1760
Fall of Canada
The retreat of Lévis left Canada little hope but in a speedy
peace. This hope was strong, for a belief widely prevailed
that, even if the colony should be subdued, it would be restored
to France by treaty. Its available force did not exceed
eight or ten thousand men, as most of the Canadians below
the district of Three Rivers had sworn allegiance to King
George; and though many of them had disregarded the oath
to join the standard of Lévis, they could venture to do so no
longer. The French had lost the best of their artillery, their
gunpowder was falling short, their provisions would barely
carry them to harvest time, and no more was to be hoped
for, since a convoy of ships which had sailed from France
at the end of winter, laden with supplies of all kinds, had
been captured by the English. The blockade of the St. Lawrence
was complete. The Western Indians would not fight, and even those
of the mission villages were wavering and insolent.
Yet Vaudreuil and Lévis exerted themselves for defence
with an energy that does honor to them both. "Far from
showing the least timidity," says the ever-modest Governor,
"I have taken positions such as may hide our weakness from
the enemy."[835] He stationed Rochbeaucourt with three hundred
men at Pointe-aux-Trembles; Repentigny with two hundred
at Jacques-Cartier; and Dumas with twelve hundred at
Deschambault to watch the St. Lawrence and, if possible,
prevent Murray from moving up the river. Bougainville was
stationed at Isle-aux-Noix to bar the approach from Lake
Champlain, and a force under La Corne was held ready to
defend the rapids above Montreal, should the English attempt
that dangerous passage. Prisoners taken by war parties near
Crown Point gave exaggerated reports of hostile preparation,
and doubled and trebled the forces that were mustering against
Canada.
[Footnote 835: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 22 Juin, 1760_.]
These forces were nevertheless considerable. Amherst had
resolved to enter the colony by all its three gates at once,
and, advancing from east, west, and south, unite at Montreal
and crush it as in the jaws of a vice. Murray was to ascend
the St. Lawrence from Quebec, while Brigadier Haviland forced an
entrance by way of Lake Champlain, and Amherst himself led the
main army down the St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario. This last
route was long, circuitous, difficult, andfull of danger from
the rapids that obstructed the river. His choice of it for his
chief line of operation, instead of the shorter and easier way
of Lake Champlain, was meant, no doubt, to prevent the French
army from escaping up the Lakes to Detroit and the other wilderness
posts, where it might have protracted the war for an indefinite
time; while the plan adopted, if successful, would make its capture
certain. The plan was a critical one. Three armies advancing
from three different points, hundreds of miles apart, by routes
full of difficulty, and with no possibility of intercommunication,
were to meet at the same place at the same time, or, failing to do
so, run the risk of being destroyed in detail. If the French troops
could be kept together, and if the small army of Murray or of
Haviland should reach Montreal a few days before the co-operating
forces appeared, it might be separately attacked and overpowered.
In this lay the hope of Vaudreuil and Lévis.[836]
[Footnote 836: _Lévis à Bourlamaque, Juillet, Août, 1760_.]
After the siege of Quebec was raised, Murray had an
effective force of about twenty-five hundred rank and file.[837]
As the spring opened the invalids were encamped on the Island of
Orleans, where fresh air, fresh provisions, and the change from
the pestiferous town hospitals wrought such wonders on the scorbutic
patients, that in a few weeks a considerable number of them were
again fit for garrison duty, if not for the field. Thus it happened
that on the second of July twenty-four hundred and fifty men and
officers received orders to embark for Montreal; and on the fifteenth
they set sail, in thirty-two vessels, with a number of boats and
bateaux.[838] They were followed some time after by Lord Rollo,
with thirteen hundred additional men just arrived from Louisbourg,
the King having ordered that fortress to be abandoned and dismantled.
They advanced slowly, landing from time to time, skirmishing with
detachments of the enemy who followed them along the shore, or
more frequently trading with the farmers who brought them vegetables,
poultry, eggs, and fresh meat. They passed the fortified hill of
Jacques-Cartier, whence they were saluted with shot and shell,
stopped at various parishes, disarmed the inhabitants, administered
oaths of neutrality, which were taken without much apparent reluctance,
and on the fourth of August came within sight of Three Rivers, then
occupied by a body of troops expecting an attack. "But," says Knox,
"a delay here would be absurd, as that wretched place must share the
fate of Montreal. Our fleet sailed this morning. The French
troops, apparently about two thousand, lined their different
works, and were in general clothed as regulars, except a very
few Canadians and about fifty naked Picts or savages, their
bodies being painted of a reddish color and their faces of
different colors, which I plainly discerned with my glass.
