1759
THE FALL OF QUEBEC
MONTREAL THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT
THE SPRING ICE SHOVE--NEWS FROM FRANCE--MILITARY HONOURS SENT BUT
POOR REINFORCEMENTS--PROJECTED FRENCH INVASION OF ENGLAND--GLOOM
IN CANADA--THE MONTREAL MILITIA AT THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC--FALL OF
QUEBEC, MONTREAL SEAT OF GOVERNMENT--THE WINTER ATTEMPT TO REGAIN
QUEBEC--THE EXPECTED FRENCH FLEET NEVER ARRIVES--RETREAT OF FRENCH
TO MONTREAL.
At the commencement of April, the violent breaking up of the ice of the
St. Lawrence proclaimed that spring had arrived. "It was a sight," said
Montcalm, "to see the masses of ice heaping up, mountain-like, amidst
great noise. The ice shove took place at 7.30 A. M. It happens from
time to time and makes one fear for a part of Montreal, which is built
too near the river. One year it bore down all the walls of the town.
This year it has battered the Château de Callières, a house at the
extremity of the town, so called, because it was the dwelling of the
governor general of that name."
The troops began to be moved. At last the vessels from France reached
Quebec and Bougainville returned to Montreal on May 14th to render
his report to the governor general, confirming his letters, arriving
ahead. The situation now unfolded by Bougainville, with the letters
from the court at Versailles and the ministers of war and marine to
Vaudreuil and Montcalm, was one of intense anxiety. France was in a
pitiable state of degeneracy. A weak king sat without honour on its
throne, surrounded by ministers without pride and without patriotism,
sad successors of a Henry IV, a Richelieu, a Louis XIV and a Colbert.
There was no consistent policy in the king's council. The king, who had
boasted "_après moi, le déluge_," was a nobody, and Madame la Marquise
de Pompadour virtually prime minister, all powerful. There was no
credit. The finances were inadequate to pay for the toilettes and the
shameful splendours of the Pompadour, whose budget was greater than
that of Canada under the infamous government of Louis XV. France saw
its erstwhile moral and political grandeur in decay; its administration
of its foreign and home affairs a by-word heightened by the scandalous
disorders of the court of a king who was a gamester and a high liver.
It is no wonder then that Bougainville, after three months' insistent
solicitations in France with M. Berryer, the minister of marine,
the Marshal de Belle-Isle and the Pompadour, could only obtain the
reinforcement for Canada of 400 men and some ammunition, and inadequate
supplies of provisions. In his journal he notes that "M. Berryer who,
from being a lieutenant of the police in Paris, had been made minister
of marine, would not understand that Canada was the barrier of our
other colonies and that the English would not attack any others until
they had chased us out of it. This minister was fond of proverbs and he
told me pertinently that one did not seek to save the stables when the
house was on fire." Hence the small reinforcements for the stables of
Canada.
Honours, however, were thickly scattered. Montcalm had been made a
lieutenant-general, with an increase of salary, with the red ribbon of
knighthood of the Order of St. Louis; de Lévis became a maréchal de
camp; Bourlamaque had been created a brigadier, Bougainville a colonel,
and both had received supplementary pensions; M. de Vaudreuil was named
Grand Croix of the Order of St. Louis; M. de Rigaud, his brother,
received for life the concession of the Port of Baie Verte (Green Bay).
Many other officers received pensions, promotions or the Cross of St.
Louis.
Without the necessary reinforcements the colony appeared abandoned.
The argument given for this to Vaudreuil and Bigot in a letter dated
February 3d from the minister of marine was that "the continuation of
the war in Europe, the too great risks by sea and the necessity of
reuniting the naval forces, did not allow of their separation or the
hazarding of a part of them to afford the uncertain succour which would
be employed more usefully for the state and the relief of Canada, in
expeditions more prompt and decisive later."
Yet in spite of the news that the English counted on invading Carillon
and Quebec--Amherst at Carillon and Wolfe at Quebec--Montcalm's
instructions were "to hearken to no capitulation, but to defend
himself foot by foot, and not to imitate the shameful conduct of
Louisbourg."[211] Vaudreuil had to keep his foot in Canada at any price.
The letter of M. Berryer to Montcalm and Vaudreuil, dated February 10,
1759, put this explicitly: "Your principal object, which you ought not
to lose sight of, must be to preserve at least a sufficient portion
of this colony and to hold it, in view of recovering the whole on the
declaration of peace, it being a very different thing, in a treaty to
stipulate for the restitution of the whole of a colony, than for that
only of dependent portions lost in the hazard of war.... Moreover, His
Majesty will not lose sight of you during this campaign.... He will
busy himself about means to assist you effectively, not only through
the new reinforcements he may send you, but still more by efficient
manoeuvres to procure diversions of the strength likely otherwise to
oppose you."
