The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, K.B Part 34

"Mr. Brock was not an ordinary man. He was const.i.tuted of materials which would have led their owner to distinction in whatever sphere he might have been placed. Indebted but little to early education, he possessed within himself a faculty of extracting knowledge from every thing that came within his observation; and, gifted with a powerful memory, a reflecting mind, and the art of methodizing and arranging the ideas and information which he acquired, he was enabled at all times to bring a ma.s.s of well digested and pertinent knowledge to bear upon and ill.u.s.trate any subject which he was required to discuss. He had a singular talent for comprehending principles and for seizing information, and arranging and applying it; so that there were few subjects upon which he entered on which he could not lay down sound principles, and ill.u.s.trate and maintain them by sound arguments. Too confident of his strength, and perhaps over-elated with his many victories, he would sometimes venture on untenable ground, and expose himself to the inroads of an able enemy; but these indiscretions were of rare occurrence, and the memory of his temporary checks was generally cancelled by the skilfulness of his retreats.

"If Mr. Brock was thus distinguished for his mental powers, he was no less so by the strength and felicity of his style of writing. He had the rare talent of putting proper words in their proper places. He wrote English with English plainness and English force. There was nothing affected or _modish_ in his manner. He gave his readers an impression that he was clear in the conception of his own meaning, and he made it equally so to them. He aimed at no ornament: the beauty of his writings consisted in their perspicuity and strength. A verbal critic might discover inaccuracies in his compositions, but the man of sense would find in them nothing unmeaning--- nothing useless--nothing vapid. He was not a turner of fine periods--he was not a _fine writer_--but he wrote with strength, precision, and lucidity; and his compositions, even where they failed to produce conviction, could never be read without creating respect for the masculine talents of their author......

"But the main ground on which the memory of Daniel De Lisle Brock must rest its claims on the affection, the respect, and the grat.i.tude of his fellow countrymen, is the devoted--the engrossing love which, during his whole life, he bore to his native land. Every thought, every wish, every feeling of pride or ambition, centered in his beloved Guernsey. She was the idol of his affections--the object of all his solicitude--the glory of his inmost heart. His endeavours for her welfare may occasionally have been misdirected--his objections to change in her inst.i.tutions may have been ill-founded--but his motives have ever been beyond the reach of suspicion or reproach. They were concentrated in the desire for her good. Her people, her soil, her laws, her customs, nay, even her prejudices, were dear to him--they were his household G.o.ds. He wors.h.i.+pped them, he lived for them, and he would have died for them......

"The private character of Mr. Brock presents an embellis.h.i.+ng and graceful adjunct to his public qualities. Bold even to temerity in his acts; firm even to obstinacy in his opinions; entertaining an exalted estimate of the office that he filled, and of the interests that he embodied or represented in his person, he was, at the same time, simple, courteous, and benevolent in his private manner, to a degree that was as honorable to himself, as it was gratifying to those who came in contact with him. Mr. Brock on the bench, and Mr. Brock in private, were distinct characters. In the former position, conscious, probably, of his talents and his authority, he was firm, and sometimes, though rarely, in appearance even imperious; in the latter, resigning himself to the feelings of the gentleman, he was affable, kind, and even diffident. In his privacy he displayed all the attributes of a superior mind. He was entirely devoid of pride and ostentation: his mind was superior to the weakness they denote. He disdained the conventional habits of society, for nature had created him a gentleman, and he needed not the aid of art. He mingled not in that society where he might have received the homage to which his talents were ent.i.tled. He spent his time in study, or in working for the public welfare; his relaxations being in his fields and garden, or in the conversation of casual visitors who, uninvited, occasionally resorted to his unceremonious and hospitable roof. Ardent as he was in political discussions, p.r.o.ne as he was to enter into controversy, the feelings of animosity which he expressed died in their utterance. The adversary of to-day was the welcome guest of the morrow. The hand which had distilled the gall of disputation at one moment, was readily extended in kind fellows.h.i.+p the next. Mr. Brock was probably not exempt from failings, but he had certainly nothing of littleness about him. He respected an honorable and open adversary, more than a flattering and servile friend. His hostility was strong, but it was shortlived: his enmity was vigorous, but it had no memory. In other respects, too, he evinced a generous and benevolent heart. At all seasons and under all circ.u.mstances, his time and attention were willingly devoted to those who sought his a.s.sistance or advice. He was the friend and counsellor of all. Many is the angry feeling he has allayed--many the lawsuit he has prevented--many the family division he has closed. His kind offices were at the command of all. No labour was too great for him, when called on for his a.s.sistance; but if at any time he found himself obliged to reject a claim which was made on him, he so softened his refusal with courtesy and kindness, that the disappointed seldom left him without experiencing a sense of obligation.

