AFFAIRS IN CANADA.
[Despatches from Schuyler, dated October 26th, gave Washington another
chapter of the Canada expedition. Chamblee, an inferior fort within
five miles of St. Johns, had been captured. Montgomery now pressed the
siege of St. Johns with vigor. Major Preston, although suffering for
want of provisions, still held out manfully, hoping for relief from
General Carleton. Colonel Maclean, a brave and veteran Scot, had
enlisted three hundred of his countrymen at Quebec, and was to land at
the mouth of the Sorel, where it empties into the St. Lawrence, and
proceeding along the latter river join Carleton at St. Johns, who
would repair thither by the way of Longueil.
On September 31st, Carleton embarked his force at Montreal in
thirty-four boats, to cross the St. Lawrence, and land at Longueil. As
the boats approached the shore, a terrible fire of artillery and
musketry opened upon them from a detachment of Green Mountain Boys and
New York troops stationed there under the command of Colonel Seth
Warner. The boats were thrown into confusion; some were disabled,
others were driven on shore on an island, and Carleton retreated with
the rest to Montreal. This disorder led to the surrender of St. Johns,
the garrison of which consisted of five hundred regulars and one
hundred Canadians. Colonel Maclean, who was to have co-operated with
Carleton, met with no better fortune than that commander.] While in
full march for St. Johns he encountered Majors Brown and Livingston,
who pressed him back to the mouth of the Sorel, where, hearing of the
repulse of Carleton, and being deserted by his Canadian recruits, he
embarked the residue of his troops, and set off down the St. Lawrence
to Quebec. The Americans now took post at the mouth of the Sorel,
where they erected batteries so as to command the St. Lawrence, and
prevent the descent of any armed vessels from Montreal.
[Arnold, meanwhile, was advancing with severe toil and difficulty. His
troops and effects were transported across the carrying-point between
the Kennebec and Dead Rivers. On the latter river they landed their
boats, and navigated its sluggish waters to the foot of snow crowned
mountains. Here they experienced heavy rains; some of their boats were
overturned by torrents from the mountains, and many of their
provisions lost. The sick list increased, and the spirits of the army
gave way. But the energy of Arnold was unabated. He pushed on, and at
Lake Megantic, the source of the Chaudiere, he met an emissary whom he
had sent forward to sound the feelings of the French yeomanry. His
report being favorable, Arnold divided his provisions among his
troops, and with a light foraging party pushed rapidly ahead to
procure and send back supplies. Chaudiere is little better than a
mountain torrent, full of rocks and rapids. Arnold embarked upon it
with his little party in five bateaux and a birch canoe. Three of the
boats were dashed to pieces, the cargoes lost, and the crews saved
with difficulty.] At length they reached Sertigan, the first French
settlement, where they were cordially received. Here Arnold bought
provisions, which he sent back by the Canadians and Indians to his
troops. The latter were in a state of starvation.
Arnold halted for a short time in the hospitable valley of Chaudiere
to give his troops repose, and distributed among the inhabitants the
printed manifesto with which he had been furnished by Washington. Here
he was joined by about forty Norridgewock Indians. On the 9th of
November, the little army emerged from the woods at Point Levi, on the
St. Lawrence, opposite to Quebec.
Leaving Arnold in full sight of Quebec, we turn to narrate the events
of the upper expedition into Canada. Montgomery appeared before
Montreal on the 12th of November. General Carleton had embarked with
his little garrison and several of the civil officers of the place, on
board of a flotilla of ten or eleven small vessels, and made sail in
the night. The town capitulated, of course; and Montgomery took quiet
possession. His urbanity and kindness soon won the good will of the
inhabitants, both English and French, and made the Canadians sensible
that he really came to secure their rights, not to molest them.
Intercepted letters acquainted him with Arnold's arrival in the
neighborhood of Quebec.
