158

LOSS OF FORT NIAGARA FATAL TO THE FRENCH.

worthless promises to pay. This pledge had been made by Pitt under the seal of secrecy; the secret had been sacredly kept; and the pledge was as sacredly redeemed. At this time the great minister could do anything with the English race throughout the globe; as far as the epithet can ever be applied to human power, he was omnipotent.

In connection with the best men in England and America, officers and civilians, especially with Benjamin Franklin, he clearly saw the necessities of the case; and partly by his own monitions, and in full concurrence with the best advice, he determined to send a strong land and naval force under Gen. Wolfe up the St. Lawrence to attack Quebec. Amherst, who had superseded the unsuccessful Abercrombie, was to expel the French from the region of Lake George and Lake Champlain, seize Montreal, and join the command at Quebec. Another expedition under Gen. Prideau was to seize Fort Niagara, from whence, with all his forces, he was to sail down Lake Ontario to Montreal. It was a well-planned campaign, and could hardly fail.

Ticonderoga Abandoned, July 22, 1759.-A more formidable army of eleven thousand men now appeared before Ticonderoga, under Gen. Amherst. Wolfe had already-June 27-reached Quebec, and the French general had received the news. Seeing that all resistance was vain, he resolved on the demolition of the fort, which he partially accomplished, and then escaped with his army to Crown Point. But thither he was pursued by Amherst, and on the first of August he escaped down the lake to Isle Aux Noix, in the Sorelle river, where he was still followed. But the season was too late for further operations, and Amherst returned to Crown Point for winter quarters, where he constructed a strong fortress, on whose picturesque ruins the traveler still looks with surprise and admiration.

Joined by Sir William Johnson's forces, Gen. Prideau gathered his army at Oswego, and sailed up the lake to Niagara. On the 17th of July, he commenced a siege; but by the bursting of a cannon, he lost his life the same day. Gen. Johnson pressed the siege, and when the fort was about to surrender, reinforcements of three thousand men,-about equally divided between the French regulars and Indian allies,—came to their relief. But the following day a fierce battle was fought, which ended in the surrender of Fort Niagara, with its garrison of seven hundred men, and the retreat of the rest of the French army. The loss of Niagara was fatal to the French power. Its last connecting link between the north and the south was broken forever.

The Expedition to Quebec.-Wolfe, then only thirty-three years old, but with vast experience, left Louisburg with his splendid expedition of eight thousand troops, under the convoy of twenty-two line-of-battle ships, and as many frigates and smaller vessels, commanded by Admirals Sanders and Holmes, and on the 27th of June landed at Orleans Island, of which we spoke in our earlier pages as the rendezvous of Jacques Cartier in 1534.

DEATH OF WOLFE AND MONTCALM.

159

I have already described the position of Quebec; nor can I spare much space for the military scenes now to be witnessed around it. On a level plateau, three hundred feet above the river, called the Plains of Abraham, a desperate and splendid battle was to be fought. The lower town could be gained only by cannonading from Port Levi, directly opposite Quebec, and this was done only by throwing in hot shot, which nearly effected the destruction of the lower town. On the 3d of July, Gen. Monckton with his grenadiers, landed on the beach, and trusting to the valor of his men, rushed precipitously upon the enemy's works. He performed prodigies of valor, and a fierce struggle was carried on till night shut down on them prematurely by a terrific thunder-storm, which had been gathering for hours, and now closed over the whole scene. The rising tide had already begun to rush in, and Monckton was compelled to retreat, leaving five hundred fallen men behind him.

