My good and dear friends,—­I have been of late so much upon the move, that I had no thought of writing to you, and no letters of yours put me in mind that I should do so.  Here I am stationed for some time, unless I succeed in the application I mean to make shortly for permission to visit England.  At present Vincent, Glegg, and Williams, 49th, enliven this lonesome place.  They are here as members of a general court martial, and are soon to depart, when I shall be left to my own reflections.  Should I be so lucky as to obtain leave, I shall not commence my journey to New York until after Christmas.  Baron de Rottenburg, a senior brigadier, has arrived at Quebec, where he remains.  His presence unquestionably diminishes my prospects in this country, and I should stand evidently in my own light if I did not court fortune elsewhere.

    I have been as far as Detroit, a delightful country, far
    exceeding any thing I had seen on this continent.

I have not had a letter from Europe since May, and wish you to write to me by way of New York.  I avail myself of an unexpected passenger to scribble this in the presence of many of the court, who tell me it is time to resume our labours; therefore, my beloved brothers, adieu.  I shall write again in a few days, via New York.

Colonel Baynes to Brigadier Brock, at Fort George.

    QUEBEC, October 4, 1810.

By yesterday’s post, I was favored with your letter of the 23d ultimo.  I regret that so much trouble should have been occasioned to so little purpose, the more so as I apprehend an example to be much called for in the 100th regiment.  Murray seems sanguine that the regiment will go on better under his rule, and that he knows the men better.  I hope his conjecture may prove well founded, but I fear they are too wild a set to thrive in Upper Canada.

As I felt at a loss how to introduce the subject of your personal views and wishes, I gave Sir James your letter to read; it did not, however, draw from him any remark on those topics.  I know that he is very strongly impressed with the necessity of having a person like yourself for some time in the Upper Province, that a scrutinizing eye may correct the errors and neglect that have crept in, and put all in order again; and, in confidence between ourselves, I do not think he would be more ready to part with you from that station, in consequence of the arrival of Colonel Murray, who is not at all to his taste, and has managed, by a most indiscreet and indecent conversation at his table, to blot himself out of his good opinion.  The conversation was on the subject of Cobbett, and the colonel’s the only dissenting voice, which he exerted with the more energy in proportion to the badness of his cause, and after defending him in a style and language highly indecorous, and reprehensible to be held at the table of the governor,