Part 31 (1/2)

No. 9. Page 343.

To His Royal Highness the Prince Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,

The humble address of the Commons of Upper Canada, in Parliament a.s.sembled,

May it please your Royal Highness,

We, his majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects the Commons of Upper Canada, in Provincial Parliament a.s.sembled, beg leave to offer to your Royal Highness the homage of our unfeigned attachment to his Majesty's sacred person and government, and of our filial reverence for the great and magnanimous nation of which we have the honor to form a part.

While we pray your Royal Highness to accept of our most cordial congratulations on the splendid achievements of his Majesty's forces, and of those of his allies in various parts of the globe, and in particular on the extraordinary successes which, under Divine Providence, have attended his Majesty's arms in this portion of his dominions; we should do injustice to the memory of our late truly ill.u.s.trious president, Major-General Brock, under whose auspices the latter were during his lifetime princ.i.p.ally achieved, did we omit to accompany them with feelings of the most poignant sorrow for his fall.

He had endeared himself to us by his able, virtuous, and disinterested administration of the civil government, and by the zeal, military talent, and bravery, which characterized and marked his conduct in the field.

To his energy, his prompt.i.tude, and his decision, do we feel ourselves in a great degree indebted, for having at this moment the happiness of enjoying the privileges of his Majesty's subjects. His disinterested and manly conduct aroused the spirit of the country, and called it forth for self-defence against a most insidious foe.

In appreciating, as we do, his talents and eminent services, most deeply do we lament our inability to bestow on them any other reward than our praise. Without revenue for even the ordinary purposes of the government, we have no funds from whence to reward merit, however exalted and deserving.

We derive, however, much pleasure from beholding that the services of our ever-to-be-lamented president and general have been appreciated by your Royal Highness; and while we feelingly regret that he did not survive to enjoy the high honors conferred upon him by your Royal Highness in his Majesty's name, we, with all humility, would beg to suggest that a grant to his family of a portion of his Majesty's most valuable waste lands in this province would be most gratifying to us. It would, we doubt not, be acceptable to them, and it would be the means of perpetuating the connection that had taken place between us, as well as the name of Brock, in a country in defence of which the general so n.o.bly fell!!! and which his exertions had so eminently contributed to save.

That your Royal Highness may long be preserved to fill the exalted station to which you have been called for the advancement of the happiness, honor and glory, of the British nation, is the fervent prayer of his Majesty's faithful subjects, the Commons of Upper Canada.

(Signed) A. M'LEAN, Speaker.

Pa.s.sed the Commons House of a.s.sembly, the Sixth Day of March, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirteen.

No. 10. Page 344.

_Anniversary of the Battle of Queenstown, and the re-interment of the late much-lamented Major-General Sir Isaac Brock_.

”There is something so grand and imposing in the spectacle of a nation's homage to departed worth, which calls for the exercise of so many interesting feelings, and which awakens so many sublime contemplations, that we naturally seek to perpetuate the memory of an event so pregnant with instruction, and so honorable to our species. It is a subject that in other and in older countries has frequently exercised the pens, and has called forth all the descriptive powers of the ablest writers.[158] But here it is new; and for the first time, since we became a separate province, have we seen a great public funeral procession of all ranks of people, to the amount of several thousands, bearing the remains of two lamented heroes to their last dwelling on earth, in the vaults of a grand national monument, overtopping the loftiest heights of the most magnificent section of one of the most magnificent countries in the world.

”The 13th of October, being the anniversary of the battle of Queenstown, and of the death of Brock, was judiciously chosen as the most proper day for the removal of the remains of the general, together with those of his gallant aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel M'Donell, to the vaults prepared for their reception on Queenstown heights.[159]

”The weather was remarkably fine, and before ten o'clock a very large concourse of people, from all parts of the country, had a.s.sembled on the plains of Niagara, in front of Fort George, in a bastion of which the bodies had been deposited for twelve years.[160]

”One hea.r.s.e, covered with black cloth, and drawn by four black horses, each with a leader, contained both the bodies.

Soon after ten, a lane was formed by the 1st and 4th regiments of Lincoln militia, with their right on the gate of Fort George, and their left extending along the road towards Queenstown, the ranks being about forty paces distant from each other: within this line was formed, a guard of honor of the 76th regiment, in parade order, having its left on the fort. As the hea.r.s.e moved slowly from the fort, to the sound of solemn music, a detachment of royal artillery began to fire the salute of nineteen guns, and the guard of honor presented arms.

”On moving forwards in ordinary time, the guard of honor broke into a column of eight divisions, with the right in front, and the procession took the following order:

A Staff Officer.

Subdivision of Grenadiers.

Band of Music.

Right Wing of 76th Regiment.

THE BODY.

Aide-de-Camp to the late Major General Sir ISAAC BROCK.

Chief Mourners.

Relatives of the late Colonel M'DONELL.