This enigmatic, mysterious allusion, not then understood, was to
nothing less than to the projected invasion of England which, it was
thought, would withdraw the English forces from Canada. This plan,
conceived by M. Machault, prompted by the Maréchal de Belle-Isle and
enthusiastically adopted by Choiseul, forty-six years before Napoleon,
was actually attempted. But Pitt, becoming aware of the preparations,
quickly encircled the British Isles and Ireland with a powerful fleet
and organized the militia forces on land, and sent Rodney, Boscawen
and Hawke to attack the French fleets when mobilizing. Lavisse, in the
"Histoire de France," 8, II, p. 219, tells the result: "The Atlantic
fleet was rendered as powerless as was that of the Mediterranean with
the loss to France of twenty-nine vessels of the line and thirty-five
frigates; its fleet was reduced to nearly nothing. It was no longer in
the position to defend its colonies."[212]
It was a gloomy lookout for the military authorities at Montreal.
To them it seemed as if the government at home, unmindful of the
sacrifice of its heroes in Canada by field, flood and ice, was ready to
abandon the "few _arpents_ of snow" as too great a burden for its weak
shoulders and to shamefully lower the _fleur-de-lys_ to the flag of
England.[214]
The forces at the disposal of Canada were, according to the census
taken in January, only 15,229. The census of February, 1759, gave a
total population in Canada of 82,000, with 20,000 able to bear arms.
(Cf., Rameau, "La France aux Colonies," p. 86.) This would not include
the regular army and the domiciliated Indians.
Smith, in his "History of Canada," states that "when the government
wanted the services of the militia as soldiers, the colonel of
militia, or the town major, in consequence of a requisition from the
governor general, sent orders to the several captains of militia in
the country parishes to furnish a certain number of militiamen, chosen
by those officers, who ordered the drafts into town under an escort
commanded by an officer of militia, who conducted them to the town
major, where they were each furnished with a gun, a capot, a Canadian
cloak, a breechclout, a cotton shirt, a cap, a pair of leggings, a
pair of Indian shoes and a blanket; after which they were marched to
the garrison for which they were destined. The militia were generally
reviewed once or twice a year to inspect their arms."
They acted as bushrangers and would march with the French regulars to
the tune of "Malbrouk s'en va-t'en guerre."
To these had been communicated, by Vaudreuil, the king's order to fight
even to extinction, and the governor general, to his honour, added:
"For my part, I am determined to consent to no capitulation, convinced
of its dangerous consequences for all the Canadians. The thing is so
certain that it would be incomparably sweeter for them, their wives and
their children, to be buried under the ruins of the colony."
With these few but resolute troops Canada had now to defend herself,
attacked at three points--Quebec, Carillon and Niagara--against
overwhelming odds. Quebec was the first objective of attack by the
English, and on May 21st Montcalm left Montreal to put it in a
position, as far as it was possible, to stand the siege. On May 24th
he was joined by Vaudreuil. The story of the siege of Quebec, which
lasted two months and twelve days--from July 6th to September 18th--is
foreign to our purpose; but we must know that the militia of the town
of Montreal, to the number of 1,150, acquitted themselves honourably on
that heroic occasion. On September 13th Quebec dates its fall. It was
the fatal day of the disaster on the Plains of Abraham, where Montcalm,
bearing his death wound, was led on his horse by three soldiers by the
St. Louis gate to the city. At 5 o'clock on the morning of September
14th he breathed his last like a Christian hero, believing in the
promises of immortality. Wolfe also had met his fate in the same
engagement.[215]
[Illustration: WOLFE AND MONTCALM MONUMENT, QUEBEC
One of the few instances known in which a monument has been erected to
two opposing generals.]
[Illustration: MONTCALM STATUE]
[Illustration: WOLFE STATUE]
On October 18th the English fleet left Quebec. The town was desolate.
After the death of Wolfe, Monckton put Murray in command of the
garrison, with twenty gunships. Brigadier General Murray remained there
with 7,300 men, at once governor and commander in chief. Lord Townshend
and Admiral Saunders, with the rest of the fleet, returned to England
with the embalmed body of Wolfe.
The City of Champlain was in other hands. It is attributed to Madame
de Pompadour that on receipt of the news she uttered the frivolous
comment, "At last, the king will sleep in peace." By Louis XV, this
new wound to French national pride was received with indifference.
Already beaten at Rosbach, Crevelt and Meudon, what mattered another
loss so far away? Nevertheless he sent, at the entreaty of Vaudreuil,
inadequate forces, which the English fleet never allowed to reach their
destination.
The loss of Quebec was looked upon by the English, at home and in
America, as the virtual conquest of Canada. England rejoiced with
bonfire celebrations and the New England pulpits resounded with the
oratory of thanksgiving for the conquest. France received the news with
pain, but with no surprise. Patriotism was dead and there was little
talk of sending a strong reinforcement. The ministers were content with
sending 400 men, with three or four vessels loaded with provisions and
warlike stores, and convoyed by a frigate.[216] Yet the Canadians did
not despair. With indomitable courage, and buoyed up perhaps by the
hope that some big scheme for their succour was being devised in Paris,
they held to their policy under General de Lévis, now in command, of
disputing the position foot by foot. With the loss of the capital,
Montreal became the seat of civil and religious governments, as well as
the military headquarters. By the end of 1759 it was a small remnant
that now remained to the French--the narrow strip of territory on the
St. Lawrence from Jacques Cartier and Kingston, Montreal and Ile aux
Noix being the only posts of importance still to be reduced.
