The Day Before
He Died I Was In Treaty For His Lieut.-Colonelcy In The 44th
Regiment."
Later, on 4th May, 1789, he writes from Montreal, and speaks
gratefully of the open-handed hospitality extended to him, and of the
kind lady friends he met at Quebec.
(Page 67.)
Alas! generous youth, what foul fiend, three year later, inspired you,
with Tom Paine as your adviser, to herd at Paris with the regicide crew,
and howl the "Carmagnole" and "Ca Ira," with the hideous monsters who
revelled in blood under the holy name of liberty?
Again, one follows the patriotic Irish nobleman, in 1793, plighting his
faith to a lovely and noble bride, Pamela Sims, the youthful daughter of
the Duke of Orleans, by Madame de Genlis.
A few short years and the ghastly phantom of death, in a dismal prison, in
the dearly loved land of his birth, spreads a pall over what might have
been to his unfortunate country, a career full of honour. Alas! brave,
noble Edward! Poor, pretty little Pamela, alas!
The Castle had its sunshine and its shadows. Many still survive to tell of
an impressive, and gloomy pageant. On the 4th September, 1819, previous to
their transfer to the chancel of the Anglican Cathedral, were exposed in
state in the Chateau, the mortal remains of the late Governor-General, His
Grace Charles Gordon Lennox, Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny, who, on
the 28th August, 1819, had died of hydrophobia.
The revolving wheel of time ushers in, with his successor, other actors,
and other scenes. One likes to recall the presence there of a graceful and
noble Chatelaine, his daughter, Lady Sarah Lennox, the devoted wife of the
administrator of the Government of Lower Canada, Sir Peregrine Maitland,
"a tall, grave officer, says Dr. Scadding, always in military undress, his
countenance ever wearing a mingled expression of sadness and benevolence,
like that which one may observe on the face of the predecessor of Louis
Philippe, Charles the Tenth," whose current portraits recall, not badly,
the whole head and figure of this early Governor of Upper Canada.
"In an outline representation which we (Dr. Scadding) accidentally
possessed, of a panorama of the battle of Waterloo, on exhibition in
London, the 1st Foot Guards were conspicuously to be seen, led on by
'Major General Sir Peregrine Maitland.'" [38]
With persons of wider knowledge, Sir Peregrine was invested With
further associations. Besides being the royal representative in these
parts, he was the son-in-law of Charles Gordon Lennox, fourth Duke of
Richmond, a name that stirred chivalrous feelings in early Canadians
of both Provinces; for the Duke had come to Canada as Governor-in-
Chief, with a grand reputation acquired as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland,
and great benefits were expected, and probably would have been
realized, from his administration, had it been of long continuance.
But he had been suddenly removed by an excruciating death. Whilst on a
tour of inspection in the Upper Province, he had been fatally attacked
by hydrophobia, occasioned by the bite of a pet fox. The injury had
been received at Sorel; its terrible effects were fatally experienced
at a place near the Ottawa river called Richmond.
Some of the prestige of the deceased Duke continued to adhere to Sir
Peregrine Maitland, for he had married the Duke's daughter, a graceful
and elegant woman, who was always at his side here (York, now
Toronto), and at Stanford Cottage across the lake. She bore a name not
unfamiliar in the domestic annals of George III., who once, it is
said, was enamored of a beautiful Lady Sarah Lennox, grandmother, as
we suppose, or some other near relative of the Lady Sarah Lennox here
before us. However, conversationists whispered about (in confidence)
something supposed to be unknown to the general public, that the match
between Sir Peregrine and Lady Sarah had been effected in spite of the
Duke. The report was that there had been an elopement, and it was
naturally supposed that the party of the sterner sex bad been the most
active agent in the affair. To say the truth, however, in this
instance it was the lady who precipitated matters. The affair occurred
at Paris, soon after the Waterloo campaign. The Duke's final
determination against Sir Peregrine's proposals having been announced,
the daughter suddenly withdrew from the father's roof, and fled to the
lodgings of Sir Peregrine, who instantly retired to other quarters.
The upshot of the whole thing, at once romantic and unromantic,
included a marriage and a reconciliation, and eventually a Lieutenant-
Governorship for the son-in-law, under the Governorship-in-Chief of
the father, both despatched together to undertake the discharge of
vice-regal functions in a distant colony. At the time of his marriage
with Lady Sarah Lennox, Sir Peregrine had been for some ten years a
widower. [39] After the death of the Duke of Richmond, Sir Peregrine
became administrator, for a time of the general government of British
North America.
One of the Duke of Richmond's sons was lost in the ill-fated steamer
President in 1840. In December, 1824, Sir Peregrine revisited Quebec
with Sir Francis Burton, Lieutenant-Governor, in the Swiftsure, steamer
escorting some very distinguished tourists. A periodical notices the
arrivals at the old Chateau as follows: -
"Sir Peregrine is accompanied by Lord Arthur Lennox, Mr. Maitland,
Colonels Foster, Lightfoot, Coffin and Talbot, with the Hon. E. G.
Stanley (from 1851 to 1869 Earl of Derby), grandson of Earl Derby, M.
P. for Stockbridge; John E. Denison, Esq., (subsequently Speaker of
the House of Commons), M. P. for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and James S.
Wortley, Esq. (afterwards Lord Wharncliffe), M. P. for Bossiney in
Cornwall. The three latter gentlemen are upon a tour in this country
from England, and we are happy to learn, that they have expressed
themselves as being highly gratified with all they have hitherto seen
in Canada." - (Canadian Review, 1824.)
Quebecers will be pleased to learn that the name of Sir Peregrine Maitland
is pleasantly preserved by means of Maitland Scholarships in a grammar
school for natives at Madras, and by a Maitland Prize in the University of
Cambridge.
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