]

[Footnote B: Journals, pp. 234, 235, 236.]

[Footnote C: Same, p. 231.]

His mismanagement and plottings having grown insufferable he was
arrested and conveyed in irons to Montreal in September, 1768, to be
there tried by court-martial for high treason.[A] On some ground,
probably a technical one, he escaped conviction, and at some date
between May, 1769, and February, 1770, he sailed for England.

[Footnote A: Same, p. 231.]

And there, strange as it may seem, the stalwart, cheeky, fine-looking,
wily ex-Commandant was lionized. His acquittal had vindicated his
innocence and established his claim to martyrdom. His books had
advertised him as a hero. His creditors, to whom he owed considerable
amounts, supported his claims in hopes thereby of getting their dues. He
was gazed at by the commonalty. He was feted by the nobility. He was
received by the king and allowed to kiss his hand. He claimed payment
for arrears of salary and other expenses previously disallowed in
England and at home, which was made. Encouraged by his successes he
pushed boldly on and asked to be made an English Baronet, with L600 a
year, and in addition to that, a Major in the army.[A] One is in doubt
which to wonder at the most, the audacity of the bold adventurer, or the
stupidity of the British public. But vaulting ambition had at length
overleaped itself. He failed of the coveted knighthood, and sank by
degrees to his true level.

[Footnote A: Benjamin Roberts in a letter to Sir William Johnson, dated
February 19, 1770, says: "Kingston has a most extraordinary letter from
London, which says that Major Rogers was presented to His majesty and
kissed his hand--that he demanded redress and retaliation for his
sufferings. The minister asked what would content him. He desired to be
made a Baronet, with a pension of L600 sterling, and to be restored to
his government at Michilimackinac, and have all his accounts paid. Mr.
Fitzherbert is his particular friend."--[Journals, p. 256.]

We see nothing more of Major Rogers until July, 1775, when he again
appears in America as a Major of the British Army retired on half pay.
The object of his visit to his native land just at the beginning of our
Revolutionary war was not satisfactorily apparent. Some considered him a
military adventurer, anxious to sell his services to the highest bidder.
Others regarded him as a British spy. He wandered over the country all
the way from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire