If such were the apprehensions of the commanding officer in Canada little wonder General Hull, in later days, counted on the co-operation of many of the inhabitants of the trans-Niagara country. In September, 1807, Brock, who was acting-governor in Canada pending the arrival of Sir James Craig, was fortifying Quebec in anticipation of an immediate outbreak of the impending war. In this connection a little incident displays his character. He had caused to be erected at Quebec a very powerful battery, and of it he wrote his brothers:
I erected . . . a famous battery, which the public voice named after me; but Sir James, thinking very properly that anything so very pre-eminent should be distinguished by the most exalted appellation, has called it the King's Battery, the greatest compliment, I conceive, that he could pay to my judgment.
The true modesty of the really great man shines out in these charming words.
As the war cloud seemed to dissipate toward the close of 1808, General Brock seems to have set his eyes toward Europe in the hope of opportunity of active service; on November 19th he writes quite despondently:
My object is to get home as soon as I can obtain permission; but unless our affairs with America be amicably adjusted, of which I see no probability, I scarcely can expect to be permitted to move. I rejoice Savery [Brock] has begun to exert himself to get me appointed to a more active situation. I must see service, or I may as well, and indeed much better, quit the army at once, for no one advantage can I reasonably look to hereafter if I remain buried in this inactive, remote corner, without the least mention being made of me.
It is exceedingly noticeable that Brock now seems to pin all his hope to being recalled in order that he might win his laurels in the tremendously spectacular campaigns against Napoleon in Spain. From his letters we learn that the French-Canadians looked for the Corsican's ultimate triumph and his final possession of Canada itself, and adds that under like circumstances Englishmen would be even more restless under French rule than the French-Canadians were under English; "Every victory which Napoleon has gained," he observes, "for the last nine years has made the disposition here to resist more manifest."
In the middle of July Brock writes his sister-in-law, Mrs. William Brock, that the die is cast and that he is ordered to Upper Canada. If it is character, rather than mere performance that, in the last analysis, gives every man his historic position in the annals of the world, the truth is nowhere better shown than here in the case of this splendid Canadian hero. Could his Governor have spared him Brock would have, ere this, been at home or en route to Spain and fame; but the conditions demanded a strong, diplomatic officer at Fort George, and there was nothing for it but that Brock must go; and there followed war—and bloody Queenston Heights. "Since I cannot get to Europe," are his gloomy words, "I care little where I am placed."
By September 13th he is writing his brothers from Fort George, but still hinting of his hopes to get leave to return to England eventually. What an out-of-the-way place for fame to seek and find a man—a man repining that he cannot go in search of her! Yet he writes: "I should stand evidently in my own light if I did not court fortune elsewhere." The attitude of Sir James Craig in the matter of his transfer to the European service was candidly stated by a letter from Colonel Baynes as follows:
In reply to an observation of mine, that you regretted the inactive prospect before you, and looked with envy on those employed in Spain and Portugal, he said: "I make no doubt of it, but I can in no shape aid his plans in that respect; I would not, however, be the means of preventing them, and although from his local knowledge I should regret losing him in this country, yet I would not oppose it if he could obtain an appointment to the staff on service; but in that case I would ask for another general officer being sent in his place immediately to Upper Canada." I tell you this, my dear general, without reserve, and give you, as far as I can recollect, Sir James's words. If he liked you less, he might, perhaps, be more readily induced to let you go; as matters stand, I do not think he will, although I am convinced that he will feel very sincere regret in refusing you on a subject upon which you appear to be so anxious.
In his correspondence we now and then get a glimpse of the General's tastes and inclinations; that he was not a frugal entertainer we have considerable proof,[32] likewise evidence of his temperate tastes. In his lonely life by the Niagara he had recourse to such books as were to be found.