Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Short Summary of the Life of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock
Baltic. Britain determined to make a mighty effort to or capture these ?eets and to the A powerful ?eet of thirty-three vessels was fitted out. Sir Hyde Parker and Lord Nelson were in command and Colonel Brock was second-in-command of the land forces. But the Danes offered so fierce a resistance that the landing had to be given up, and the infantry remaining on the decks of the vessels were subjected to very severe gun fire to which they could make no reply. At the close of the battle Brock accompanied Captain Freemantle to the Elephant, Nelson's ?agship, where he saw the hero write his celebrated letter to the Crown Prince of Denmark. It ran as follows: Lord Nelson has directions to spare Denmark when no longer resisting; but if the firing is continued on the part of Denmark, Lord Nelson will be obliged to set on fire all the ?oating batteries he has taken without having the power to save the brave Danes who have defended them.
Brock may have taken a hint from this famous message. At any rate it closely resembles the message he sent later to General Hull, in Detroit.
In the spring of 1802 the 49th Regiment was ordered to make ready to go to Canada. They set sail from England in June, and after weeks of unusually stormy weather for the summer season arrived at Quebec. The vast river St. Lawrence, opening into the heart of the continent, the miles and miles of forest, growing thick to the shores, the strong natural fortress at Quebec, crowned by defences that had experienced four protracted sieges, must have impressed Brock with the vastness of the country to which this was but the gateway. For a short period he remained at the capital of Canada, but the 49th was destined for Upper Canada, now Ontario, and to that wilderness, as he thought it, it was necessary he should go. On his arrival was faced with a problem most trying to any military leader. The monotonous life in the colony was distaste ful to soldiers, -especially to those who were accustomed to the city life and pleasures of the old land, and desertions were common. The men were frequently tempted to take this course by inducements held out to them by citizens of the United States, and, as it was easy at frontier posts for a deserter to slip across the border unobserved, it was needful to keep a close watch on the men. Brock learned that desertion was common in Canada, and at once took the matter in hand in order to prevent such a thing happening in the 49th. He tried, by treating his men with exceptional kindness, to make them content with their lot.
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