In order to take immediate steps to repair the desecration, Sir George Arthur, the governor-general, called upon the militia of Upper Canada and the regular troops then in the country, to assemble on Queenston Heights on June 30th of that year. The summons was obeyed with enthusiasm, and no greater civil and military display had ever been held in Canada. The youths whom Isaac Brock had led were gray-headed men now, judges and statesmen, the foremost in the land, but they had not forgotten him, and once again, in eloquent words, the story was told of how he had won the undying love and respect of the people.
A tribute
A resolution was unanimously passed, that another monument, higher and nobler still, should be built in place of the one destroyed. No public money was asked, but the regular troops, officers and men, and the militia gave a freewill offering. In due time the sum of fifty thousand dollars was raised. While the monument was building, General Brock's body was placed in a private burying-ground in Mr. Hamilton's garden at the foot of the hill. In 1854, more than forty years after the battle, the column was finished, and once again a long procession followed the hero's bier. Nor was this all. In 1860 there was a notable gathering on that historic hill, when King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, came to do honour to the dead hero, and laid the topmost stone on the cairn that marks the spot where he fell. One hundred and sixty survivors of the volunteers of 1812 were present. Sir John Beverley Robinson was their spokesman. In his address to the prince he said: "In the long period that has elapsed very many have gone to their rest, who, having served in higher rank than ourselves, took a more conspicuous part in that glorious contest. We rejoice in the thought that what your Royal Highness has seen and will see of this prosperous and happy province will enable you to judge how valuable a possession was saved to the British Crown by the successful resistance made in the trying contest in which it was our fortune to bear a part, and your Royal Highness will then be able to judge how large a debt the empire owed to the lamented hero Brock, whose gallant and generous heart shrank not in the darkest hour of the conflict, and whose example inspired the few with the ability and spirit to do the work of many." In reply the prince said: "I have willingly consented to lay the first stone of this monument. Every nation may, without offence to its neighbours, commemorate its heroes, their deeds of arms, and their noble deaths. This is no taunting boast of victory, no revival of long passed animosities, but a noble tribute to a soldier's fame, the more honourable because he readily acknowledges the bravery and chivalry of the people by whose hands he fell. I trust that Canada will never want such volunteers as those who fought in the last war nor her volunteers be without such a leader. But no less I fervently pray that your sons and grandsons may never be called upon to add other laurels to those which you so gallantly won."
The noble shaft on Queenston Heights dominates a wide expanse of land and lake. Deep and strong is the current of the river that flows at its base, but not deeper and stronger than the memory of the man who sleeps below.
[[1]] This letter appears in full in the present writer's "Ten Years of Upper Canada." When that book was published the name of the writer of the letter was not known, as the manuscript containing it found in the archives at Ottawa was not signed. Happily, from a draft of the letter which was among the Robinson family papers, it was discovered that the writer of this admirable account of the battle of Queenston Heights was Lieutenant Robinson, afterwards the distinguished Sir John Beverley Robinson, chief justice of Upper Canada.
[[2]] This command, the author thinks, is the origin of the report that Brock's dying words were, "Push on, brave York Volunteers." It is more probable that this was the occasion on which he used them.
[[3]] Captain Driscoll.
[[4]] The 49th Regiment was known by that sobriquet.
[[5]] "Laura Secord," by Mrs. Curzon.