Their light cavalry, who paraded along shore, seemed to be
well appointed, clothed in blue, faced with scarlet; but their
officers had white uniforms. In fine, their troops, batteries,
fair-looking houses; their situation on the banks of a delightful
river; our fleet sailing triumphantly before them, with our
floating batteries drawn up in line of battle; the country on
both sides interspersed with neat settlements, together with
the verdure of the fields and trees and the clear, pleasant
weather, afforded as agreeable a prospect as the most lively
imagination can conceive."
[Footnote 837: _Return of the Present State of His Majesty's Forces
in Garrison at Quebec, 21 May, 1760_.]
[Footnote 838: Knox, II. 344, 348.]
This excellent lover of the picturesque was still more delighted
as the fleet sailed among the islands of St. Peter. "I think nothing
could equal the beauties of our navigation this morning: the meandering
course of the narrow channel; the awfulness and solemnity of the dark
forests with which these islands are covered; the fragrancy of the
spontaneous fruits, shrubs, and flowers; the verdure of the water by
the reflection of the neighboring woods; the wild chirping notes of the
feathered inhabitants; the masts and sails of ships appearing
as if among the trees, both ahead and astern: formed altogether
an enchanting diversity."
The evening recalled him from dreams to realities; for
towards seven o'clock they reached the village of Sorel, where
they found a large body of troops and militia intrenched
along the strand. Bourlamaque was in command here with two or three
thousand men, and Dumas, with another body, was on the northern shore.
Both had orders to keep abreast of the fleet as it advanced; and thus
French and English alike drew slowly towards Montreal, where lay the
main French force under Lévis, ready to unite with Bourlamaque
and Dumas, and fall upon Murray at the first opportunity.
Montreal was now but a few leagues distant, and the situation
was becoming delicate. Murray sent five rangers towards
Lake Champlain to get news of Haviland, and took measures
at the same time to cause the desertion of the Canadians,
who formed the largest part of the opposing force. He sent
a proclamation among the parishes, advising the inhabitants
to remain peacefully at home, promising that those who did
so should be safe in person and property, and threatening to
burn every house from which the men of the family were absent.
These were not idle words. A detachment sent for the purpose destroyed
a settlement near Sorel, the owners of which were in arms under
Bourlamaque. "I was under the cruel necessity of burning the greatest
part of these poor unhappy people's houses," wrote Murray. "I pray God
this example may suffice, for my nature revolts when this becomes
a necessary part of my duty."[839] On the other hand, he treated
with great kindness all who left the army and returned to
their families. The effect was soon felt. The Canadians came
in by scores and by hundreds to give up their arms and take
the oath of neutrality, till, before the end of August, half
Bourlamaque's force had disappeared. Murray encamped on
Isle Ste.-Thérèse, just below Montreal, and watched and
waited for Haviland and Amherst to appear.[840]
[Footnote 839: _Murray to Pitt, 24 Aug. 1760_.]
[Footnote 840: Knox, II. 382, 384. Mante, 340.]
Vaudreuil on his part was not idle. He sent a counter-proclamation
through the parishes as an antidote to that of Murray. "I have been
compelled," he writes to the Minister, "to decree the pain of
death to the Canadians who are so dastardly as to desert or give
up their arms to the enemy, and to order that the houses of those
who do not join our army shall be burned."[841] Execution was to be
summary, without court-martial.[842] Yet desertion increased daily.
