186 PUBLIC DINNER.
George Smith, in the higher, and Captain M'Crea,* Lieutenants La Serre* and Tupper in the junior ranks, I do from my heart deplore, that I must speak of those illustrious men, and brave youths, in the tense that is past, as, nobly prodigal of their blood in the service of their king and country, they have closed a life of glory on the bed of honor, t Their memories will long be cherished by a grateful country, and will live in the recollection of its ene- mies. — Our Saumarez, we still happily possess, not only to adorn and do honor to his native land, but to uphold the destinies of the empire, should they be endangered. His fame will be found recorded in every portion of the globe where the British flag has been known to fly. And well may our brave islander exclaim, with the Roman, ' Quce Regio in Terris, Nostri non plena Laboris' "The chairman gave — ' Colonel Evans and the garrison.' " Colonel Evans, after having returned thanks for the garrison and himself in appropriate terms, said, that lately arrived in this island, and finding himself surrounded by the friends and relatives of a great man, the loss of whom no one could lament more than he did, he would beg leave to propose a solemn toast to the memory of that heroic officer, who he scarcely need say, was Sir Isaac Brock. Attached to his person by official situation, as well as by friendship at the time of his death, he could appreciate his merits, and truly say that he possessed every quality that constituted a great man and a good soldier — brave and humane in the highest degree, he raised his fame in a distant country, and saved a lar<*e and valuable province belonging to Great Britain, by the resources which his own mind and energy could alone have drawn out and used, successfully to repel an invasion against numbers so superior, that resistance was generally deemed hopeless. He had to defend a frontier of many hundred miles with a trifling force, which he augmented by the influence of his popularity, and inspired by his example. He not only defended Upper Canada, but actually cap- tured a whole army, and a strong fortress ; his name will live in that country, and in history for ever ; and his death was lamented even by his enemies, or rather by the enemies of his country, for
- These two officers, both of the 87th regiment, were killed at Talavera, in
1809. Captain Rawdon M'Crea was only twenty years of age.
t Colonel Le Mesurier in the higher, and Captain Le Marchant and Lieutenant Le Mesurier in the junior ranks were omitted, — they all fell in the late Peninsular war. — Captain Carey Le Marchant was aid-de-camp to his father, when the latter was slain at Salamanca, in 1812, and subsequently to Lieut.-General Hon. Sir Walter Stewart.
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