1796] DORCHESTER'S CHARACTER. 433 lieutenant-governor in 1766, and governor in 1768, which office he held for ten years, until 1778. He was absent from Canada in the period from 1770 to 1774. Again, after Haldimand's departure, appointed governor in 1786, he arrived in Quebec in 1783, holding the office until 1796. He had thus performed sixteen years of active political duty in the province.* It was therefore no figure of speech on his part to say, in the answer to the address, that "the general prosperity and happiness of the province in which I have passed so great a part of my life will ever interest me in the most sensible manner." Dorchester's character is read in the record of his services. It calls for no special eulogy, for he was the prominent figure in the events in which he took part. His military success is written in his services with Wolfe, in the pregnant sentence that he saved Quebec in 1775, and that in 1776 he drove before him from Canadian soil the congress forces like a flock of sheep. In his political career, his moderation, justice, prudence and genius can everywhere be recognised. He had the keenest sense of what was due to the dignity and character of Great Britain. In his private life there was ever apparent a chivalrous sense of honour, truth, and self-sacrifice, and those great qualities which have been shewn in the lives of so many illustrious men of our race, as our guide and example, and as a consolation in our struggles and sorrows. He was one against whom "not even the semblance of a vice could stick." There is no monument to his memory in the dominion, except in the hearts of those who know what we owe him. We are, however, awakening to our duty in this respect, and the hour may come when some mark of national gratitude may be raised to record his worth, for there is no one in our history who deserves better of us and of our children. Lord Dorchester died at his seat, in Berkshire, on the 10th of October, 1808, aged eighty-three. † * 1766 to 1770 (four years), 1774 to 1778 (four years), 1786 to 1791 (five years), 1793 to 1796 (three years); total, 16 years. + Annual Register, 1808, p. 149. 2C CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MAJOR GENERAL WAYNE, U.S. FORCES, AND MAJOR CAMPBELL, 24TH REGIMENT, COMMANDING FORT ON THE MAUMEE, AUGUST, 1794. MAJOR CAMPBELL TO GENERAL WAYNE. Miamis River, 21st August, 1794. SIR,-An army of the United States of America, said to be under your command, having taken post on the banks of the Miamis for upwards of the last twenty-four hours, almost within reach of the guns of this Fort, being a post belonging to his Majesty, the king of Great Britain, occupied by his Majesty's troops, and which I have the honour to command, it becomes my duty to inform myself as speedily as possible, in what light I am to view your making such near approaches to this garrison. I have no hesitation on my part to say, that I know of no war existing between Great Britain and America. I have, etc., WILLIAM Campbell, Major 24th Regt., commanding a British post on the banks of the Miamis. MAJOR GENERAL WAYNE TO MAJOR CAMPBELL. Camp on the banks of the Miamis, 21st August, 1794. SIR, I have received your letter of this date, requiring of me the motives which have moved the army under my command to the position they now occupy, far within the acknowledged jurisdiction of the United States of America. Without questioning the authority or the propriety, Sir, of your interrogatory, I think I may, without breach of decorum, observe to you, that were you entitled to an answer, the most full and satisfactory one was announced to you from the muzzles of my small arms, yesterday morning, in the action against the hoard (horde) of savages in the vicinity of your post, which terminated gloriously to the American arms, but had it continued until the Indians, etc., were drove under the influence of the post and guns you mention, they would not have much impeded the progress of the victorious army under my command, as no such post was established at the commencement of the present war between the Indians and the United States. I have, etc., ANTY. WAYNE, Major General, Commander-in-Chief of the Federal army. MAJOR CAMPBELL TO GENERAL WAYNE. Fort Miamis, 22nd August, 1794. Although your letter of yesterday's date fully authorizes me to any act of hostility against the army of the United States of America in the neighbourhood under your command, yet, still anxious to prevent that dreadful decision, which perhaps is not intended to be appealed to by either of our countries, I have foreborne for these two days past, to resent those insults you have offered to the British flag, flying at this fort, by approaching it within pistol-shot of my works, not only singly but in numbers, with arms in their hands. Neither is it my wish to wage war with individuals, but should you after this 1794] THE FORT ON THE MAUMEE. 435 continue to approach my post in the threatening manner you are at this moment doing, my indispensable duty to my king and country, and the honour of my profession, will oblige me to have recourse to those measures which thousands of either nation may hereafter have cause to regret, and which I solemnly appeal to God, I have used my utmost endeavour to avert. I have, etc., WILLIAM CAMPBELL. MAJOR GENERAL WAYNE TO MAJOR WILLIAM CAMPBELL. Camp, Bank of the Miamis, 22nd August, 1794. In your letter of the 21st instant, you declare, I have no hesitation on my part to say that I know of no war existing between Great Britain and America. I, on my part, declare the same, and that the only cause I have to entertain a contrary idea at present is the hostile act that you are now in commission of, i.e., by recently taking post far within the well known, and acknowledged limits of the United States, and erecting a Fortification in the heart of the settlement of the Indian tribes, now at war with the United States. This, Sir, appears to be an act of the highest aggression, and destructive to the peace and interest of the Union. Hence it becomes my duty to desire, and I do hereby desire and demand in the name of the President of the United States, that you immediately desist from any further act of hostility or aggression, by forbearing to fortify and by withdrawing the troops, artillery and stores under your orders, and directions forthwith, and removing to the nearest post occupied by his Britannick Majesty's troops at the peace of 1783, and which you will be permitted to do unmolested by the troops under my command. I have, etc., MAJOR CAMPBELL TO GENERAL WAYNE. ANTY. WAYNE. Fort Miamis, 22nd August. 1794. SIR, I have this moment the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this date, in answer to which I have only to say that, being placed here in command of a British post, and acting in a military capacity only, I cannot enter into any discussion, either on the right or impropriety of my occupying my present position. Those are matters that I conceive will be best left to the ambassadors of our different nations. Having said this much, Sir, permit me to inform you that certainly I will not abandon this post at the summons of any power whatever, until I receive orders to that purpose, from those I have the honour to serve under. I must still adhere to the purport of my letter this morning, to desire that your army or any individuals belonging to it, will not approach within reach of my cannon, without expecting the consequences attending it. Although I have said in the former part of my letter that my situation here is totally military, yet let me add Sir, that I am much deceived if his Majesty, the king of Great Britain, had not a post upon this river at, and prior to the period you mention. WILLIAM CAMPBELL. [Can. Arch., Q. 70, pp. 28-36.] |