SECTION IL, 1907. {15 ] Trans. R. 8. C. 
IL. The Talbot Papers.— Edited, with Preface, Introduction and 
some Annotations. 
By JAMES H. Coyne, M.A. 
(Read May 15, 1907.) 
PART 
PREFATORY. 
The life of Colonel the Honorable Thomas Talbot extended from 
1771 to 1853. He left behind him a considerable number of letters 
and other MSS. and printed papers. These had been preserved for 
special reasons, relating to the subject matter and their personal inter- 
est. A few of the letters were from friends and relatives in the old 
country; others from distinguished Upper Canadians and British offi- 
cers serving in the province. He had kept copies of population, settle- 
ment and militia returns, as well as drafts or copies of important letters 
and memorials sent by him to the head of the Provincial Government, 
and a few newspapers and political fly-sheets containing personal refer- 
ences, or connected with the war of 1812 or other important events. 
Among his correspondents were two Lieutenant-Governors, Francis 
Gore and Sir Peregrine Maitland; their secretaries, Halton and Hillier; 
Generals Sir Isaac Brock, Sir Roger Sheaffe and Henry Procter, Captain 
James Brock, Chief Justice Scott, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Clark, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Nichol, Quarter-Master General of Militia 
during the war; Major Glegg, Attorney-General Macdonnell, Dr. John 
Rolph, Colonel Mahlon Burwell, Hon. -William Allan, Hon. W. H. 
Merritt, and others of more or less note. 
The earliest letter was written in 1806 by Colonel James Archibald 
Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, M.P. for Bossiney, afterward first Baron 
Wharncliffe of Wortley. The writer had served with Talbot at Quebec 
fifteen years before; and the two men were on terms of affectionate 
intimacy. The letter is remarkable as a graphic description of 
English feeling during that doleful year. Napoleon’s star was near its 
zenith, the Austrian and Prussian capitals had been entered in triumph 
by his victorious hosts, all Europe was prostrate at his feet, while in 
England, Pitt and Fox, the trusted leaders of both the great parties, 
had passed away within a twelvemonth amid the lamentations of the 
whole British people. 
When Talbot retired from the army in 1800, he was already a well 
known figure in the highest social circles, both in the British Isles and 