Amherst, who was to have joined him by this time, had not been heard from. Two months had gone by, and Quebec seemed no nearer to falling into Wolfe's hands. At last, thrown into a violent fever by continued exposure and anxiety for two months, the first of September found the gallant soldier prostrate in his tent. He summoned a council of war. It was proposed to scale the heights of Abraham. 'It is well proposed,' said Wolfe, ‘and I will lead the assault in person :' and he rose from his bed to put on his uniform. The skilful manoeuvres of the fleet completely deceived the French commander: so silently and adroitly was it managed that when the sun rose on the morning of September 13th, the whole of Wolfe's army stood drawn up in line of battle on the Plains of Abraham. The conflict began. Montcalm did his best to atone for what seemed a lack of vigilance, and he centred his forces with incredible celerity. It was a close, hand to hand, desperate struggle. Every implement of warfare known, was brought into action. Twice Wolfe was wounded, but he still kept his feet. Seeing at last where a final charge could be made that would win the day, he sprang to the head of his Grenadiers, and led them to the charge. But a bullet pierced his breast, and he was carried to the rear. Monckton took his place, only to fall wounded. Townsend then directed the battle, and led forward the British regulars in one of those deadly assaults which have made English bayonets and Highland broadswords immortal in the history of chivalry. Montcalm received his death wound, and his whole army broke and fled.

Something more is due than the passing tribute we can give to such sublime valor. Montcalm was carried into the city. They told him he must die. 'So much the better,' said he, 'I shall thus be spared the mortification of witnessing the surrender of Quebec.' As Wolfe was borne off dying,—' They flee! They flee !'-smote on his ears. "Who?' 'The French.'-And with a smile of triumph, his gallant spirit passed away.'

1 His remains are yet in Quebec; those of Wolfe were conveyed to England. People of the two nations have long dwelt peaceably together in that ancient city, and they have united in erecting a tall granite obelisk,

Note.

dedicated to the linked memory of Wolfe and Montcalm.-Lossing's Hist. of the U. S., p. 202. Montcalm's ashes rest beneath the Ursuline Convent at Quebec.

160

CLOSE OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR.

Five days later, Gen. Murray marched into the city of Quebec, which had surrendered, and the Lilies were lowered, as the British standard waved over the surrendered capital of New France.

And yet the French empire in North America had not fallen. Montreal still held out, and it was being strongly fortified against another campaign.

Final Campaign of 1760-Close of the Seven Years' War.-The last hope of the French dominion in America now hung upon the conduct of Vaudreuil, the Governor-general of Canada, who had gathered all his forces at Montreal, his last stronghold. Resolute to recover Quebec, he despatched De Levi, his ablest commander, down the St. Lawrence, with six frigates and a land force of 10,000 men. With a folly little short of madness Murray marched out from his impregnable city-April 28-and hazarded an attack on the enemy in Sillery Wood, where he met with an ignominious defeat, leaving his whole train of fine artillery, and a thousand men on the field. The French siege began, and the English garrison, which had been so reduced. by sickness and death during the previous winter, could after the late battle have numbered little more than two thousand effective men; and had not a fleet arrived, which Pitt had despatched to join Amherst in his attempt on Montreal, Murray would have been obliged to surrender. The news is best given by the minister himself in a letter to his wife. Join, my love, with me in most humble and grateful thanks to the Almighty. The siege of Quebec was raised on the 17th of May, with every happy circumstance. The enemy left their camp standing, abandoning forty pieces of cannon. Swanton arrived there in the Vanguard on the fifteenth, and destroyed all the French shipping, six or seven in number. Happy, happy day! My joy and hurry are inexpressible.'

On the 6th of September Amherst reached Montreal with ten thousand troops, and Gen. Johnson with a thousand warriors of the Six Nations. The same day, Gen. Murray appeared with four thousand troops from Quebec; and the day after, Col. Haviland, with three thousand, came in from Crown Point. Thus the three armies came together in overwhelming strength to take an open town of a few hundred inhabitants, which Vaudreuil had resolved to give up on the first appearance of the English; and on the eighth of September, the flag of St. George floated in triumph on the gate of Montreal, the admired island of Jacques Cartier, the ancient hearth of the council-fires of the Wyandots, the village consecrated by the Roman church to the Virgin Mary, a site connected by rivers and lakes with an inland world, and needing only a somewhat milder climate to be one of the most attractive spots on the continent. The capitulation included all Canada, which was said to extend to the crest of land dividing branches of Erie and Michigan from those of the Miami, the Wabash, and the Illinois rivers. Property and religion were cared for in the terms; but for civil liberty no stipulation was even thought of. Thus Canada,