"Possessing these characteristics, which are hastily sketched by the pen of a political opponent, Mr. Brock, it must be admitted, was a distinguished man. His sphere of action was limited, but within that sphere he acted an honorable, a useful, and a n.o.ble part. Had he been cast upon a wider stage, there can be little doubt that his talents and his resolution would have acquired for him a more extensive reputation; but, even as it is, his fate is enviable. He sought the welfare of his country, and desired its respect and grat.i.tude as his reward. Both objects have been attained; and he now sleeps, at the close of a long and honorable life, regarded by all his country men as the most able, the most useful, the most disinterested, and the most patriotic of the rulers to which its destinies have ever been committed. No man has been more beloved and respected in his life, and none more regretted at his death. _Peace to his manes!_"

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 161: There are some of the public papers written by Mr. Brock which may be profitably studied as models of this kind of composition.--_Guernsey Star, September 26, 1842._]

[Footnote 162: Mr. Brock was no doubt ambitious, but his ambition was gratified in beholding the advancement of his country. Personal advantage--individual distinction--were things that never occurred to his imagination, or occurred only to be contemned. He might have had an augmentation of salary--he might have received the honor of knighthood--he might have had the sources of fortune opened to him--but these would have brought no advantages to Guernsey, and he rejected them.--_Guernsey Star, September 26, 1842._]

[Footnote 163: The extracts in inverted commas are from the Guernsey _Star_ of Thursday, 29th September, 1842.]

APPENDIX C.

The common ancestor of the Guernsey family of this name was John Tupper, who settled in the island about the year 1592. He was an English gentleman, of German, extraction, his forefather, it appears, having, about the year 1525, fled from Ca.s.sel during the religious persecution in the reign of Charles the Fifth. The elder son of this John Tupper married Elizabeth, daughter of Hilary Gosselin,[164] procureur du roi, or attorney-general--the younger removed to England.

In the memorable year of 1692, John Tupper, Esq., (the grandson of the said John Tupper and Elizabeth Gosselin,) at some expense and risk of capture, conveyed to Admiral Russell, who commanded the combined English and Dutch fleets lying at St. Helen's, the intelligence that the French fleet, under Admiral Tourville, was in the channel. This intelligence led to the battle of La Hogue; and as a reward for this patriotic service, Mr. Tupper was presented by his sovereigns, William and Mary, with a ma.s.sive gold chain and medal, which are now in possession of his heir male; his descendants being permitted to bear them as an honorable augmentation to their arms and crest.

The elder son of John Tupper, who acquired the medal, by his wife, Elizabeth Dobree, of Beauregard, had three sons, of whom the eldest died without issue; the second was Elisha, a much-respected jurat of the Royal Court, who died in 1802, leaving five surviving children;[165]

and the youngest was John, who obtained, in 1747, a commission, by purchase, in General Churchill's regiment of marines, that corps being then differently const.i.tuted to what it is now. He served as a captain at the celebrated defeat of the French fleet in Quiberon bay, by Sir Edward Hawke, in 1759; as a major and commandant of a battalion at Bunker's Hill, in 1775,[166] where he was slightly wounded, and where the marines, having greatly distinguished themselves, won the laurel which now encircles their device; and as a lieutenant-colonel in Rodney's victory of the 12th of April, 1782, having been especially sent from England to command the marines in the fleet, about 4,000 men, in the event of their being landed on any of the enemy's West India islands. At his decease, in January, 1795, he was a major-general in the army, and commandant-in-chief of the marines. Had the honors of the Bath been extended in those days to three degrees of knighthood as they have been since, he would probably have been a knight commander of that order.

The fatality which has attended the descendants of the two brothers just named, will appear in the following brief summary:

1.--Lieutenant Carre Tupper, of his majesty's s.h.i.+p Victory, only son of Major-General Tupper, slain at the siege of Bastia, on the 24th of April, 1794.

2.--William De Vic Tupper, (son of E. Tupper, Esq.) mortally wounded in 1798, in a duel in Guernsey, with an officer in the army, and died the day following.

3.--John E. Tupper, aged twenty, perished at sea, in 1812, in the Mediterranean, the vessel in which he was a pa.s.senger, from Catalonia to Gibraltar, having never been heard of since.

