the choice. 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 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. Should Sir
James Saumarez return from the Baltic crowned with success, he
could, I should think, say a good word for me to some purpose.

Vincent[24] is doing extremely well. I however dread the
severity of a winter upon his shattered frame. I must
contrive to meet and dissipate the dull hours with my good
friends of the 49th. I have prevailed upon Sir James to
appoint Sergeant Robinson, master of the band, to a situation
in the commissariat at Sorel, worth 3s. 6d. a day, with
subaltern's lodging money and other allowances. He married a
Jersey lass, whose relatives may inquire for him.

* * * * *

It will be seen by the next letter and a few others which follow, that
Sir Isaac Brock was well aware of the existence among the French
Canadians of a spirit of disaffection, which, in 1837, broke out into
open rebellion, the suppression of which earned Sir John Colborne (the
present Lord Seaton) his peerage. The outbreak caused great loss of
life, and considerable expense arising not only from the hurried
dispatch to Quebec of a large body of troops from Nova Scotia and
England, but from the retention in the Canadas of about 10,000 men for a
few years, to overawe the disaffected, and to repress the piratical
incursions of the citizens of the United States in their favor.

_Brigadier Brock to his brother William_.

QUEBEC, December 31, 1809.

You will long since have been convinced that the American
government is determined to involve the two countries in a
war; they have already given us legitimate cause, but, if
wise, we will studiously avoid doing that for which they shew
so great an anxiety. Their finances, you will perceive, are
very low, and they dare not propose direct taxes. They must
have recourse to loans at a time when they have only six
frig