The Canadians felt themselves doubly ruined, for it became known that
the Court had refused to redeem the paper that formed the whole
currency of the colony; and, in their desperation, they preferred
to trust the tried clemency of the enemy rather than exasperate him
by persisting in a vain defence. Vaudreuil writes in his usual strain:
"I am taking the most just measures to unite our forces, and, if our
situation permits, fight a battle, or several battles. It is to be
feared that we shall go down before an enemy so numerous and strong;
but, whatever may be the event, we will save the honor of the King's
arms. I have the honor to repeat to you, Monseigneur, that
if any resource were left me, whatever the progress the English
might make, I would maintain myself in some part of the colony with my
remaining troops, after having fought with the greatest obstinacy; but
I am absolutely without the least remnant of the necessary means. In
these unhappy circumstances I shall continue to use every manoeuvre and
device to keep the enemy in check; but if we succumb in the
battles we shall fight, I shall apply myself to obtaining a capitulation
which may avert the total ruin of a people who will remain forever French,
and who could not survive their misfortunes but for the hope of being
restored by the treaty of peace to the rule of His Most Christian
Majesty. It is with this view that I shall remain in this town, the
Chevalier de Lévis having represented to me that it would be an evil
to the colonists past remedy if any accident should happen to me."
Lévis was willing to go very far in soothing the susceptibilities
of the Governor; but it may be suspected this time that he
thought him more useful within four walls than in the open
field.
[Footnote 841: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 29 Août, 1760_.]
[Footnote 842: _Lévis à Bourlamaque, 25 Août, 1760_.]
There seemed good hope of stopping the advance of Haviland.
To this end Vaudreuil had stationed Bougainville at Isle-aux-Noix
with seventeen hundred men, and Roquemaure at St. John, a few
miles distant, with twelve or fifteen hundred more, besides all
the Indians.[843] Haviland embarked at Crown Point with thirty-four
hundred regulars, provincials, and Indians.[844] Four days brought
him to Isle-aux-Noix; he landed, planted cannon in the swamp, and
opened fire. Major Darby with the light infantry, and Rogers with
the rangers, dragged three light pieces through the forest, and
planted them on the river-bank in the rear of Bougainville's position,
where lay the French naval force, consisting of three armed
vessels and several gunboats. The cannon were turned upon
the principal ship; a shot cut her cable, and a strong west
wind drove her ashore into the hands of her enemies. The
other vessels and gunboats made all sail for St. John, but
stranded in a bend of the river, where the rangers, swimming
out with their tomahawks, boarded and took one of them,
and the rest soon surrendered. It was a fatal blow to Bougainville,
whose communications with St. John were now cut off. In accordance
with instructions from Vaudreuil, he abandoned the island on the
night of the twenty-seventh of August, and, making his way with
infinite difficulty through the dark forest, joined Roquemaure
at St. John, twelve miles below. Haviland followed, the rangers
leading the way. Bougainville and Roquemaure fell back, abandoned
St. John and Chambly, and joined Bourlamaque on the banks of the
St. Lawrence, where the united force at first outnumbered that of
Haviland, though fast melted away by discouragement and desertion.
Haviland opened communication with Murray, and they both
looked daily for the arrival of Amherst, whose approach was
rumored by prisoners and deserters.[845]
[Footnote 843: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 29 Août, 1760_.]
[Footnote 844: _A List of the Forces employed in the Expedition against
Canada, 1760_. Compare Mante, 340, Knox, II. 392, and Rogers,
188. Chevalier Johnstone, who was with Bougainville, says "about
four thousand," which Vaudreuil multiplies to twelve thousand.]
[Footnote 845: Rogers, _Journals. Diary of a Sergeant in the Army of
Haviland_. Johnstone, _Campaign of 1760. Bigot au Ministre, 29 Août,
1760_.]
The army of Amherst had gathered at Oswego in July. On
the tenth of August it was all afloat on Lake Ontario, to the
number of ten thousand one hundred and forty-two men, besides about
seven hundred Indians under Sir William Johnson.[846]Before the
fifteenth the whole had reached La Présentation, otherwise called
Oswegatchie or La Galette, the seat of Father Piquet's mission. Near
by was a French armed brig, the "Ottawa," with ten cannon and a hundred
men, threatening destruction to Amherst's bateaux and whaleboats.
Five gunboats attacked and captured her. Then the army advanced again,
and were presently joined by two armed vessels of their own which had
lingered behind, bewildered among the channels of the Thousand Islands.
[Footnote 846: _A List of the Forces employed in the Expedition against
Canada_. Compare Mante, 301, and Knox, II. 403.]
Near the head of the rapids, a little below La Galette,
stood Fort Lévis, built the year before on an islet in mid-channel.
