Civil or military authority
A long correspondence also took place about a piece of vacant land that was needed as a parade ground for the troops, of which there were then about a thousand in garrison. The ground in question was the garden of the Jesuits adjoining the barracks, and had been seized by the Crown on the death of Father Cazot, the last of the order in Canada. It was a standing grievance with the French Canadians that this property had been appropriated by the government. The correspondence between President Dunn and Colonel Brock was rather a heated one, and the latter laid the case before the authorities in England. He tells the story of how he had asked permission of the president to use this vacant ground for drilling the troops, and how he had cleared it of weeds on the understanding that the president, although he could not officially allow it to be converted into a parade ground, would shut his eyes and not interfere. The troops had paraded there and at first no notice was taken, but a few days afterwards a letter was received from the acting governor, expressing his disapprobation of the proceedings, and denying that he had given his tacit consent to the measure. It was one of the not unusual differences of opinion between the civil and military authorities. Mr. Dunn had lived for a long time among the inhabitants of the country, and had to consider their prejudices.
Brock had his own way, however, for a few years later a writer mentions these once beautiful gardens as a place for the exercise of the troops, and laments the fall of the stately trees that from the foundation of the city had been the original tenants of the ground.
At this time, 1807, Mr. Francis Gore was lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. He had entered the 44th Regiment as an ensign in 1787 when eighteen years of age, and had been quartered as a subaltern with Isaac Brock, both in Jersey and Guernsey. Fate had once more thrown them together. After the peace of Amiens in 1802, Gore had retired from the army, but when hostilities had broken out again he was appointed inspecting field officer of volunteers with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He succeeded so well in his new position that Pitt made him governor of Bermuda, and from that post he succeeded General Hunter as lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. He did not, however, supersede Colonel Brock as commander-in-chief, and military returns were sent from the Upper Province to Quebec during the winter by Indians hired for this purpose. Sometimes it took months for communications between the two provinces. There was also some correspondence about Indian affairs, and Colonel Brock announced that although his predecessor, Colonel Bowes, had given directions about the management of Indians in Upper Canada, he intended himself to follow His Majesty's instructions of 1796, and leave the sole control of Indian affairs in that province to the lieutenant-governor.
Strict accounts
As soon as Colonel Brock assumed command of the troops he found it necessary to look into the accounts of the deputy commissary-general. They were in great confusion, a sum of thirty-six thousand three hundred and fifty pounds sterling not being accounted for. The commissary when called upon to explain the large deficit objected to the rank of Colonel Brock, and wrote that he did not think any authority then in Canada was competent to give orders by which his duties and responsibilities under the instructions of the lords commissioners of His Majesty's treasury could be in any manner altered. Colonel Brock looked upon his position as commander-in-chief in a different light, and replied:—"In respect to the last paragraph of your letter, relating to the two characters (the president of Lower, and the lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada), whom you consider as more competent than myself to exercise authority, it will be time to investigate the question when either of them shall express a wish to assume the command, but in the meantime I shall exercise it with promptitude and decision."
There certainly was need for an enquiry, for it was found that no examination had been made in the stores account since 1788, nor in the fuel account since 1796. The enquiry resulted in the retirement of the officer in charge, who was found to be insolvent. Colonel Brock was most careful and precise himself in money affairs, and required all those under him to be rigidly correct in the expenditure of the public money.
He writes in January, 1807, to Colonel Glasgow, president of the board of accounts:—"I have to request the board to continue diligently to ascertain the sufficiency of every authority for expenditure before it sanctions the smallest charge..... When expense is incurred without the most urgent cause, and more particularly when large sums are stated to have been expended in anticipation of services not yet authorized, my duty strictly compels me to withhold my approval to all such irregular proceedings."
There was another and very important branch of the service in Canada which required supervision, namely, the marine department, and it was to Brock's foresight that Great Britain owed her supremacy of the lakes when the war of 1812 broke out. He ordered the building and outfitting of vessels and bateaux for the lakes and rivers of both the Upper and Lower Province. He also directed that an assistant quartermaster-general should be stationed at Amherstburg and another at Kingston, the former to superintend the repairs and stores of the boats on Lake Erie, the latter those on Lake Ontario. Colonel Brock ordered the following number of boats to be kept in constant repair at the several military posts: At Quebec, six; Three Rivers, two; Fort William Henry, four; Montreal, seven; St. Johns, two; Kingston, four; Fort George, twelve; York, three; Amherstburg, four.