Part 28 (1/2)
LONDON, April 12, 1825.
I went to Windsor on Wednesday last with the four Indians, accompanied by my friend Mr. W----, to show them the castle, Frogmore, &c.; but the chief object, which I had secretly in mind, was to have them introduced to his majesty. Sir John C----, the late mayor of Windsor, a.s.sisted me very effectually, and the upshot of the matter is, that the king expressed his desire to see the Indian chiefs, although every body treated this as a most chimerical idea. They wore, for the first time, the brilliant clothes which Mr. b.u.t.terworth had had made for them, and you cannot conceive how grand and imposing they appeared.
The king appointed half-past one on Thursday to receive our party at the royal lodge, his place of residence. We were ushered into the library; and now I am going to say somewhat pleasing to your uncle Savery. As Sir John C---- was in the act of introducing me, but before he had mentioned my name, Sir Andrew Barnard[139] interrupted him, and said: ”There is no occasion to introduce me to that gentleman,--I know him to be General Brock's brother,--he and Colonel Brock, of the 81st, were my most intimate friends,--I was in the 81st with the colonel. There was another brother whom I knew,--he who was paymaster of the 49th,--he was a gallant fellow. By the bye, sir, I beg your pardon; perhaps I am speaking to that very gentleman.”
In the library there was also present Marquess Conyngham, Lord Mount Charles, Sir Edmund Nagle, &c. &c. We remained chatting in the house above half an hour, expecting every moment to see the king enter; and I was greatly amused to observe Mr. W---- and Sir John C---- start and appear convulsed every time there was a noise outside the door. We were admiring the fine lawn when the Marquess Conyngham asked the Indians if they would like to take a turn, at the same time opening the beautiful door that leads to it. The party was no sooner out than we saw the king standing quite still, and as erect as a grenadier on a field day, some forty yards from us. We were all immediately uncovered, and advanced slowly towards the handsomest, the most elegant, the most enchanting man in the kingdom; the Indians conducted by Marquess Conyngham, Sir Edmund Nagle, Sir Andrew Barnard, Lord Mount Charles, &c. &c. The range of balconies was filled with ladies. Sir John C----, Mr. W---- and I, allowed the party to approach his majesty, while we modestly halted at a distance of twenty yards. It was worth while being there only to see the benign countenance of the greatest monarch in the world, and to witness his manner of uncovering his head. The four chiefs fell on their knees. The king desired them to rise, and entered into a great deal of preliminary conversation. I saw him turn towards the marquess, and after a few seconds he said, with his loud and sonorous voice: ”Pray, Mr. Brock, come near me,--I pray you come near me.” I felt a little for my companions who continued unnoticed, and especially for Sir John C----, to whom I was princ.i.p.ally indebted for the royal interview.
The king addressed the Indians in French, very distinctly, fluently, and loud: ”I observe you have the portrait of my father; will you permit me to present you with mine?” The marquess then produced four large and weighty gold coronation peer medallions of his majesty, suspended by a rich mazareen blue silk riband. The chiefs, seeing this, dropped again upon their knees, and the king took the four medallions successively into his hand, and said: ”Will some gentleman have the goodness to tie this behind?”--upon which Sir Edmund Nagle, with whom we had been condoling on account of the gout, while waiting in the library, and who wore a list shoe, skipped nimbly behind the chiefs, and received the string from the king, tying the cordon on the necks of the four chiefs. We were much amused to observe how the royal word can dispel the gout. The instant the grand chief was within reach of the medallion, and before the invest.i.ture was completed, he seized the welcome present with the utmost earnestness, and kissed it with an ardour which must have been witnessed to be conceived.
The king appeared sensibly affected by this strong and unequivocal mark of grateful emotion. The other chiefs acted in a similar way, and nothing could have been managed more naturally, or in better taste. After this ceremony, the king desired them to rise and to be covered. They put on their hats, and which appeared extraordinary to me, his majesty remained uncovered all the time. Here it was that the grand chief, as if incapable of repressing his feelings, poured out in a most eloquent manner, by voice and action, the following unpremeditated speech in his native Indian tongue. I say unpremeditated, because that fine allusion to the sun could not have been contemplated while we were waiting in the library, the room where we expected the interview to take place. I was pleased to find that the presence of this mighty sovereign, who governs the most powerful nation upon earth, did not drive from the thoughts of the pious chief, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
The instant he had finished, the chief of the warriors interpreted in the French language, and I wrote down the speech as soon as I left the royal lodge. It should be observed, that the chiefs had been previously informed by me that, according to etiquette, they should answer any questions which his majesty might be pleased to ask, but not introduce any conversation of their own. The sun was s.h.i.+ning vividly.
