demand for men most burdensome, and the liberal compensation voted by the British Parliament was still insufficient to remunerate the colonists for past losses and advances, and had been unfortunately so long delayed by official interruptions as to create considerable mistrust and dissatisfaction. It was not without much difficulty that Connecticut was induced to keep up her last year's contingent of 5000 men, and Massachusetts at first declined to raise more than the same number, until prevailed upon by the instances of Amherst, who was universally respected and esteemed. The thinly-peopled state of New Hampshire, however, exceeded her former exertions, and sent no less than 1000 men into the field.

The movements of the last campaign, and the extensive preparations in the British settlements, no longer afforded room for doubt that the aim of England was the annihilation of the power of France in America. The Marquis de Vaudreuil therefore issued a proclamation at the close of the year 1758 to the several officers of Canadian militia, to excite their zeal and quicken their activity in preparations for resistance. "Notwithstanding our glorious successes," said he, "the state of the colony is perilous. The enemy are making great efforts both by sea and land; we must prepare, therefore, to meet them boldly as soon as the season of the year allows them to act. No time must be lost in organizing our defense." He then directed that all the male inhabitants of the province, from sixteen to sixty years of age, should be enrolled in the militia, and should remain in readiness to march at a moment's notice.

The captains of militia faithfully endeavored to comply with these orders, but the farmers, or habitans, showed great disinclination to abandon the cultivation of their fields for the certain hardships and dangers, and the uncertain glories of a soldier's life. Where the levies were efficiently carried out, the country remained waste; the last harvest had been far from abundant, and the rapacious seizures of grain for the real or fictitious wants of the government caused a pinching scarcity. The intendant had arbitrarily fixed the price of wheat at twelve sous the bushel, yet none was sold under a

far higher rate. Every device of peculation was resorted to by the unworthy civil officers to increase their gains from the distresses of the people, while the vicious decrees of a corrupted court of law supported instead of curbing them in their iniquities. Dishonest exactions and forced contributions caused a reckless waste of those resources, upon the enjoyment of which no man could confidently count, and the intendant, finding it at length difficult or impossible to obtain the necessary supplies, quartered the troops upon the unfortunate inhabitants.

The misery and distress of the colony at length deepened into absolute famine. Cadet, the commissary-general, by the intendant's orders, killed a number of horses for the use of the inhabitants and troops at Montreal and Quebec. Finally the governor and M. de Montcalm dispatched an officer to France with a detail of the deplorable state of Canada, and an earnest entreaty for succor. This officer, the afterward celebrated De Bougainville, although he had sailed very late in the autumn, escaped the dangers of the season and the vigilance of the British navy, and laid his melancholy dispatch before the throne of France.*

Early in January, 1759, a census was taken of all those capable of bearing arms in Canada; the result showed 15,229 men. Of these, however, a large proportion were neither available nor worthy of trust. A detachment of artillery, eight battalions of French regulars, and thirtythree companies of the marine or colony troops, formed the real strength of the Canadian army.

Montcalm† was indefatigable in his preparations for the

* "L'état étoit alors dans une situation peu favorable, et le ministre, M. de Berryer, répondit aux instances de M. de Bougainville en disant, Quand le feu est à la maison on ne s'occupe pas des écuries.' 'On ne dira pas du moins, monsieur, que vous parlez comme un cheval,' répondit Bougainville. C'est lui-même qui nous a raconté cette anecdote, en ajoutant qu'il alla aussitôt faire sa cour à Madame de Pompadour, qui apaisa le ressentiment du ministre.”—Biographie Universelle, art. Bougainville.

† "Le Marquis de Montcalm, à la vie duquel étoit attachée la conservation du Canada, avoit défendu cette colonie par des prodiges de valeur, pris le fort St. George (Fort William Henry), et battu vingt

approaching struggle. Regulars and militia were kept at constant work on the several fortifications. Three armed vessels were built to command the navigation of Lake Champlain. Captain Pouchot, a skillful engineer, was sent to strengthen the works of Niagara, and undertake their defense. On the 14th of May, M. de Bougainville,* afterward distinguished alike in literature and adventure, arrived from France with decorations and promotions for the governor, the general, and other officers whose merit had been conspicuous in the last campaign, but he was also bearer of the alarming intelligence that England was about to assail the colony forthwith both by sea and land. As yet, however, no supplies or re-enforcements from France made their

mille Anglais à Ticonderoga. Mais nul secours ne lui étoit envoyé; on etoit forcé de prévoir qu'il succumberoit bientôt."—Histoire de France pendant le Dix-huitième Siècle, par Charles Lacretelle, tom. iii., p. 345.

