Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/39

 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 2\

his government. He had secured their attachment permanently by his own merits. They were one people animated by one disposition, and this he had gradually wound up to the crisis in which they were placed. Strange as it may seem, it is to be feared that he had become too important to them. The heroic militia of Upper Canada, more particularly, had knit themselves to his person ; and it is yet to be ascertained whether the desire to avenge his death can compensate the many embarrassments it will occasion." A Montreal newspaper of the day also contained the following observations : ' ' The private letters from Upper Canada, in giving the account of the late victory at Queenston, are partly taken up with encomiastic lamentations upon the never-to-be- forgotten General Brock, which do honor to the character and talents of the man they deplore. The enemy have nothing to hope from the loss they have inflicted ; they have created a hatred which panteth for revenge. Although General Brock may be said to have fallen in the midst of his career, yet his previous services in Upper Canada will be lasting and highly beneficial. When he assumed the government of the province he found a divided, disaffected, and, of course, a weak people. He has left them united and strong, and the universal sorrow of the Province attends his fall. The father, to his children, will make known the mournful story. The veteran, who fought by his side in the heat and burthen of the day of our deliverance, will venerate his name." And the sentiments of the British government, on the melancholy occasion, were thus expressed in a dis- patch from Earl Bathurst, the secretary of state for the colonies, to Sir George Prevost : — "His Royal

�� �