THE SPEECH.
I was instructed not to speak in the royal presence, unless in answer to your majesty's questions. But my feelings overpower me. My heart is full. I am amazed at such unexpected grace and condescension, and cannot doubt that I shall be pardoned for expressing my grat.i.tude. The sun is shedding his genial rays upon our heads. He reminds us of the great Creator of the universe--of Him who can make alive and who can kill. Oh! may that gracious and beneficent Being, who promises to answer the fervent prayers of his people, bless abundantly your majesty.
May He grant you much bodily health, and, for the sake of your happy subjects, may He prolong your valuable life! It is not alone the four individuals, who now stand before your majesty, who will retain to the end of their lives a sense of this kind and touching reception--the whole of the nations, whose representatives we are, will ever love and be devoted to you, their good and great father.
His majesty felt deeply every word of the speech, when interpreted by the chief of the warriors. The king answered, that he derived high satisfaction from the sentiments they had expressed, and a.s.sured them that he should always be much interested in the happiness of his North American subjects, and would avail himself of every opportunity to promote their welfare, and to prove that he was indeed their father.
After acknowledging in gracious terms the pleasure which the speech of the grand chief had afforded him, he mentioned, in an easy and affable manner, that he had once before in his life seen some individuals of the Indian nations, but that was fifty-five or fifty-six years ago. He inquired of their pa.s.sage to this country, the name of the s.h.i.+p and of the master, and was persevering in his questions as to the treatment they had experienced at his hands, whether they had been made comfortable in all respects, and if he had been polite and attentive.
While the grand chief was delivering his speech in the Huron language, it seemed as if it would never end, and, observing the king look a little surprised, I informed the Marquess Conyngham, in a loud whisper, that this was the mode in which they expressed their sense of any honor conferred, and that the chief of the warriors would interpret the speech in the French language. The king asked me to repeat what I had been saying, and George and Irving conversed for some time. His majesty, on another occasion, asked me under what circ.u.mstances the Indians had been introduced to me. I answered that they were recommended to my notice, because they had been invested with the medallions of his late majesty by my brother.
His majesty hoped the Indians had seen every thing remarkable in Windsor, and told us we were welcome to see the interior of the lodge and pleasure grounds, that Sir Andrew Barnard would accompany us everywhere, to his stables, menagerie, aviaries, &c., and afterwards he trusted we would partake of some refreshment. He also offered us the use of his carriages. The refreshment was a truly royal repast,--we eat on silver,--the table groaned, as Mr. Heathfield would say, under the king's hospitality. We made a famous dinner,--pine apple, champagne, claret, &c.--servants in royal liveries behind our chairs. After dinner the Indians gave us the war song, when, (in your uncle Savery's poetry about Maria Easy,)
”Tho' the dogs ran out in a great fright, The ladies rushed in with much delight.”
[NOTE.--These four Indians came to England for the purpose of endeavouring to recover lands which had been given to their tribe by Louis the Sixteenth, but it appears that they did not succeed. They were very pious Roman Catholics, and those who saw them were much amused with their simple and primitive manners.--ED.]
_Extract of a Letter from Walter Bromley, Esq., dated London, 15th April, 1825.--From a Halifax N.S. newspaper_.
[The Indian chief, who accompanied me to England, sailed in the Ward, for New Brunswick, a few days ago, loaded with presents to his family and people. I think his appearance here has been more beneficial than if volumes had been printed on Indian civilization, and I am in hope that on both sides of the Atlantic a general sympathy has been excited. The four Canadian chiefs have attracted much attention, and have been presented to his majesty by the brother of the late General Brock; they are the most interesting characters I ever saw--are extremely polite--and speak French fluently.]
_Mrs. (Lieut.-Colonel) Eliot[140] to her sister, in Guernsey_.
QUEBEC, January 12, 1831.
With my kindest love to the Tuppers, tell them that I often see Colonel Glegg, who was Sir Isaac Brock's aide-de-camp: he is now Lord Aylmer's civil secretary, and we meet very often.
