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only be carried by storming the entrenchments which the French had thrown up in front of it. This bold measure Wolfe resolved to adopt, and on the 31st of July he effected a landing. The boats, however, had met with an accidental delay; the grenadiers, it is said, rushed forward with too blind and impetuous a valor; Montcalm, strongly posted between Quebec and Montmorenci, poured in upon them a destructive fire; the Indian rifle told with fatal effect; and the assailants were finally repulsed with the loss of five hundred men. Wolfe felt this disappointment so deeply that his delicate frame was thrown into a violent fever; and in a despatch to Mr. Pitt he afterwards expressed the apprehension under which he labored. The fleet, his strongest arm, could not act against the wall of rock on which Quebec is seated; and with his weakened force he had to storm fortified positions, defended by troops almost as numerous as his own. So soon, however, as his health permitted, he called a council of war, desired the general officers to consult together; and, it is said, proposed to them a second attack on the French lines, avoiding the errors which had led to the failure of the first. They were They were decidedly of opinion that this was inexpedient; but on the suggestion, as is now believed, of Brigadier-general Townshend, the second in command, they proposed to attempt a point on the other side of Quebec, where the enemy were yet unprepared, and whence they might gain the Heights of Abraham, which overlooked the city. Wolfe assented, and applied all his powers to

the accomplishment of this plan. Such active demonstrations were now made against Montcalm's original position, that he believed it still the main object; and though he observed detachments moving up the river, merely sent De Bougainville with fifteen hundred men to Cape Rouge, a position too distant, being nine miles above Quebec.

On the night of the 12th of September, in deep silence, the troops were embarked and conveyed in two divisions to the place now named Wolfe's Cove. The precipice here was so steep, that even the general for a moment. doubted the possibility of scaling it; but Fraser's Highlanders, grasping the bushes which grew on its face, soon reached the summit, and in a short time he had his whole army drawn up in regular order on the plains above. Montcalm, struck by this unexpected intelligence, at once concluded that, unless the English could be driven from this position, Quebec was lost; and, hoping probably, that only a detachment had yet reached it, pushed forward at once to the attack. About fifteen hundred light infantry and Indians arrived first, and began a desultory fire from among the bushes; but the British reserved their shot for the main body, which was seen advancing behind. They came forward in good order, and commenced a brisk attack; yet no general fire was opened in return till they were within forty yards, when it could be followed up by the bayonet. The first volley was decisive; Wolfe and Montcalm both fell almost at the same moment; the French instantly gave way in every quarter; and

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From the original Painting by 4. Claprel, in the possession of the Publishers.

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CH. IX.]

WOLFE AND MONTCALM FALL IN BATTLE.

repeated charges, in which the Highland broadsword was powerfully wielded, soon completed the victory. As soon as Wolfe received his mortal wound, he said, "Support me! let not my brave soldiers see me drop." He was carried to some distance in the rear, and hearing the cry "They run!" he asked "Who run?" Being told "The enemy," he gave some short directions, and then said: "Now, God be praised, I die happy!"

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The battle had scarcely closed when De Bougainville appeared in the rear, but on seeing the fortune of the day, immediately retreated. On the 17th, a flag of truce came out, and on the 18th, a capitulation was concluded on honorable terms to the French, who were not made prisoners, but conveyed home to their native country.

1760.