4.--Charles James Tupper,[167] aged sixteen, captain's mids.h.i.+pman of his majesty's 18-gun brig Primrose, drowned on the 17th August, 1815, at Spithead, by the upsetting of the boat in which he was accompanying his commander, Captain Phillott, to the s.h.i.+p.

5.--Lieutenant E. William Tupper, of his majesty's s.h.i.+p Sybille, aged twenty-eight, mortally wounded in her boats, June 18, 1826, in action with a strong band of Greek pirates, near the island of Candia.

6.--Colonel William De Vic Tupper, Chilian service, aged twenty-nine, slain in action near Talca, in Chile, April 17, 1830. The four last sons of John E. Tupper, Esq., and Elizabeth Brock, his wife; and nephews of William De Vic Tupper, Esq., already named, and also of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K.B.; of Lieut.-Colonel John Brock, and of Lieutenant Ferdinand Brock, who all fell by the bullet.

7.--Colonel William Le Mesurier Tupper, of the British Auxiliary Legion in Spain, and a captain in the 23d, or Royal Welsh Fusiliers, mortally wounded near San Sebastian, May 5, 1836, aged thirty-two. Colonel Tupper was also nephew of W. De Vic Tupper, Esq., and first cousin of the four brothers last named.

LIEUT. E. WILLIAM TUPPER, R.N.

This promising young officer, third son of John E. Tupper, Esq., by Elizabeth Brock, his wife, was educated at Harrow, and commenced his naval career in 1810, in the Victory, of 110 guns, under the care and patronage of the late Lord de Saumarez, with whom he continued some time in the Baltic. He served on the American coast during the latter part of the war, in the Asia, 74; and was present at the disastrous attack of New Orleans, in January, 1815, forming one of a party landed from the fleet, to co-operate with the army. On the night of the storm, this party, in conjunction with the 85th light infantry, under Colonel Thornton,[168] attacked some fortified works on the right bank of the Mississippi, and were completely successful; but the failure of the main a.s.sault rendered this success unavailing. In the same year he joined the flag s.h.i.+p of Sir Thomas Fremantle, who, having been an intimate friend of his late uncle, Sir Isaac Brock, kindly a.s.sured him of his influence and support; but peace taking place before he had attained the requisite age for promotion, all the bright prospects with which he entered the service were blighted. In November, 1817, on his return in the Active frigate, Captain Philip Carteret, from the Jamaica station, he pa.s.sed at the naval college at Portsmouth, and was one of four mids.h.i.+pmen complimented as having undergone a superior examination. In 1823, he was appointed to the Revenge, Sir Harry Neale's flag s.h.i.+p, in the Mediterranean, and placed on the admiralty list for advancement. Early in 1826, he was at length promoted into the Seringapatam frigate; but Sir John Pech.e.l.l, under whom he had previously served for a short time, prevailed upon the admiral to transfer him to his own s.h.i.+p, the Sybille, of 48 guns, "a crack frigate," in a high state of discipline, the crew of which was remarkable for its skill in gunnery.

The Sybille was at Alexandria, when intelligence arrived there of the plunder of a Maltese vessel, under atrocious circ.u.mstances, by a nest of Greek pirates, on the southern coast of Candia. Sir John Pech.e.l.l set sail immediately in quest of these lawless and desperate men. On Sunday, the 18th of June, 1826, at daylight, two misticoes were observed under sail, near Cape Matala, standing towards the frigate; but on discovering their mistake, they made for the land, and were followed by the Sybille, into a narrow creek formed by a rocky islet and the mainland of Candia.

On this islet were posted from 200 to 300 armed Greeks, chiefly the crews of three or four piratical misticoes at anchor in the creek; and in a desperate attempt to cut out these misticoes, with the boats, Mids.h.i.+pman J.M. Knox and twelve men were killed; and the first lieutenant, Gordon, dangerously; Lieutenant Tupper, mortally; Mids.h.i.+pmen William Edmonstone and Robert Lees, both very severely; and twenty-seven men were wounded, of whom five died in a few days. Two of the misticoes were afterwards sunk, and many of the pirates were killed and wounded by the frigate's guns.[169]

Lieutenant Tupper commanded the launch, and although severely wounded in three places, he stood up the whole time, and retained the command of her until he returned to the s.h.i.+p. The bullet, which proved fatal, entered his right breast, and was extracted from under the skin over the false ribs. He lingered until the 26th June, when he breathed his last, in a state of delirium, on board the Sybille, at Malta, where his remains were interred, and a monument was erected to his memory by his captain and messmates. In person he was rather above the middle height, with a pleasing and intelligent countenance; and when his brother Charles and he were mids.h.i.+pmen together in the Victory, in the Baltic, they were designated on board as the handsome brothers.[170]

