[Footnote 29:  Afterwards Lieut.-General Sir William Thornton, K.C.B., &c.]

[Footnote 30:  Sir Isaac Brock was several years in the 8th regiment, but this old man had probably served with his brother, Lieut.-Colonel John Brock, who was many years in the 8th, in Upper Canada.]

CHAPTER IV.

Brigadier Brock to Lieut.-Governor Gore.

    FORT GEORGE, Jan. 6, 1811.

Having lately received a letter from Colonel Vesey, in which he urges me to ascertain whether it be possible to secure to his family some benefit from the grant of five thousand acres he has so long unprofitably held, I am encouraged by the disposition your excellency has uniformly evinced to serve him, to renew my earnest request that your influence may be now exerted in his behalf.

I am given to understand that there are extensive tracts of excellent land at the disposal of the crown on Lake Erie, and that a new township is undergoing a survey near the head of Lake Ontario.  Were it possible to ensure Colonel Vesey eligible situations in those districts, he no longer would hesitate in incurring the necessary expense.

Your excellency having signified your intention of visiting England in the course of next summer, I am impelled to the present application by the consideration that before your return the land, which I have taken the liberty to point out, may be disposed of, and Colonel Vesey thereby lose the fair opportunity of acquiring property upon which he can confidently place some value.

Lieut.-Governor Gore to Brigadier Brock.

    YORK, January 21, 1811.

Your letter of the 6th instant should have been earlier acknowledged, but that I was desirous to render my answer as satisfactory as possible, and it was necessary to refer to the offices, on the subject of the grant of land ordered for Colonel Vesey.

I am very sorry now to be constrained to tell you, that it is not in my power to comply with Colonel Vesey’s wish in respect of the location, without a special order from the king, as in the case of Colonel Talbot.

The diagram by which the crown and clergy reserves are recorded, cannot be dispensed with, so that it is now impracticable to obtain in any township five thousand acres in a block.

The townships lately surveyed are partial exceptions to the general rule, for the express purpose of establishing roads through the province, and the locations in that exception are by an act of government expressly reserved for actual settlers.

The utmost in my power to do for Colonel Vesey is to adopt the latitude directed by his majesty in favor of General Arnold, which is to permit his representative to locate his land in any open township, and to pass the patent without his personal