Amherst might have passed its batteries with slight loss, continuing
his voyage without paying it the honor of a siege; and this was what
the French commanders feared that he would do. "We shall be fortunate,"
Lévis wrote to Bourlamaque, "if the enemy amuse themselves with capturing
it. My chief anxiety is lest Amherst should reach Montreal
so soon that we may not have time to unite our forces to attack Haviland
or Murray." If he had better known the English commander, Lévis would
have seen that he was not the man to leave a post of the enemy in his
rear under any circumstances; and Amherst had also another reason for
wishing to get the garrison into his hands, for he expected to
find among them the pilots whom he needed to guide his boats down the
rapids. He therefore invested the fort, and, on the twenty-third,
cannonaded it from his vessels, the mainland, and the neighboring
islands. It was commanded by Pouchot, the late commandant of Niagara,
made prisoner in the last campaign, and since exchanged. As the rocky
islet had but little earth, the defences, though thick and
strong, were chiefly of logs, which flew in splinters under the
bombardment. The French, however, made a brave resistance.
The firing lasted all day, was resumed in the morning, and
continued two days more; when Pouchot, whose works were
in ruins, surrendered himself and his garrison. On this, Johnson's
Indians prepared to kill the prisoners; and, being compelled
to desist, three fourths of them went home in a rage.[847]
[Footnote 847: On the capture of Fort Lévis, _Amherst to Pitt, 26 Aug.
1760. Amherst to Monckton, same date_. Pouchot, II. 264-282. Knox,
II. 405-413. Mante, 303-306. _All Canada in the Hands of the
English_ (Boston, 1760). _Journal of Colonel Nathaniel Woodhull_.]
Now began the critical part of the expedition, the descent
of the rapids. The Galops, the Rapide Plat, the Long Saut,
the Côteau du Lac were passed in succession, with little loss,
till they reached the Cedars, the Buisson, and the Cascades,
where the reckless surges dashed and bounded in the sun,
beautiful and terrible as young tigers at play. Boat after boat,
borne on their foaming crests, rushed madly down the torrent.
Forty-six were totally wrecked, eighteen were damaged, and eighty-four
men were drowned.[848] La Corne was watching the rapids with a
considerable body of Canadians; and it is difficult to see why this
bold and enterprising chief allowed the army to descend undisturbed
through passes so dangerous. At length the last rapid was left behind;
and the flotilla, gliding in peace over the smooth breast of Lake
St. Louis, landed at Isle Perrot, a few leagues from Montreal. In
the morning, September sixth, the troops embarked again, landed
unopposed at La Chine, nine miles from the city, marched on
without delay, and encamped before its walls.
[Footnote 848: _Amherst to Pitt, 8 Sept. 1760_.]
The Montreal of that time was a long, narrow assemblage
of wooden or stone houses, one or two stories high, above
which rose the peaked towers of the Seminary, the spires of
three churches, the walls of four convents, with the trees of
their adjacent gardens, and, conspicuous at the lower end,
a high mound of earth, crowned by a redoubt, where a few
cannon were mounted. The whole was surrounded by a shallow
moat and a bastioned stone wall, made for defenceagainst Indians,
and incapable of resisting cannon.[849]
[Footnote 849: _An East View of Montreal, drawn on the Spot by Thomas
Patten_ (King's Maps, British Museum), _Plan of Montreal, 1759.
A Description of Montreal_, in several magazines of the time. The
recent Canadian publication called _Le Vieux Montréal_, is exceedingly
incorrect as to the numbers of the British troops and the
position of their camps.]
On the morning after Amherst encamped above the place,
Murray landed to encamp below it; and Vaudreuil, looking
across the St. Lawrence, could see the tents of Haviland's
little army on the southern shore. Bourlamaque, Bougainville,
and Roquemaure, abandoned by all their militia, had crossed
to Montreal with the few regulars that remained with them.
The town was crowded with non-combatant refugees. Here,
too, was nearly all the remaining force of Canada, consisting
of twenty-two hundred troops of the line and some two hundred
colony troops; for all the Canadians had by this time gone home.
Many of the regulars, especially of the colony troops, had also
deserted; and the rest were so broken in discipline that their
officers were forced to use entreaties instead of commands. The
three armies encamped around the city amounted to seventeen
thousand men;[850] Amherst was bringing up his cannon from La
Chine, and the town wall would have crumbled before them in an hour.
[Footnote 850: _A List of the Forces employed in the Expedition
against Canada_. See Smith, _History of Canada_, I. Appendix xix.