His great immediate object was the capture of Carleton; which would
form a triumphal close to the enterprise, and might decide the fate of
Canada. The flotilla in which the general was embarked had made
repeated attempts to escape down the St. Lawrence; but had as often
been driven back by the batteries thrown up by the Americans at the
mouth of the Sorel. It now lay anchored about fifteen miles above the
river; and Montgomery prepared to attack it with bateaux and light
artillery, so as to force it down upon the batteries. Carleton saw his
imminent peril. Disguising himself as a Canadian voyager, he set off
on a dark night accompanied by six peasants, in a boat with muffled
oars, which he assisted to pull; slipped quietly and silently past all
the batteries and guard-boats, and effected his escape to Three
Rivers, where he embarked in a vessel for Quebec. After his departure
the flotilla surrendered.
Montgomery now placed garrisons in Montreal, St. Johns and Chamblee,
and made final preparations for descending the St. Lawrence, and
co-operating with Arnold against Quebec. To his disappointment and
deep chagrin, he found but a handful of his troops disposed to
accompany him. Some pleaded ill health; the term of enlistment of many
had expired, and they were bent on returning home; and others, who had
no such excuses to make became exceedingly turbulent, and mutinous.
Nothing but a sense of public duty and gratitude to Congress for an
unsought commission, had induced Montgomery to engage in the service;
wearied by the continual vexations which beset it, he avowed, in a
letter to Schuyler, his determination to retire as soon as the
intended expedition against Quebec was finished.
[General Montgomery had been thwarted continually in his efforts by
the want of subordination and discipline among his troops, "who," said
he, "carry the spirit of freedom into the camp and think for
themselves." Accustomed as he had been, in his former military
experience, to the implicit obedience of European troops, the
insubordination of these yeoman soldiery was intolerable to him.]
The tidings of the capture of Montreal gave Washington the liveliest
satisfaction. He now looked forward to equal success in the expedition
against Quebec. Certain passages of Schuyler's letters, however, gave
him deep concern, wherein that general complained of the
embarrassments and annoyances he had experienced from the
insubordination of the army. "Habituated to order," said he, "I cannot
without pain see that disregard of discipline, confusion and
inattention which reign so generally in this quarter, and I am
determined to retire. Of this resolution I have advised Congress."
He had indeed done so. In communicating to the President of Congress
the complaints of General Montgomery, and his intention to retire, "my
sentiments," said he, "exactly coincide with his. I shall, with him,
do everything in my power to put a finishing stroke to the campaign,
and make the best arrangement in my power, in order to insure success
to the next. This done, I must beg leave to retire." Congress,
however, was too well aware of his value, readily to dispense with his
services. His letter produced a prompt resolution expressive of their
high sense of his attention and perseverance, "which merited the
thanks of the United Colonies."
What, however, produced a greater effect upon Schuyler than any
encomium or entreaty on the part of Congress, were the expostulations
of Washington, inspired by strong friendship and kindred sympathies.
"I am exceedingly sorry," writes the latter, "that you and General
Montgomery incline to quit the service. Let me ask you, sir, when is
the time for brave men to exert themselves in the cause of liberty and
their country, if this is not? Should any difficulties that they may
have to encounter at this important crisis deter them? God knows there
is not a difficulty that you both very justly complain of, that I have
not in an eminent degree experienced, that I am not every day
experiencing; but we must bear up against them, and make the best of
mankind, as they are, since we cannot have them as we wish. Let me
therefore conjure you, and Mr. Montgomery, to lay aside such
thoughts--as thoughts injurious to yourselves and extremely so to your
country, which calls aloud for gentlemen of your ability."
This noble appeal went straight to the heart of Schuyler, and brought
out a magnanimous reply. "I do not hesitate," writes he, "to answer my
dear general's question in the affirmative, by declaring that now or
never is the time for every virtuous American to exert himself in the
cause of liberty and his country; and that it is become a duty
cheerfully to sacrifice the sweets of domestic felicity to attain the
honest and glorious end America has in view."
[The true cause of Schuyler's wish to retire from official station was
the annoyance he had suffered through the campaign from sectional
prejudices. The eastern troops persistently declared that the general
commanding in that quarter ought to be of the colony whence the
majority of the troops came. His liberal treatment of British and
Canadian prisoners was also a cause of offence, and rendered him
unpopular.]