The surgeon of the Sybille, in a letter to the family in Guernsey, wrote of Lieutenant Tupper:

"When I first saw him he was firm and cool. He asked me to give my opinion without reserve, and knowing him to be possessed of great fort.i.tude, I told him that the wound in the chest was of a most _dangerous_ nature, but not _necessarily_ fatal. He had by this time lost a great deal of blood, but the internal hemorrhage, though the most alarming, was slight. He remained so low for three days, that it was expected he would have sunk, though he still continued collected and firm. On the fourth day he rallied, his pulse became more distinct, and he evidently encouraged hopes. Need I say that I felt myself incapable of destroying them--indeed I was not altogether without hope myself. The princ.i.p.al danger was from hemorrhage upon the separation of the sloughs, and my fears were fatally verified, for on the 25th, at noon, it commenced and increased internally, until his lungs could no longer perform their functions, and he died at about three o'clock on the morning of the 26th. During the whole time he was resigned, evincing the greatest strength of mind. As it was with unfeigned sorrow that I saw a fine and gallant young man fall a victim to such a cause, so it was with admiration that I witnessed his heroic bearing when the excitement was past, and hope itself was almost fled. I have seen many support their firmness amidst danger and death, but it belongs to few to sustain it during protracted suffering, which is indeed a trial often too severe for the bravest, but through which your lamented brother came with a spirit and resignation which reflected l.u.s.tre upon himself and family, and endeared him to all his s.h.i.+pmates."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 164: Eldest son of N. Gosselin, Esq., jurat, one of the clerks of the council to Queen Elizabeth, by his wife, a daughter of Lewis Lempriere, Esq., bailiff of Jersey--and grandson of Hilary Gosselin, bailiff of Guernsey in four reigns, Henry the Eighth to Elizabeth.]

[Footnote 165: Viz. two sons--Daniel, married Catherine, daughter of John Tupper, Esq., jurat; and John, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Brock, Esq.--and three daughters, Emilia, wife of Sir P. De Havilland, bailiff; Elizabeth, wife of W. Le Marchant, Esq.; and Margaret, wife of I. Carey, Esq.]

[Footnote 166: Major Tupper succeeded to the command of the marines, of whom there were two battalions at Bunker's Hill, after the fall of the gallant Major Pitcairn, and was honorably mentioned in the general orders of the day.]

[Footnote 167: The Primrose, while this young officer was serving in her, was actively employed during the war, and in one engagement had fifteen officers and men killed and wounded. In 1815, he accompanied Captain Phillott in the boat expedition up the river St. Mary, in the United States, in which that officer was wounded.]

[Footnote 168: The same officer whose letters have been given in this volume.]

[Footnote 169: See _United Service Journal_, March, 1841, pp. 332-3.]

[Footnote 170: By a singular coincidence, the two brothers commenced their career in the same s.h.i.+p, the Victory, to which their near relative, Lieutenant Carre Tupper, belonged when he was killed in the Mediterranean, in one of her boats, and all three lost their lives in boats!]

APPENDIX D.

COLONEL WILLIAM DE VIC TUPPER.

... My beautiful, my brave!

Ah! who can tell how many a soul sublime Has felt the influence of malignant star, And waged with Fortune an unequal war!

This highly gifted young man was a brother of the subject of the preceding memoir, their father having had ten sons and three daughters.