Vaudreuil writes to Charles Langlade, on the ninth, that the three
armies amount to twenty thousand, and raises the number to thirty-two
thousand in a letter to the Minister on the next day. Berniers says
twenty thousand; Lévis, for obvious reasons, exaggerates the
number to forty thousand.]
On the night when Amherst arrived, the Governor called
a council of war.[851] It was resolved that since all the militia
and many of the regulars had abandoned the army, and the
Indian allies of France had gone over to the enemy, further
resistance was impossible. Vaudreuil laid before the assembled
officers a long paper that he had drawn up, containing fifty-five
articles of capitulation to be proposed to the English;
and these were unanimously approved.[852] In the morning
Bougainville carried them to the tent of Amherst. He granted
the greater part, modified some, and flatly refused others.
That which the French officers thought more important than
all the rest was the provision that the troops should march
out with arms, cannon, and the honors of war; to which it
was replied: "The whole garrison of Montreal and all other
French troops in Canada must lay down their arms, and shall not
serve during the present war." This demand was felt to be intolerable.
The Governor sent Bougainville back to remonstrate; but Amherst was
inflexible. Then Lévis tried to shake his resolution, and sent him an
officer with the following note: "I send your Excellency M. de la
Pause, Assistant Quartermaster-General of the Army, on the subject of
the too rigorous article which you dictate to the troops by the
capitulation, to which it would not be possible for us to subscribe."
Amherst answered the envoy: "I am fully resolved, for the infamous part
the troops of France have acted in exciting the savages to perpetrate the
most horrid and unheard of barbarities in the whole progress of the war,
and for other open treacheries and flagrant breaches of faith, to manifest
to all the world by this capitulation my detestation of such practices;"
and he dismissed La Pause with a short note, refusing to change the
conditions.
[Footnote 851: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 10 Sept. 1760_.]
[Footnote 852: _Procès-verbal de la Déliberation du Conseil de Guerre tenu
à Montréal, 6 Sept. 1760_.]
On the next morning, September eighth, Vaudreuil yielded,
and signed the capitulation. By it Canada and all its dependencies
passed to the British Crown. French officers, civil and
military, with French troops and sailors, were to be sent to
France in British ships. Free exercise of religion was assured
to the people of the colony, and the religious communities
were to retain their possessions, rights, and privileges. All
persons who might wish to retire to France were allowed to
do so, and the Canadians were to remain in full enjoyment
of feudal and other property, including negro and Indian
slaves.[853]
[Footnote 853: _Articles of Capitulation, 8 Sept. 1760. Amherst to Pitt,
same date_.]
The greatest alarm had prevailed among the inhabitants
lest they should suffer violence from the English Indians, and
Vaudreuil had endeavored to provide that these dangerous
enemies should be sent back at once to their villages. This
was refused, with the remark: "There never have been any
cruelties committed by the Indians of our army." Strict precautions
were taken at the same time, not only against the few savages whom the
firm conduct of Johnson at Fort Lévis had not driven away, but also
against the late allies of the French, now become a peril to them. In
consequence, not a man, woman, or child was hurt. Amherst, in general
orders, expressed his confidence "that the troops will not disgrace
themselves by the least appearance of inhumanity, or by any
unsoldierlike behavior in seeking for plunder; and that as the
Canadians are now become British subjects, they will feel the
good effects of His Majesty's protection." They were in fact
treated with a kindness that seemed to surprise them.