Canada was, however, not yet conquered. The winter had arrested the farther advance of Amherst and JohnWe cannot forbear quoting the sim- son; and General de Levi, who had asple and feeling observations of Gen- sembled at Montreal upwards of ten eral Townshend respecting his heroic thousand men, conceived the design of friend, whose fate threw so affecting recapturing Quebec in the spring, bea lustre on this memorable victory: "Ifore it could obtain succors, either by am not ashamed to own to you, that sea or land. Being baffled in his promy heart does not exult in the midst jects to carry it by a coup de main, of this success. I have lost but a friend | he landed his army, on the 27th in General Wolfe; our country has of April, 1760, advanced to the lost a sure support and a perpetual Heights of Abraham, and prepared to honor. If the world were sensible at carry on a regular siege. General how dear a price we have purchased Murray had been left with a garrison Quebec in his death, it would damp the of six thousand men; but a severe atpublic joy. Our best consolation is, tack of scurvy had reduced to half that Providence seemed not to promise that number those who were capable that he should remain long among us. of bearing arms. This officer, dreading He was himself sensible of the weak- that the place was unfit to stand a ness of his constitution, and determined siege, and hoping much from the to crowd into a few years actions that bravery of his troops, attacked the would have adorned length of life."+ enemy, on the 28th of April, at Sillery; but, being overpowered by superior numbers, he was defeated with great loss. If guilty here of any rashness, he atoned for it by the activity with which he placed Quebec in a state of defence, and held out the town till the 15th of May, when a fleet, under Admiral Swanton, arrived and raised the siege.

* But see Mr. Bancroft's account, (vol. iv., p. 339): he speaks strongly of Townshend's meanness in respect to this battle.

† The body of Wolfe was conveyed for sepulture to England, and a monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. A small pillar marks the spot where he fell, on the plains of Abraham; and a pyramid since raised upon the heights of the city, simply bearing the names of "WOLFE" and MONTCALM," is destined to perpetuate the common memory of these gallant chiefs, and of the memorable battle in which they gloriously fell.

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The French army then concentrated

itself in Montreal, where the Marquis de Vaudreuil made an attempt to maintain his ground; but being enclosed by the forces under General Amherst, and by those from Quebec and Niagara, he found himself obliged, on the 8th of September, 1760, to sign a capitulation, by which that city and the whole of Canada were transferred to British dominion. He obtained liberal stipulations for the good treatment of the inhabitants, and particularly the free exercise of the Roman Catholic faith, and the preservation of the property belonging to the religious communities.

1759.

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"Thus ended," says Mr. Irving, "the contest between France and England for dominion in America, in which, as has been said, the first gun was fired in Washington's encounter with De Jumonville. A French statesman and diplomatist, (Count de Vergennes) consoled himself by the persuasion that it would be a fatal triumph to England. It would remove the only check by which her colonies were kept in awe. They will no longer need her protection,' said he; 'she will call on them to contribute toward supporting the burdens they have helped to bring on her, and they will answer by striking for independence? To the same effect are some of the sentiments of Montcalm, which have been preserved. The appositeness of these sentiments to the matter before us renders them worth quoting, in part at least. After speaking of his personal knowledge on this subject, he goes to say: 'All the colonies have, happily for themselves,

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* ( Life of Washington," vol. i., p. 308.

reached a very flourishing condition, they are numerous and rich, they contain within their own bosom all the necessities of life. England has been foolish and dupe enough to allow the arts, trades, and manufactures to become established among them, that is to say, she has allowed them to break the chain of wants which attached them to, and made them dependent upon, herself. Thus all these English colonies would long ago have thrown off the yoke, each province would have formed a little independent republic, if the fear of seeing the French at their doors had not proved a bridle to restrain them. As masters, they would have preferred their countrymen to strangers, taking it nevertheless for a maxim, to obey either as little as possible. But once let Canada be conquered, and the Canadians and these colonists become one people, and on the first occasion when Old England appears to touch their interests, do you imagine, my dear cousin, that the Americans will obey? And in revolting, what will they have to fear?"

Washington is so essentially a part of American history that it is only proper to put on record, facts of moment respecting him. On the 6th of January, 1759, he was married to Mrs. Martha Custis. A few months afterwards, having been elected a member of the House of Burgesses, he repaired to Williamsburg to take his seat. The House determined to signalize the event by special honor to the beloved Washington. Hardly had he entered the House, when Mr. Robinson, the speaker, eloquently returned thanks, in the

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