th Regt., MY DEAR MAJOR,-Though I find myself to-day in the midst of preparations for my departure for England, His Majesty having approved of my return for the present, on account of my lost health, he having judged it expedient to employ me more immediately about his person, I do not wish to leave without giving you the news, and offering you my thanks for your letter of the 9th July, which arrived at the same time as the pretty present from yourself and children. left Eng I regret that the circumstances under which Mr. land and the service, were such as to render it impossible for me to pay the least attention to any recommendation in his favor. It will be sufficient, I think, for me to say, that literally he merited the punishment, and if he has not been hanged, it is only because I furnished the means to save him and evade justice; you may hold him to be one of the most thorough scoundrels that ever lived. My health, long since very much deranged by excessive labor in my office, from the moment of my arrival here, added to other weighty reasons, obliged me to ask His Majesty's permission to return to Europe this autumn. It was on the 17th current that orders as above were communicated to me, and I feel sure that you will rejoice when I add that it has been done in the most flattering and affectionate manner. One of His Majesty's ships, the Assistance, of 50 guns, was immemediately prepared for me, and as I wish to avoid the possibility of encountering the equinoctial gales, and as every thing will be ready in two days, I propose to embark on Saturday, 3rd August. Consequently I will be almost immediately in England; but you may be persuaded of this, that distance will not ever change my sentiments towards yourself and family, for at all times you may be firmly persuaded of the continuation of my esteem and friendship, and I you to believe, &c., EDWARD. pray P.S.-1st August, 1800.-I have this moment received your letter of the 12th July, by the hands of M. Juchereau, and an immediate opportunity presenting, I have appointed him Lieutenant of the 1st Batt. of the Volontaires Canadiens, vice M. Charles de Lanaudière. Major Gordon is authorised to explain to General Hunter that the date of the Ensigncy of your third son, will be the same as that on which Alexander was appointed Quartermaster in the 60th. I am very grateful for the kind remembrances of Madame de Salaberry, and I charge you to present the assurance of my respect and esteem. E. When it was actually known that H. R. H. was about to leave, the Lieutenant-Governor and Council hastened to present him with an address, regretting his departure, and complimenting him on the security which had been enjoyed while he had been in command. We cannot refrain from furnishing one extract: "To your benevolence the indigent have owed their support; the tradesmen and mechanics, employment; and the industrious of every description, the means of reaping the recompense of their skill and diligence." We also give a paragraph from his reply: "It is with no small degree of pride, that I perceive the many beneficial effects which you are so good as to ascribe to my residence among you; but at the same time, that I have not vanity enough to flatter myself that my absence will be so severely felt as you have the kindness to intimate; it is a circumstance that I shall always consider as one of the most flattering of my life, that I may be certain of carrying with me your hearty wishes and good opinion, as well as that I have not failed in my endeavors to maintain the tranquillity and promote the prosperity of your Province." We have already given one extract from Sir Brenton Haliburton's letters, and we cannot refrain from here giving another, as no language which we could use could so forcibly or truthfully describe what we wish to bring before our readers :— "His R. H.'s discipline was strict, almost to severity. I am sure he acted on principle; but I think he was somewhat mistaken in supposing such undeviating exactitude essential to good order. Off the parade he was the affable prince and polished gentleman. At his table everyone felt at his ease; but while it was evidently his object to make them so, his dignified manner precluded the possibility of any liberty being taken by the most forward. "I cannot close without mentioning his benevolence to the distressed. A tale of woe always interested him deeply; and nothing but gross misconduct could ever induce him to abandon any whom he had once been induced to befriend. I have much pleasure in recalling these recollections of H. R. Highness, under whom I served for several years, and from whom I received very great kindness." Thus H. R. Highness left B. N. America for the last time, bearing the most unequivocal testimonies of the respect of all classes in the community and all parties in the state, and regretted by the warm-hearted and loyal people. Ilis command in B. N. America may be looked on as the brightest and sunniest period of his life, still it had not been without its annoyance, arising from the continued embarrassed state of his finances, which had been still further damaged by another serious loss. On his appointment to the com mand in chief in B. N. America, he had ordered his seventh equipment to the value of £11,000 stg., which was most thoughtlessly sent out in the month of October, in the Amelia, which was wrecked on Sable Island. Every soul on board perished, and ship and cargo were swallowed up by the insatiable sands. This finale to an extraordinary combination of untoward circumstances, Neale justly pronounces to be without precedent or parallel in the military life of any one individual, and its inevitable tendency was to involve the Prince still deeper in debt, and he quitted America more seriously embarrassed than when he reached it. It is anticipating, but as I think there can be no more fitting conclusion for this chapter, I shall give the extract from Judge Thomas Haliburton, to which I have already referred :— "At a distance of seven miles from the town, is a ruined lodge built by H. R. H. the late Duke of Kent, when Commander in Chief of the forces in this Colony, once his favorite summer residence and the scene of his munificent hospitalities. It is impossible to visit this spot without the most melancholy feelings. The tottering fence, the prostrate gates, the ruined grottoes, the long and winding avenues cut out of the forest overgrown by rank grass, and occasional shrubs, and the silence and desolation that reign around; all bespeaking a rapid and premature decay, recall to mind the untimely fate of its noble and lamented owner, and tell of affecting pleasures and the transitory nature of all earthly things. It is but a short time since this mansion was tenanted by its Royal Master; and in that brief space, how great has been the devastation of the elements! A few years more, and all trace of it will have disappeared for ever. Its very site will soon become a matter of doubt. The forest is fast reclaiming its own, and the lawns and ornamented gardens, annually sown with seeds scattered by the winds from the surrounding woods, are relapsing into a state of nature, and exhibiting in detached patches a young growth of such trees as are common in the country." The Lodge has disappeared, having not long survived the "earthly tabernacle" of its builder, but his spirit still lives and his memory is green in the hearts of all in the New and Old Worlds who knew him, and therefore knew his worth, and no more fitting epitaph can be written than is contained in the words already quoted from Sir Brenton Haliburton, and which we delight to repeat : "A TALE OF WOE ALWAYS INTERESTED HIM DEEPLY, and NOTHING BUT GROSS MISCONDUCT COULD EVER INDUCE HIM TO ABANDON ANY WHOM HE HAD ONCE BEEN INDUCED TO BEFRIEND,” |