Lévis was so incensed at the demand that the troops should
lay down their arms and serve no longer during the war that,
before the capitulation was signed, he made a formal protest[854]
in his own name and that of the officers from France, and
insisted that the negotiation should be broken off. "If," he
added, "the Marquis de Vaudreuil, through political motives,
thinks himself obliged to surrender the colony at once, we
ask his permission to withdraw with the troops of the line to
the Island of St. Helen, in order to uphold there, on our own
behalf, the honor of the King's arms." The proposal was of
course rejected, as Lévis knew that it would be, and he and
his officers were ordered to conform to the capitulation. When
Vaudreuil reached France, three months after, he had the
mortification to receive from the Colonial Minister a letter
containing these words: "Though His Majesty was perfectly
aware of the state of Canada, nevertheless, after the assurances
you had given to make the utmost efforts to sustain the
honor of his arms, he did not expect to hear so soon of the
surrender of Montreal and the whole colony. But, granting
that capitulation was a necessity, his Majesty was not the less
surprised and ill pleased at the conditions, so little honorable,
to which you submitted, especially after the representations
made you by the Chevalier de Lévis."[855] The brother of
Vaudreuil complained to the Minister of the terms of this
letter, and the Minister replied: "I see with regret, Monsieur,
that you are pained by the letter I wrote your brother; but
I could not help telling him what the King did me the honor
to say to me; and it would have been unpleasant for him to
hear it from anybody else."[856]
[Footnote 854: _Protêt de M. de Lévis à M. de Vaudreuil contre la Clause
dans les Articles de Capitulation qui exige que les Troupes mettront
bas les Armes, avec l'Ordre de M. de Vaudreuil au Chevalier
de Lévis de se conformer à la Capitulation proposée. Vaudreuil
au Ministre de la Marine, 10 Sept. 1760. Lévis au Ministre de la
Guerre, 27 Nov. 1760_.]
[Footnote 855: _Le Ministre à Vaudreuil, 5 Déc. 1760_.]
[Footnote 856: _Le Ministre au Vicomte de Vaudreuil, Frère du Gouverneur,
21 Déc. 1760_.]
It is true that Vaudreuil had in some measure drawn this
reproach upon himself by his boastings about the battles he
would fight; yet the royal displeasure was undeserved. The
Governor had no choice but to give up the colony; for Amherst had
him in his power, and knew that he could exact what terms he pleased.
Further resistance could only have ended in surrender at the discretion
of the victor, and the protest of Lévis was nothing but a device to save
his own reputation and that of his brother officers from France.
Vaudreuil had served the King and the colony in some respects
with ability, always with an unflagging zeal; and he loved
the land of his birth with a jealous devotion that goes far
towards redeeming his miserable defects. The King himself,
and not the servants whom he abandoned to their fate, was
answerable for the loss of New France.
Half the continent had changed hands at the scratch of a
pen. Governor Bernard, of Massachusetts, proclaimed a day
of thanksgiving for the great event, and the Boston newspapers
recount how the occasion was celebrated with a parade of the cadets
and other volunteer corps, a grand dinner in Faneuil Hall, music,
bonfires, illuminations, firing of cannon, and, above all, by sermons
in every church of the province; for the heart of early New England
always found voice through her pulpits. Before me lies a bundle of
these sermons, rescued from sixscore years of dust, scrawled on their
title-pages with names of owners dead long ago, worm-eaten,
dingy, stained with the damps of time, and uttering in quaint
old letterpress the emotions of a buried and forgotten past.
Triumph, gratulation, hope, breathe in every line, but no
ill-will against a fallen enemy. Thomas Foxcroft, pastor of
the "Old Church in Boston," preaches from the text, "The
Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."
"Long," he says, "had it been the common opinion, _Delenda
est Carthago_, Canada must be conquered, or we could hope
for no lasting quiet in these parts; and now, through the good
hand of our God upon us, we see the happy day of its accomplishment.
We behold His Majesty's victorious troops treading upon the high
places of the enemy, their last fortress delivered up, and their
whole country surrendered to the King of Britain in the person of
his general, the intrepid, the serene, the successful Amherst."
The loyal John Mellen, pastor of the Second Church in
Lancaster, exclaims, boding nothing of the tempest to come:
"Let us fear God and honor the King, and be peaceable subjects
of an easy and happy government. And may the blessing of Heaven be
ever upon those enemies of our country that have now submitted to
the English Crown, and according to the oath they have taken lead
quiet lives in all godliness and honesty." Then he ventures to
predict that America, now thrown open to British colonists, will
be peopled in a century and a half with sixty million souls: a
prophecy likely to be more than fulfilled.
"God has given us to sing this day the downfall of New
France, the North American Babylon, New England's rival,"
cries Eli Forbes to his congregation of sober farmers and
staid matrons at the rustic village of Brookfield. Like many of
his flock, he had been to the war, having served two years
as chaplain of Ruggles's Massachusetts regiment; and something
of a martial spirit breathes through his discourse. He passes in
review the events of each campaign down to their triumphant close.