He received an excellent education in England, partly under a private tutor in Warwicks.h.i.+re; and on the restoration of the Bourbons, in 1814, he was sent to a college in Paris, in which he continued until the arrival of Napoleon from Elba, when he was gratified by a glimpse of that extraordinary man. When he landed in France, although he had barely completed his fourteenth year, his stature was so tall and athletic as to give him the appearance of a young giant; and on being asked his age at the police office, that it might be inserted in his pa.s.sport, his reply was received with a smile of astonishment and incredulity, which afforded much subsequent amus.e.m.e.nt to his elder fellow travellers. At the age of sixteen his strength and activity were so great, that few men could have stood up against him with any chance of success. On his return to Guernsey, every interest the family possessed was anxiously exerted to indulge his wish of entering the British army, but owing to the great reductions made after the peace of 1815, he was unable to obtain a commission, even by purchase. Those relatives, who could best have forwarded his views, had been slain in the public service; and in that day few claims were admitted, unless supported by strong parliamentary influence. He attended the levee of the commander-in-chief, who promised to take his memorial into early consideration; and it was hoped by the family that his tall and strikingly handsome person would have had some influence; but unfortunately the youth, then under sixteen, waited alone on the Duke of York, and had no one to plead his cause or to promote his wishes. He was accompanied as far as the Horse Guards by the late Lieut.-Colonel Eliot, (see page 399,) who there, or in the neighbourhood, introduced him to Sir Roger Sheaffe, whom they met accidentally; but the general took little or no notice of the nephew of one to whom he was under much obligation, and whose fall had been his rise. It is true that Sir Roger Sheaffe was also about to solicit an ensigncy for his own nephew; but sure we are, that had Sir Isaac Brock met the nephew of a gallant predecessor under similar circ.u.mstances, he would have presented him to the commander-in-chief, and urged his claims with all the warmth of companions.h.i.+p and grat.i.tude. And is it not painful to think, that a nephew of Sir Roger Sheaffe obtained that _without_ purchase, which was withheld from the nephew of Sir Isaac Brock, even _by_ purchase--and that nephew of as n.o.ble a spirit as ever breathed? Being thus cruelly disappointed, young Tupper spent two or three years in Catalonia, of which province a relative, P.C. Tupper, was British consul (see p. 73); and "the young Englishman" received the public thanks of the munic.i.p.ality of Barcelona, for having boldly exposed his life to extinguish a conflagration which threatened to destroy a whole barrier of the city. Here his vanity was constantly excited by exclamations in the streets, on the manly beauty of his person. The profession of arms continuing his ruling pa.s.sion, he embarked at Guernsey late in 1821 for Rio de Janeiro, whence he proceeded to Buenos Ayres, and thence over land to Chile, then struggling for her independence of Spain. His family was averse to his joining the patriot cause, as it was then termed, and he arrived at Santiago a mere soldier of fortune--without, we believe, a single letter of introduction to those in authority. But his appearance and manners, and a perfect knowledge of three languages, English, French, and Spanish, all of which he spoke fluently, soon procured him friends and active military employment. He rose rapidly, and his deeds have been compared to those of the far-famed Sir William Wallace.

In a necessarily brief notice, it is, however, quite impossible to detail the services of young Tupper in the land of his unhappy adoption; and it must, therefore, suffice to say that he displayed the greatest talent and bravery, first against the Spaniards, and, after their subjugation, in the civil wars which ensued. He was drawn into the latter, when, in 1829, part of the troops, under General Prieto, attempted to subvert the existing authorities, because, as he wrote, he "considered that no free government or orderly state could exist an hour, if the military were once allowed to throw the sword into the scale, and decide points of legislation by the force of arms." In a battle fought near the capital, Santiago, the rebel troops were defeated, but Prieto gained that by treachery, which he could not effect by the sword; and when Colonel Tupper resigned in disgust, the earnest entreaties of his old commander, General Freire unfortunately induced him to accept the government of Coquimbo, which step soon after compelled him to resume the command of his regiment. Freire was deceived by some of Prieto's chiefs, who, probably at the instigation of that faithless general, had promised to pa.s.s over to him with their troops at the first convenient opportunity; and he allowed himself to be forced into a battle on a vast plain at Lircay, near Talca, on the 17th April, 1830. Nothing could be more ill-judged or imprudent, as his army, which consisted of about 1,700 men, had only two weak squadrons of regular cavalry and four pieces of artillery, while that of Prieto, amounting to fully 2,200 men, had 800 veteran cavalry, and eleven or twelve pieces of artillery. The Chile cavalry is very formidable, the men being most expert riders, mounted on active and powerful horses, and generally armed with long lances, which they use with great dexterity. After a long engagement, Freire's cavalry, consisting of about 600 men, including militia and Indians, fled completely discomfited, and abandoned the infantry, composed of three weak battalions, to its fate.

Their situation was now indeed desperate, as the ground was so favorable to cavalry, and the neighbourhood offered them no accessible place of defence or refuge. When they formed into squares to resist the hostile cavalry, they were mowed down by artillery; and, when they deployed into line, the cavalry was upon them. In this dreadful emergency they maintained the conflict for nearly an hour, with all the obstinacy of despair; and at length, in attempting to charge in column, they were completely broken. The loss in Freire's army fell chiefly on the devoted infantry, and included eighteen officers among the killed. The only officers mentioned as slain, in Prieto's hurried dispatch of the 17th of April, are Colonel Elizalde, chief of the staff; Colonel Tupper, and his gallant Major Varela, a young man of five or six and twenty.