During the winter of 1759-60, while petty hostilities were kept up with
the enemy to divert their attention, busy preparations were being made
in Montreal to advance to the recapture of Quebec at the breaking up of
the ice. The historian, Parkman, in his "Montcalm and Wolfe," Vol. II,
Ch. 29, thus describes this period:
"The difficulty was to find means of transportation. The depth of
the snow and the want of draught animals made it necessary to wait
till the river became navigable; but preparation was begun at once.
Lévis was the soul of the enterprise. Provisions were gathered from
afar and near; cannon, mortars and munitions of war were brought from
the frontier posts, and butcher knives weritted to the muzzles of
guns to serve the Canadians in place of bayonets. All the working men
about Montreal were busied in making tools and gun carriages. Stores
were impressed from the merchants; and certain articles which could
not otherwise be had, were smuggled, with extraordinary address, out
of Quebec itself. Early in spring the militia received orders to
muster for the march. There were doubts and discontent, 'but,' says a
contemporary, 'sensible people dared not speak, for if they did they
were set down as English.' Some there were who in secret called the
scheme 'Lévis' folly.' Yet it was perfectly rational, well conceived
and conducted with vigour and skill. Two frigates, two sloops of war
and a number of smaller craft still remained in the river, under the
command of Vauquelin, the brave officer who had distinguished himself
at the siege of Louisbourg. The stores and cannon were placed on board
these vessels and the army embarked in a fleet of bateaux, and on the
20th of April the whole set out together for the scene of action. They
comprised eight battalions of troops of the line and two of colony
troops, with the colonial artillery, 3,000 Canadians and 400 Indians.
When they left Montreal, their effective strength, besides Indians,
is said by Lévis to have been 6,910, a number which was increased as
they advanced by the garrisons of Jacques Cartier, Deschambault and
Pointe aux Trembles, as well as by the Canadians on both sides of
the St. Lawrence below Three Rivers, for Vaudreuil had ordered the
militia captains to join his standard with all their followers, armed
and equipped, on pain of death. (Vaudreuil aux Capitaines de Milice,
16 avril 1760.) These accessions appear to have raised his force to
between eight and nine thousand."
The story of the journey to Quebec, of the Battle of St. Foy and the
second battle on the Plains of Abraham, although engrossing in its
interest, takes us too far afield. Suffice it to say that the siege of
Quebec was raised by the French during the night of May 16-17, after a
short but brave campaign. Then followed their retreat.
The victory would have been with them if the expected fleet from France
had arrived. The moment was critical; each side was scanning the St.
Lawrence for their countries' flags, the red for England and the white
for France. The British frigate Lowestoffe was the first to arrive
on May 9th, to be followed a week later by the ship of the line,
Vanguard, and the frigate, Diana. These latter arrived in the harbour
on the evening of the 15th and on the next morning passed the town to
attack Vauquelin's fleet in the river above, with the result of their
destruction and the loss of the stores of food and ammunition.[217]
The little French fleet never arrived. They had run into the Baie des
Chaleurs to escape from pursuing enemies. There they were found, and
the frigate and the four vessels convoyed by it were burned by Captain
Byron, then cruising with a powerful fleet in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
France was responsible for her delay and niggardliness in succouring
her own.
FOOTNOTES:
[211] Berryer wrote to Vaudreuil: "M. de Montcalm ought to be consulted
not only on the operations but on all points of administration which
shall have a bearing on the defence and the administration of the
colony."
[212] The very walls of Versailles, the residence of the king, were
placarded with doggerels, among which were many of a mo treasonable
character. All of these pointed to the feminine influence over the
king. Such couplets as these:
Bateaux plats à vendre[213]
Soldats à louer
Ministres à vendre
Généraux à louer
O, France! le sexe femelle
Fit toujours ton destin.
Tel bonheur fait d'une pucelle
Ton malheur vient d'une catin.
[213] Referring to the numerous boats built for the invasion of England
but never used. This scheme originated with La Pompadour. (Walpole's
Memoirs of George II, Vol. II.)
[214] The phrase "a few arpents of ice" had been used by Voltaire in a
letter dated March 27, 1757. Later, in 1759, in his "Romance Candide,"
he wrote: "You know that these two nations (France and England) are at
war for 'some arpents of snow' towards Canada and that they expend for
this fine war more than the whole of Canada is worth."
[215] In 1827 there was erected in Quebec, under the auspices of Lord
Dalhousie, then governor-general, a stone obelisk to the memory of
the two illustrious rivals, bearing this inscription: "Mortem virtus,
communem famam historia, monumentum posteritas dedit." (Valour gave
them death in common; history, a common fame; posterity, a monument.)
[216] The influx of refugees increased the cost of living. A dozen eggs
or a pound of butter were sold for six francs; a pound of mutton eighty
francs. (Cf. Archives de la Marine. November 9, 1759.)
[217] The arrival of the three ships in May was followed by Lord
Colville's fleet, so that shortly there were six ships of the line, and
eight smaller war vessels, before Quebec. The land force under Lord
Rollo did not arrive till early in July.