The Story of Isaac Brock | Page 2

FOREIGN FLAG FLIES ON THE REDAN 147
XXIX. THE BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 152
XXX. THE DEATH OF ISAAC BROCK 156
SUPPLEMENT--
AFTER BROCK'S DEATH 161
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1812 165
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 167
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814 171
WHAT OF CANADA? 173
APPENDIX 175

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
PORTRAIT OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK Frontispiece
"VIEW OF ST. PETER'S PORT, GUERNSEY, 18 x 6" 11
NAVY HALL, REMNANT OF THE OLD "RED BARRACKS," NIAGARA, 1797 27
PORTRAIT OF COLONEL JAMES FITZGIBBON 32
VIEW OF QUEENSTON ROAD, ABOUT 1824 40
RUINS OF OLD POWDER MAGAZINE, FORT GEORGE 52
BROCK'S COCKED HAT 64
BUTLER'S BARRACKS (OFFICERS' QUARTERS), NIAGARA COMMON 75
OUR HERO MEETS TECUMSEH. "THIS IS A MAN!" 96
LIEUT.-COLONEL JOHN MACDONELL 109
VIEW OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS AND BROCK'S MONUMENT 117
"PORTRAIT OF MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK, 18 X 6" 121
POWDER MAGAZINE, FORT GEORGE, NIAGARA 128
BROCK'S MIDNIGHT GALLOP 135
BATTLE OF QUEENSTON HEIGHTS. From an old Print 140
DEATH OF ISAAC BROCK 156
BROCK'S COAT, WORN AT QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 159
BATTLE OF QUEENSTON. From an old Sketch 161
PLAN OF BATTLE OF QUEENSTON 163
TAKING OF NIAGARA, MAY 27TH, 1813. From an old Print 170
CENOTAPH, QUEENSTON HEIGHTS 172
BROCK'S MONUMENT 174
NOTE.--For full description of above illustrations, see Appendix, page 175.

THE STORY OF ISAAC BROCK
[Illustration: "VIEW OF ST. PETER'S PORT, GUERNSEY, 18 x 6"]
CHAPTER I.
OUR HERO'S HOME--GUERNSEY.
Off the coast of Brittany, where the Bay of Biscay fights the white horses of the North Sea, the Island of Guernsey rides at anchor. Its black and yellow, red and purple coast-line, summer and winter, is awash with surf, burying the protecting reefs in a smother of foam. Between these drowned ridges of despair, which warn the toilers of the sea of an intention to engulf them, tongues of ocean pierce the grim chasms of the cliffs.
Between this and the sister island of Alderney the teeth of the Casquets cradle the skeleton of many a stout ship, while above the level of the sea the amethyst peaks of Sark rise like phantom bergs. In the sunlight the rainbow-coloured slopes of Le Gouffre jut upwards a jumble of glory. Exposed to the full fury of an Atlantic gale, these islands are well-nigh obliterated in drench. From where the red gables cluster on the heights of Fort George, which overhang the harbour, to the thickets of Jerbourg, valley and plain, at the time we write of, were a gorgeous carpet of anemones, daffodils, primroses and poppies.
These are tumultuous latitudes. Sudden hurricanes, with the concentrated force of the German Ocean behind them, soon scourge the sea into a whirlpool and extinguish every landmark in a pall of gray. For centuries tumult and action have been other names for the Channel Islands. It is no wonder that the inhabitants partake of the nature of their surroundings. Contact with the elements produces a love for combat. As this little book is largely a record of strife, and of one of Guernsey's greatest fighting sons, it may be well to recall the efforts that preceded the birth of our hero and influenced his career, and through which Guernsey retained its liberties.
For centuries Guernsey had been whipped into strife. From the raid upon her independence by David Bruce, the exiled King of Scotland, early in 1300, on through the centuries up to the seventeenth, piping times of peace were few and far between. The resources of the island led to frequent invasions from France, but while fighting and resistance did not impair the loyalty of the islanders, it nourished a love of freedom, and of hostility to any enemy who had the effrontery to assail it. As a rule the sojourn of these invaders was brief. When sore pressed in a pitched battle on the plateau above St. Peter's Port, the inhabitants would retreat behind the buttresses of Castle Cornet, when, as in the invasion by Charles V. of France, the fortress proving impregnable, the besiegers would collect their belongings and sail away.
In the fourteenth century Henry VI. of England, in consideration of a red rose as annual rental, conveyed the entire group to the Duke of Warwick. But strange privileges were from time to time extended to these audacious people. Queen Elizabeth proclaimed the islands a world's sanctuary, and threw open the ports as free harbours of refuge in time of war. She authorized protection to "a distance on the ocean as far as the eye of man could reach." This act of grace was cancelled by George the Third, who regarded it as a premium on piracy. In Cromwell's time Admiral Blake had been instructed to raise the siege of Castle Cornet. He brought its commander to his senses, but only after nine years of assault, and not before 30,000 cannon-balls had been hurled into the town.
Late in the fourteenth century, when the English were driven out of France, not a few of those deported, who had the fighting propensity well developed, made haste for the Channel