endeavoured to bribe him with £100,000, and rank and command in the French or Spanish army, he replied in the words of the Duke’s ancestor "L’honneur me le defend."

COLIN MACKENZIE,
Capt.

49, Pall Mall—London, England,
12 Nov. 1877.

P. S—I find that Burke’s Peerage, gives the sum as £100,000, and in quoting General Murray’s letter to the Duke omits the retort I have given. above.

F.

(See Page 39.)

SIR JAMES CRAIG.
(1759-1812.)

One of our striking historical figures, whose features will doubtless in the future, assume a less repulsive aspect than that lent to it by the fiery spirits of 1810. A writer, never suspected of "anglification," Mr. P. A. DeGaspé, in his MEMOIRES, page 346, courageously bears testimony in favor of Sir James, Governor, of his day. Sir James Craig was undoubtedly misled in his estimate of the French element at Quebec by his very able but irresponsible advisers. The sturdy old soldier, like his great contemporary, Napoleon I, believed in bayonets, grape and canister, as educators and monitors to the oi polloi, on extreme occasions. That he was a bad man at heart, Mr. DeGaspé does not believe, and the generous though earnest sentiments which light up his famous Proclamation of the 21st March, 1810, favoring this view, are worthy of being preserved. "Is it for myself that I should oppress you? Is it from ambition? what can you give me? Is it for power? alas ! my good friends, with a life ebbing out slowly to its period, under the pressure of disease acquired in the service of my country, I look only to pass what it may please God to suffer to remain of it, in the comfort of retirement among my friends. I remain among you only in obedience to the commands of my King. What power can I wish for? Is it then for wealth, that I would oppress you? Enquire of those who know me whether I regard wealth I never did when I could enjoy it; it is now of no use to me ; to the value of your country laid at my feet, I would prefer the consciousness of having, in a single instance, contributed to your happiness and prosperity."