1759. BOOK with the most undaunted and enduring courage. When he X. was informed that his wound was mortal, his reply was, "I am glad to hear it:" and when the near approach of death was announced to him, he added, "So much the better:I shall not, then, live to see the surrender of Quebec." Unfortunately for his fame, the extent to which he is justly responsible for the treacherous cruelties of the Indian allies of his countrymen, on various occasions, still remains doubtful. It is pretended by some English writers, that General Amherst had declared his purpose of treating Montcalm, if he should happen to take him alive, not as an honourable warrior, but as a bandit or robber. If, however, such sentiments were ever really entertained, they were erased from the minds of victorious enemies by the heroical circumstances of Montcalm's death, and the remembrance of his talent and intrepidity,merits, which, a wise regard to his own fame, and even more generous sentiment, must ever prompt a conqueror to recognise, and perhaps exaggerate, in a vanquished foe: and when, some time after, the French government desired leave to erect a monument to his memory in Canada, the request was granted by the English minister, Pitt, in terms expressive of a high admiration of Montcalm's character. Monckton recovered of his wound at New York. It was unfortunate, perhaps, for the fame of all the officers who distinguished themselves on either side in these hostilities, that the European states to which they respectively belonged were very soon tempted to regret the effects of the prowess which they had exerted in America. General Townsend, who now commanded the army of Wolfe, proceeded to fortify his camp, and to construct lines and take other necessary measures for the investment of Quebec but his operations, which might otherwise have been considerably protracted, if not entirely defeated, were happily abridged by a proposition of the garrison within five Sept. 17. days of the late victory, to surrender the place to the English forces. The discomfiture of Montcalm's plan of defence, and the loss of his commander, whose active genius and despotic authority had rendered him not merely the leader of the French, but the main spring of all their conduct and exertions, seemed to have confounded the spirit and paralysed V. the vigour of this garrison, whose early surrender excited C H A P. general surprise, and was equally grateful to their enemies, and mortifying to their countrymen. The terms of the capi- 1759. tulation were the more favourable for the besieged, as the enemy was assembling a large force in the rear of the British army; as the season had become wet, cold, and stormy, threatening the troops with sickness, and the fleet with dan and as a considerable advantage was to be gained from taking possession of the town while the walls were yet in a defensible condition. It was stipulated that the inhabitants, during the war, should be protected in the free exercise of their religion their future political destiny was left to be decided at the return of peace. This capitulation occurred very seasonably for the British, who learned immediately after that the enemy's army had rallied and been reinforced beyond Cape Rouge by two regular battalions which General de Levi had conducted to their aid from Montreal; and that Bougainville with eight hundred men and a convoy of provisions was prepared to throw himself into the town on the very day of its surrender. The capitulation was no sooner Sept. 18. ratified, than the British forces took possession of Quebec and surwhich, besides its garrison, contained a population of ten thousand persons. Next day, about a thousand prisoners were embarked on board of transports to be conveyed to Europe. The capital of New France, thus reduced to the dominion of Great Britain, received a garrison of five thousand troops commanded by General Murray, whose security was farther promoted by the conduct which the French colonists in the neighbourhood now thought proper to adopt; for they repaired in great numbers to Quebec, and, delivering up their arms, pledged themselves by oath to observe a strictly passive neutrality during the continuance of the war. The British fleet shortly after took its departure from the St. Lawrence, carrying with it General Townsend, who returned to England. The operations which had been entrusted to General Stanwix, were attended with complete success. By his conduct and prudence the British interest and empire were established so firmly, to all appearance, on the banks of the Ohio, that the emigrants from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, render of Quebec. X. BOOK were very soon after enabled securely to resume and advantageously to extend the settlements in this quarter, from which the French had expelled them in the commencement of the war.1 1759. Thus brilliantly ended the campaign of 1759. In England, its results were hailed with the most enthusiastic triumph and applause. In America, though their sentiments were warmly and justly reciprocated, the public satisfaction was yet depressed by a prevalent apprehension that the recent victories would be attended with merely a transient advantage, and that the conquests of Britain would again be restored to France by the next treaty of peace. This notion (justified by many previous occurrences, as well as by calculations of the British policy to which we have already adverted) prevailed, besides, among many of the Indian tribes, and proved injurious to the British interest with this savage race, whose untamed ferocity did not render them altogether unsusceptible of politic impressions. About a month after the conquest of Quebec, two Indians belonging to the confederacy of the Six Nations and attached to the English interest, repaired to Canada for the ostensible purpose of visiting a portion of their tribe which had been