The Duke of Kent, the Queen’s Father, at Quebec, 1791-4
Of the numerous sons of King George III., none, perhaps, were born with more generous impulses, none certainly more manly—none more true in their attachments, and still none more maligned neglected—traduced than he, who, as a jolly Colonel of Fusileers spent some pleasant years of his life at Quebec from 1791 to ’94, Edward Augustus, father of our virtuous and beloved Sovereign.
We wish to be understood at the outset. It is not our intention here to write a panegyric on a royal Duke; like his brothers, York and Clarence—the pleasure-loving, he, too, had his foibles; he was not an anchorite by any means. His stern, Spartan idea of discipline may have been overstretched, and blind adherence to routine in his daily habits may have justly invited the lash of ridicule. What is pretended here, and that, without fear of contradiction, is that his faults, which were those of a man, were loudly proclaimed, while his spirit of justice, of benevolence and generosity was unknown, unrecognized, except by a few. No stronger record can be opposed to the traducers of the memory of Edward, Duke of Kent, than his voluminous correspondence with Col. DeSalaberry and brothers, from 1791 to 1815—recently, through the kindness of the DeSalaberry family, laid before the public by the late Dr. W. J. Anderson, of Quebec.
The Duke had not been lucky in the way of biographers. The Rev. Erskine Neale, who wrote his life, is less a biographer than a panegyrist, and his book, if, instead of much fulsome praise, it contained a fuller account—especially of the early career of his hero—of the Duke’s sayings and doings in Gibraltar, Quebec and Halifax, it would certainly prove more valuable, much more complete.
Singularly enough, Neale, disposes in about three lines, of the years the Duke spent in Quebec, though, as proved by his correspondence, those years were anything but barren. Quebec, we contend, as exhibited in the Duke’s letters, ever retained a green spot in his souvenirs, in after life.
The Old Château balls, the Kent House in St. Lewis street, had for him their joyful sunshine, when, as a stalwart, dashing Colonel of Fusileers, aged 25, he had his entrées in the fashionable drawing-rooms of 1791-4 Holland House, Powell Place (Spencer Wood, as it is now called), old Hale’s receptions, Lymburner’s soirees in his old mansion on Sault au Matelot street, then the fashionable quarter for wealthy merchants. The Duke’s cottage orné at the Montmorenci Falls had also its joyous memories, but these were possibly too tender to be expatiated on in detail.
The Prince, it appears, was also present on an occasion of no ordinary moment to the colony that is when the King, his father, “granted a Lower Chamber to the two provinces in 1791.”
The only original source now available for inditing that portion of the Duke’s life spent in Quebec, is Neilson’s old Quebec Gazette, supplemented with divers old traditions, not always reliable.
Dr. Anderson’s compilation will certainly go far to dispel the atmosphere of misrepresentation floating around the character of Prince Edward, as he was familiarly styled when here during the past century. The character of the most humble individual, when casually mentioned in history, ought to be free from misrepresentation. Why this rule should not apply to the manly soldier who, in the streets of old Quebec in 1791, headed his gallant men wherever a riot, a fire, or a public calamity required their presence, is difficult to understand. No man was more popular in the city from the services he rendered when called on. One class, however, found in him an unrelenting disciplinarian—the refractory soldier attempting mutiny or desertion from the corps.
We are invited to these reflections from the fact that new light is now promised to us on this traduced commander, in the shape of what will no doubt be an attractive biography of Duke Edward from the pen of a London littérateur of note, whose name we are not justified in giving at present. The following extract from a London letter, received this last mail by a gentleman of this city, who has succeeded in gathering together valuable materials for Canadian history, will prove what we now assert. It is addressed to Mr. LeMoine, late President of the Literary and Historical Society, whose sketch of the Prince’s career in 1791, as contained in the Maple Leaves for 1865, seems to have obtained the full approbation of the distinguished littérateur now engaged in writing the life of the Duke:
“SOUTH KENSINGTON, London, May 30, 1874.
DEAR SIR,—If my note on Miss Nevill’s incident [222] clears up any point hitherto obscure of Canadian life, use it by all means for your Canadian sketches. During my searches consequent to elucidate the Duke’s sojourn in Canada, many curious stories came under my eye, which have never, as I am aware, been yet published in Canadian histories, when the Prince was stationed at Quebec. The London pens were m the habit of publishing from time to time incidents of considerable interest bearing on forgotten periods of the early British Constitutional History of Canada—parliamentary. My intention is to note them in the life of H.R.H., as he was present when the King granted a lower Chamber to the two provinces in 1791. From this circumstance he based his firm adherence to a constitutional Government as the safest mode to ensure freedom to all parties interested therein. My work on the Duke of Kent would have been published ere this, but I am awaiting the correspondence promised me by Lord B—— addressed to Lord L——, and that also to Sir H—— Douglas, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of ——. Your suggestion will not be lost sight of. Maple Leaves have been fully culled for information concerning the Prince. Holland Farm and the Duke at Montmorenci give a correct picture of life in Quebec in 1791— information unknown to Rev. Mr. Neale in 1850.
If not too much trouble, could you let me know whether these works, of which I enclose a list, mention the Duke in Canada, for the British Museum does not possess these publications, which obliges me to seek information from such a person as yourself, who is versed in Canadian affairs. I am anxious to give a correct account of the Duke in Canada. This period of his life has escaped all the biographers of the Prince, Philippart and Neale, &c. If I should meet any striking incident relative to Canadian affairs, I shall forward it to your address.”— From Quebec Morning Chronicle.