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* Bougainville, the celebrated circumnavigator, had been appointed aid-de-camp to the Marquis de Montcalm in 1756. It must be willful inaccuracy in the Biographie Universelle to attribute the taking of Fort William Henry, and the victory at Ticonderoga, Montcalm's most remarkable achievements in Canada, to his aid-de-camp instead of to himself. Bougainville had not had any opportunity of performing "des services illustres" in Canada. En 1758 le gouverneur du Canada envoya de Bougainville en France pour demander des renforts. Il revint en Jamaica 1759 après avoir reçu la récompense des services illustres qu'il avoit rendus. Montcalm le nomma, à son retour, commandant des grenadiers et des volontaires, et lui ordonna de couvrir avec ces deux corps la retraite de l'armée Française, lorsqu' elle se replia sur Quebec. Bougainville s'en acquitta avec la bravoure et l'habileté dont il avoit donné tant de preuves.

"Il s'est elevé au rang des marins les plus célébres de la France. "Bougainville est le premier Français qui ait fait le tour du monde. L'histoire de sa vie etonne par la variété des occupations aux quelles il s'est livre et par la multitude des évènements qui la remplissent.

(( Dans ses études à l'université il manifesta de bonne heure une rapidité de conception et une finesse de tact qui le firent réussir en même tems dans les genres les plus opposés. Il se faisoit également remarquer par ses connoissances dans les langues anciennes, et par ses progrès dans les sciences exactes. Il marquoit pour les mathématiques des dispositions peu communes. Il fut reçu membre de la Société Royale de Londres pendant son court séjour dans cette capitale en caractère de sécrétaire de l'ambassade, en 1754."-Biographie Universelle, art. Bougainville.

appearance in this hour of peril, and the governor, M. de Vaudreuil, was simply instructed to make the best provision in his power for the defense of Canada.

The governor addressed a notice to the militia to be ready at a moment's warning, and endeavored to excite their somewhat dormant patriotism by a spirited appeal. "This campaign," said he, "will give the Canadians an opportunity of displaying once again their loyalty and valor: their king doubts not that they will faithfully defend his and their rights, their religion, homes, and properties against the cruel English. These invaders hate our name and nation; they accuse us of the evil deeds of a few savage Indians, and burn for revenge. We will protect our people by every possible means from falling into the hands of our ruthless enemies, and from such mercies as the people of Acadia, Cape Breton, and St. John's received from thern. Better would it be for us, our wives, and our children, to be buried in the ruins of the colony, than to fall alive into the hands of the English. We have, however, no fears for our safety, and accordingly we direct that every suitable step be taken for a successful defense."

A council of war was held at Montreal, which, after frequent meetings, decided that a body of troops under Montcalm, with the brigadier-generals, the Marquis de Levi and M. de Senezergues, should be posted at Quebec; that M. de Bourlemaque should hasten to Ticonderoga, blow up the works at the approach of the English, retire by the lake to Isle aux Noix, and there make a stubborn resistance. The Chevalier de la Corne, with 800 regulars and militia, was directed to hold the rapids above Montreal, to intrench himself in a strong position, and hold out to the best of his power. These resolutions taken, Motcalm hastened to Quebec, and pushed on the works of the city and its outposts. To embarrass the hostile fleet, he removed the buoys and other marks for navigation in the Great River; above all, he strove to raise the drooping spirit of the Canadian people.

CHAPTER VIII.

We must now return to the proceedings in the British camp. In the stern climate of Northern America the season for military action was very limited. From the breaking up of the ice on the lakes and rivers, and the melting of the forest snows, till they again hindered or forbid the movement of troops, but little interval was left for the march of an invading army. To pursue with effect the great plan of the campaign, it was necessary to take the field with the earliest signs of returning spring. General Amherst, therefore, left New York on the 28th of April, 1759, and arrived at Albany on the 3d of May: there he busied himself in assembling and organizing his army for the field, preparing boats for transporting the troops, artillery, and stores, and instructing the raw Provincial levies in the rudiments of military discipline. Before this time, he had dispatched the active partisan officer, Major Rogers, with 350 men, from Fort Edward, to feel the strength of the enemy at Ticonderoga and Crown Point: they succeeded in surprising a French working party close to the disastrous scene of the previous year's defeat, killed some men, and took several prisoners, with but little loss to themselves. The intense severity of the weather, however, made the victors pay dearly for their success: two thirds of the detachment were frost-bitten in the feet, some of them to such an extent that their more fortunate companions were obliged to carry them back to the British camp.

The whole month of May was occupied in preparation for the advance. The Provincial regiments, as fast as they arrived at head-quarters, were encamped, and instructed with all diligence. The regular troops were pushed on by the road to Fort Edward, and posted at a place fifty-six miles from Albany, while a detachment under Major West constructed a small stockaded fort between Fort Edward VOL. II. -G