He speaks affectionately of his old patron, and has made many inquiries relative to the family: the tears come into his eyes when he talks to me of old times. He and George (Lieut.-Colonel Eliot) were a great deal together during the war in the Upper Province. The other day, at dinner at the chateau, he told me that he had had a visit from Sir Isaac's old housekeeper, who is still living here in a similar situation to the House of a.s.sembly, and gets 50 a year salary. He knew her directly, and seemed quite affected when telling me that she had brought her credentials with her in case he had not recognized her, as many years had elapsed since they met; and she opened a pocket book carefully, which she had in her hand, and took a piece of a s.h.i.+rt with the initials of General Brock's name, which she said she had cut off when the body was brought in to be buried at Fort George, and preserved it as a relic of her dear master. This little, trifling, affectionate remembrance of the old creature, shews her real attachment. Colonel Glegg gave her a new snuff box, filled with snuff from Paris, and told her to come again to see him. Perhaps the Tuppers will be pleased to hear this little anecdote.
[Mrs. Eliot, whose maiden name was Jane M'Crea, is the daughter of an American loyalist and a gallant field officer, now deceased, and the niece and namesake of the unfortunate Jane M'Crea, whose tragical fate in the American revolutionary war excited so much commiseration, and gave rise to a correspondence between the American general. Gates, and General Burgoyne. The former wrote: ”Miss M'Crea, a young lady, lovely to the sight, of virtuous character and amiable disposition, engaged to an officer of your army, was, with other women and children, taken out of a house near Fort Edward, carried into the woods, and there scalped and mangled in a most shocking manner.... The miserable fate of Miss M'Crea was particularly aggravated by being dressed to receive her promised husband, but met her murderer employed by you.” The latter, in his reply, stated, that ”two chiefs, who had brought her off for the purpose of security, not of violence to her person, disputed which should be her guard, and in a fit of savage pa.s.sion in one, from whose hands she was s.n.a.t.c.hed, the unhappy woman became the victim.”]
We have in a preceding chapter described the monument, on Queenstown Heights, to the memory of Sir Isaac Brock, a monument which ”the popularity of the general had caused to be regarded with more affectionate veneration than any other structure in the province.” On Good Friday, the 17th of April, 1840,[141] a miscreant of the name of Lett introduced a quant.i.ty of gunpowder into this monument with the fiendish purpose of destroying it; and the explosion, effected by a train, caused so much damage as to render the column altogether irreparable. Lett, who was by birth an Irishman and by settlement a Canadian, had been compelled to fly into the United States for his share in the recent rebellion; and ”well knowing the feeling of attachment to the name and memory of General Brock, as pervading all cla.s.ses of Canadians, he sought to gratify his own malicious and vindictive spirit, and at the same time to wound and insult the people of Upper Canada” by this demon's deed. The universal indignation of that people was aroused, and a public meeting was appointed to be held on Queenstown Heights, on the 30th of July following, for the purpose of adopting resolutions for the erection of another monument, the gallant Sir Allan Mac Nab especially making the most stirring exertions to promote this great object. The gathering, as it was called, was observed in Toronto (late York) as a solemn holiday; the public offices were closed, and all business was suspended; while thousands flocked from every part of the province to testify their affection for the memory of one who, nearly thirty years before, had fallen in its defence! History, indeed, affords few parallels of such long cherished public attachment. ”Steam vessels, engaged for the occasion, left their respective ports of Kingston and Coburg, of Hamilton and Toronto, in time to arrive at the entrance of the Niagara river about ten o'clock in the forenoon. The whole of these, ten in number, then formed in line, and ascended the river abreast, with the government steamer, containing the lieutenant-governor, Sir George Arthur, and his staff, leading the way. The British sh.o.r.e was lined with thousands, and the fleet of steamers filled with hundreds, each shouting and responding to the cheers of welcome from s.h.i.+p to sh.o.r.e, and from sh.o.r.e to s.h.i.+p again. The landing being effected, the march to the ground was accompanied by military guards, and a fine military band. The public meeting was then held in the open air, near the foot of the monument, and Sir George Arthur was in the chair. The resolutions were moved, and speeches made, by some of the most eminent and most eloquent men, holding high official stations in the province;[142] and considering that amidst this grand and imposing a.s.semblage, there were a great number of veteran officers of the Canada militia, who had fought and bled with the lamented chief, whose memory they were a.s.sembled to honor, and whose monument they had come to re-establish over his remains, the enthusiasm with which the whole ma.s.s was animated may readily be conceived; while the grand and picturesque combination of natural objects of scenery, beheld from the heights on which they were met, and the brightness of the day, added greatly to the effect of the whole.”
The gathering[143] was attended by about 8,000 persons, and the animation of the scene was increased by a detachment of royal artillery, who fired a salute; by a detachment of the 1st dragoon guards, with their bright helmets glittering in the sun; and by the 93d regiment, (Highlanders,) in full costume.