gained over to the cause of France, and now inhabited the Canadian territory. The visitors endeavoured to persuade their ancient kinsmen to make a timely secession from the French, and to return to their original country; telling them, in Indian style, "That the English, formerly women, were now all turned into men, and were growing as thick in the country as the trees in the woods that they had taken the French forts at Ohio, Ticonderoga, Louisburg, and Quebec; and would soon eat the remainder of the French in Canada, together with all the Indians that adhered to them." But the French Indians answered, "Brothers, you are deceived: the English cannot eat up the French their mouth is too little, their jaws too weak, and their teeth not sharp enough. Our father Onontio (by this name they distinguished the governor of Canada) has told us, and we believe him, that the English, like a thief, 1 Annual Register for 1760 and 1762. Smollett. Wynne. Trumbull. Campbell. Holmes. Roger's American Biographical Dictionary. Playfair's Memoir of Professor Robison. have stolen Louisburg and Quebec from the great king, whilst CHAP. his back was turned, and he was looking another way: but V. now that he has turned his face, and sees what the English 1759. have done, he is going into their country with a thousand great canoes, and all his warriors; and he will take the little English king and pinch him, till he make him cry out and give back what he has stolen, as he did about ten summers ago; and this your eyes will soon see." This representation appears to have produced a considerable impression on the Indian race, and especially on the Six Nations,1 who, recalling former instances in which the British policy had been reproached by them as faithless and inconsistent, experienced an abatement of zeal in behalf of allies, who, they feared, might ultimately abandon them to the vengeance of their common enemy. The French industriously fomented in the minds of the savages every sentiment unfavourable towards Britain and the Cherokee war, which occurred not many months after, rewarded the address and assiduity of their intrigues. : Both in the recent and the previous campaign, which had been distinguished by the revived lustre of the British arms, the provincial troops merited and obtained an ample share of the general praise. By the prudence and liberality of the English commanders, the invidious distinctions that had been enjoined by the king, were disregarded or relaxed: and in the field, only a generous emulation prevailed between the regulars and the provincials. This emulation had been signally evinced at Niagara, and contributed materially to the success of Sir William Johnson. Massachusetts, this year, in addition to her contingent of 6,500 men, (of whom 2,500 served in garrison at Louisburg and Nova Scotia, several hundreds on board the king's ships, and the remainder along with Amherst's army,) in compliance with the request of General Wolfe, raised three hundred more, and despatched them to Quebec, where they served as pioneers. 2 The legislature of Massachusetts having passed a stamp act, in which newspapers were included, a petition was presented by the printers of the province against this impost, Annual Register for 1759. 2 Minot. Hutchinson. X. 1759. BOOK which was accordingly withdrawn, in consideration that newspapers were not only vehicles of knowledge, but instruments of liberty. In the records of the legislature of this, as well as of the other American provinces, we find the pernicious instrumentality of lotteries frequently sanctioned and adopted for the creation of funds for purposes of public utility. The example of the parent state communicated this vile and demoralizing engine of finance to her colonies. Previous to the final rupture between Britain and America, the American colonists commonly purchased every year an eighth part of the tickets of the British state lottery. 1 This year died Sir William Pepperel, who had distinguished himself so highly as commander of the expedition by which Cape Breton was conquered in 1745. Pepperel, and another individual of the same name, 2 were the only natives of New England, on whom the British title of baronet was ever conferred. Sir John Yeamans and Sir William Johnson 3 the only other of the American colonists on whom the same titular dignity had been bestowed, were natives of the parent state. Sir William Phipps was the only American whose advancement to the inferior dignity of knighthood has been recorded.* So sparingly had Britain distributed among her colonial offspring, those fanciful decorations which France had lavishly bestowed upon the Canadians, and successfully employed to nourish and sustain their prejudices in favour of royalty and aristocracy. If Britain (always supposing, though contrary to probability, that her policy was the result of consistent and prospective system) hoped to impress her American subjects with additional reverence for a parent state, which was not only the fountain but the sole depositary of titular honours, 1 Holmes. Ann. Reg. for 1769. 2 William Pepperel, of Boston (probably a relative of the conqueror of Cape Breton), was created a baronet of Great Britain in the year 1774, two years before the revolt of America from the British empire.-Ann. Reg. for 1774. 3 On the death of Sir William Johnson, in 1774, his title was inherited by his son, Sir John Johnson, who had been born in America, and who espousing the quarrel of Britain in the war of independence, committed, at the head of a body of Indians, the most barbarous devastation of the American settlements.-Dwight's Travels. 4 Sir Benjamin Thomson (better known by the title of Count Rumford) was a native of Massachusetts. But he did not receive his title of knighthood till after the revolt of America from Britain, when it was bestowed on him as the reward of his adherence to the parent state. |