[[3]] The house where the family lived and in which Isaac was probably born and certainly brought up, is a very fine granite one, which still remains, in the centre of the town of St. Peter's Port. It was bought by his father, John Brock, on July 29th, 1769, possession to be had at the ensuing Michaelmas Day, which fell a week before Isaac's birth.—From information given by Miss Henrietta Tupper.
[[4]] It is reported in the "New Annual Register" of 1794 that Sheridan complained in the House of Commons of the manipulation in England of forged assignats, evidently done with the connivance of the government in order to embarrass the Directory, which had issued assignats to an enormous amount. These notes were sent to Guernsey, and forwarded gradually to Normandy and Brittany, where they were strewed on the shore and picked up as treasure trove by the peasantry.
CHAPTER II
SERVICE ABROAD—HOLLAND
Isaac Brock had now been thirteen years in the army, but, although his promotion had been rapid, he had as yet seen but little of active service. In 1798 his regiment was quartered in Jersey. In 1799 it was ordered to England to be in readiness to take part in an expedition against Holland, then occupied by the forces of the French republic.
It was at the breaking out of the war in 1793 that the first expedition to that country had taken place under the command of the Duke of York. At that time England was in alliance with Austria, whose army was commanded by the Prince of Coburg. The campaign, which began auspiciously, ended most disastrously for the allies, and the army was only saved from utter destruction by the skill, energy and wisdom of General Abercromby who conducted the retreat. In spite of his former failure the Duke of York was again entrusted with the command in 1799. With him went also General, then Sir Ralph, Abercromby, who, in 1796, had won such triumphs for England in the West Indies by the capture of Grenada, Demerara, Essequibo, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Trinidad.
General Moore, who had also greatly distinguished himself at the capture of those islands, accompanied the expedition to Holland. England on this occasion had entered into an alliance with Russia who sent to Holland an army of sixteen thousand men. The objects of the expedition were to make a diversion in favour of the Russian general Suwarrow and the Archduke Charles of Austria, who were fighting the French in Italy and Switzerland, and to coöperate with the English fleet on the coast of Holland. Ostensibly England's purpose was to rescue Holland from the thraldom of France.
The Helder