Family records; containing memoirs of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K. B., Lieutenant E. W. Tupper, R. N., and Colonel William De Vic Tupper, with notices of Major-General Tupper and Lieut

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Preface

The following Memoirs were chiefly written at sea, in February, 1832, during a passage of nineteen days from Rio de Janeiro to Bahia, and the Editor has at length been induced to submit them to publication, from an anxious wish of collecting in one volume the many detached fragments contained in the Appendix. The greater part of these fragments, not generally accessible even now, would in a few years otherwise have been lost, and, as interesting at least to the family and friends of the deceased, they have been thought worthy of being preserved. To others the collection may appear too diffuse, but, as it either confirms or elucidates the previous narratives, the Editor was unwilling to curtail it.

In composing the Memoir of Sir Isaac Brock, the Editor deeply regrets having laboured under the disadvantage of being unable to consult any of the general's private papers, although he perfectly remembers, and is otherwise assured, that the few letters written by him to his family, during the

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American war in which he fell, were interspersed with comments and strictures on his being limited to defensive operations, and deprived of those reinforcements which he thought should have been sent from the Lower to the Upper Province. In consequence, this Memoir must be considered only as a brief summary of his life and services, and as a concise introduction to the extracts in Appendix A. #

Of Lieutenant Tupper's Memoir, the Editor has merely to observe that he transmitted a copy (omitting the observations at page 39, on the present system of naval promotion,) of the description of the attack on the pirates at Candia to Sir John Pechell, who returned it with an assurance of its being so substantially correct, that he had no alteration to make. Sir John, who at the time (December, 1832) was one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and M.P. for Windsor, also wrote : "You might add that Mr. Tupper went to the Mediterranean in the Sybille, when I was so

* Since the Memoir of Sir Isaac Brock was printed, the Editor has heard another trait in his character, the mention of which may serve as a guide to other young officers, similarly circumstanced. When he joined the 49th as a captain, the regiment was disturbed by one of those pests of society — a confirmed duellist. Captain Brock soon proved to his brother captain, who took advantage of being a dead shot, that he was neither to be bullied nor intimidated, and the consequence was a challenge from the latter, which was promptly accepted. On the ground, Captain Brock, who was uncommonly tall and athletic, observed that to stand at twelve paces was not to meet his antagonist on any thing like equal terms, and, producing a handkerchief, insisted on firing across it. This the duellist positively declined, and being soon after compelled to leave the regiment, the officers were thus relieved, by the firm and resolute conduct of a very young man, of the presence of one, with whom all social intercourse had previously been difficult and dangerous.

PREFACE. IX satisfied with his conduct that, upon his promotion and appointment to the Seringapatam, I prevailed upon the admiral to transfer him to the Sybille."

The Memoir of Colonel Tupper is compiled partly from his letters and partly from data gleaned during a residence of upwards of five years (from 1826 to 1832) in Rio de Janeiro, where the Editor became acquainted with many individuals, English, French, and Chileno, on their passage from Chile to Europe, two or three of whom had known Colonel Tupper very intimately. And although, owing to the difficulty of procuring information at so great a distance, this Memoir may contain a few trivial inaccuracies, yet the reader may rely on the general correctness of the narrative. — Of the unprincipled faction still holding the reins of government in Chile, the Editor has not attempted to conceal his abhorrence ; but he can safely assert that while he has withheld nothing which his fraternal feelings prompted him to relate, neither has he written one word which he had not good grounds for believing to be strictly true.

The life of the indefatigable and undaunted Te-cum-seh cannot fail to add to the interest of this volume ; it is drawn from various and apparently authentic sources, and the Editor believes that the sketch is more copious and connected than any which has yet been published of this distinguished Indian Chief. A perusal will probably awaken the sympathy of the

PREFACE.

reader in behalf of a much injured people, — it may also tend to remove the films of national prejudice, and convince him that virtue and courage are not confined to any particular station or country, but that they may exist as well in the wilds of the forest, as in the cultivated regions of civilization.

Guernsey, June, 1835.

Note— After the preceding Preface was in type, the Editor learnt by the newspapers, that on the 20th February last, the southern parts of Chile were visited by an earthquake, which was attended with almost unprecedented devastation. Several of the towns mentioned in Colonel Tuppcr's Memoir were destroyed ;— at Conception only one house escaped the shock ; of its port, Talcahuana, not a vestige remained.— Chilian suffered nearly in equal degree ; and Talca, whose handsome and regular edifices ranked it as the third town of the republic, was transformed into a mass of rums.

Contents

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Memoir of Sir Isaac Brock 1

Lieutenant E. W. Tupper 31

Section I. — British Authors

1 . Military Execution at Quebec 123

2. Extract from Sir G. Prevost's General Order 124

3. Extracts of a letter from Major Glegg 1 25

4. Extract from Quebec Gazette 126

5. Indian Council of Condolence at Fort George 128

6. Verses on the Death of Sir Isaac Brock 129

7. Extracts from James's Military Occurrences 130

S. Quarterly Review 140

9. Lieutenant F. Hall's Travels 144

10. Howison's Upper Canada 145

11. De Roos' Travels 150

12. various Authors ib.

13. New Monthly Magazine 152

14. Talbot's Canada ib.

15. Description of Monument in St. Paul's Cathedral. . 153

16. Re-interment of Sir Isaac Brock ib.