"Thus God was our salvation and our strength; yet he who directs
the great events of war suffered not our joy to be uninterrupted,
for we had to lament the fall of the valiant and good General Wolfe,
whose death demands a tear from every British eye, a sigh from every
Protestant heart. Is he dead? I recall myself. Such heroes are immortal;
he lives on every loyal tongue; he lives in every grateful
breast; and charity bids me give him a place among the princes
of heaven." Nor does he forget the praises of Amherst, "the
renowned general, worthy of that most honorable of all titles,
the Christian hero; for he loves his enemies, and while he
subdues them he makes them happy. He transplants British
liberty to where till now it was unknown. He acts the General,
the Briton, the Conqueror, and the Christian. What fair hopes
arise from the peaceful and undisturbed enjoyment of this
good land, and the blessing of our gracious God with it! Methinks
I see towns enlarged, settlements increased, and this howling
wilderness become a fruitful field which the Lord hath blessed;
and, to complete the scene, I see churches rise and flourish in
every Christian grace where has been the seat of Satan and Indian
idolatry."
Nathaniel Appleton, of Cambridge, hails the dawning of a
new era. "Who can tell what great and glorious things God
is about to bring forward in the world, and in this world of
America in particular? Oh, may the time come when these
deserts, which for ages unknown have been regions of darkness
and habitations of cruelty, shall be illuminated with the
light of the glorious Gospel, and when this part of the world,
which till the later ages was utterly unknown, shall be the
glory and joy of the whole earth!"
On the American continent the war was ended, and the
British colonists breathed for a space, as they drifted unwittingly
towards a deadlier strife. They had learned hard and useful lessons.
Their mutual jealousies and disputes, the quarrels of their governors
and assemblies, the want of any general military organization, and
the absence, in most of them, of military habits, joined to narrow
views of their own interest, had unfitted them to the last degree for
carrying on offensive war. Nor were the British troops sent for their
support remarkable in the beginning for good discipline or
efficient command. When hostilities broke out, the army of
Great Britain was so small as to be hardly worth the name.
A new one had to be created; and thus the inexperienced
Shirley and the incompetent Loudon, with the futile Newcastle
behind them, had, besides their own incapacity, the disadvantage of
raw troops and half-formed officers; while against them stood an
enemy who, though weak in numbers, was strong in a centralized military
organization, skilful leaders armed with untrammelled and absolute
authority, practised soldiers, and a population not only brave, but in
good part inured to war.
The nature of the country was another cause that helped
to protract the contest. "Geography," says Von Moltke, "is
three fourths of military science;" and never was the truth
of his words more fully exemplified. Canada was fortified with
vast outworks of defence in the savage forests, marshes, and
mountains that encompassed her, where the thoroughfares
were streams choked with fallen trees and obstructed by
cataracts. Never was the problem of moving troops, encumbered
with baggage and artillery, a more difficult one. The question was
less how to fight the enemy than how to get at him. If a few
practicable roads had crossed this broad tract of wilderness, the
war would have been shortened and its character changed.
From these and other reasons, the numerical superiority
of the English was to some extent made unavailing. This
superiority, though exaggerated by French writers, was nevertheless
immense if estimated by the number of men called to arms; but only
a part of these could be employed in offensive operations. The rest
garrisoned forts and blockhouses and guarded the far reach of frontier
from Nova Scotia to South Carolina, where a wily enemy, silent and
secret as fate, choosing their own time and place of attack,
and striking unawares at every unguarded spot, compelled thousands
of men, scattered at countless points of defence, to keep unceasing
watch against a few hundred savage marauders. Full half the
levies of the colonies, and many of the regulars, were used
in service of this kind.
In actual encounters the advantage of numbers was often
with the French, through the comparative ease with which
they could concentrate their forces at a given point. Of the
ten considerable sieges or battles of the war, five, besides the
great bushfight in which the Indians defeated Braddock, were
victories for France; and in four of these--Oswego, Fort
William Henry, Montmorenci, and Ste.-Foy--the odds were
greatly on her side.
Yet in this the most picturesque and dramatic of American
wars, there is nothing more noteworthy than the skill with
which the French and Canadian leaders used their advantages;
the indomitable spirit with which, slighted and abandoned as
they were, they grappled with prodigious difficulties, and the
courage with which they were seconded by regulars and militia alike.
In spite of occasional lapses, the defence of Canada deserves a tribute
of admiration.