The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 2 of 2)

incompetency of the Duke of Newcastle, prime minister of England, had aroused a storm of indignation, to which the shameful losses of Minorca and Oswego had given overwhelming force. Mr. Fox, th

astle did not dare the encounter with his gifted rival in the approaching session of Parliament, and reluctan

nant of Ireland, a man more remarkable for probity and loyalty than for administrative capacity, next received the royal commands to form a ministry; he sacrificed his personal predilections toward Mr. Fox to the public good, and

g the great popularity of the ministry, and the general confidence in its capacity and integrity, the apparent contrast between this proposition and former protestations

Pitt remained as virtual head of the ministry. The king's love for his son, and hatred of his gifted servant, combined to prompt him to the decided step of dismissing the great minister from his councils. An interval of nearly three months elapsed in vain attempts to form a cabinet from which Pitt should be excluded. There was, however, another party interested in these arrangements, which ne

sagreeable to the highest power in the state, and from many causes regarded with hostility by the several aristocratic confederacies, it needed the almost unanimous voice of his countrymen, and the unackno

he readily discerned in others the qualities requisite for his purpose-his judgment ever unwarped and his keen vision unclouded by personal or political considerations. In Colonel Amherst he had discovered sound sense, steady courage, and an active genius; he therefore recalled him from the army in Germany, and, casting aside the hampering formalities of military rule, promoted him to the rank of major-general, and to the command of the troops destined for the attack of Louisburg.[110] At the same time, from the British navy's brilliant roll, the minister selected the Hon. Edward Boscawen as admiral of the fleet, and gave him also, till the arrival of General Amherst, the unusual commission of command over the land forces. With vigorous zeal the equipments were hurried on, and on the 1

cious orders of no avail. In the morning a dense fog shrouded the rocky shore, and as the advancing day cleared away the curtains of the mist, a prodigious swell rolled in from the Atlantic, and broke in impassable surf upon the beach. Nevertheless, in the evening the general, with Lawrence and Wolfe, approached close to the dangerous shore, and reconnoitered the difficulties which nature and the enemy might oppose to their landing. They found that the French had formed a cha

received, seven of the smaller vessels at once opened fire, and in about a quarter of an hour the boats of the left division began to row in toward the shore: in them were embarked twelve companies of Grenadiers, 550 Light Infantry men, with the Highlanders and a body of

he British troops were struck down, but not a shot was returned. Wolfe's flag-staff was shivered by a bar-shot, and many boats badly damaged; still, with ardent valor, the sailors forced their way through the surging waves, and in a very few minutes the whole division was ashore, and the enemy flying in disorder from all his intrenchments. The victors pressed on ra

he attack of the hostile stronghold; on the 11th, however, the weather began to clear, and some progress was made in the prep

About midway across the entrance of this land-locked bay stands Goat Island, which at that time was defended by some works, with a formidable array of guns; a range of impassable rocks extends thence to the town. From an elevation to the northwest of the harbor, the grand battery showed a threatening front to those wh

ushed on his advance round the northern and eastern shores of the bay, till they gained the high lands opposite Goat Island with little opposition; there, as soon as the perversity of the weather would permit, he mounted some heavy artillery, but it was not till the 20th that he was enabled to open fi

leet. On the night of the 9th of July, the progress of the besiegers was somewhat interrupted by a fierce and sudden sally; five companies of light troops, supported by 600 men, burst upon a small English work during the silence of the night, surprising and overwhelming the defenders. The young Earl of Dundonald, commanding the grenadiers of the 17th, who held the post, paid for this want of vigilance with h

harbor from a live shell, and the English gunners dealt death to those who sought to extinguish the flames. The next day the citadel was in a blaze; the next, the barracks were burned to the ground, and Wolfe's trenches were pushed up to the very defenses of the town. The French could no longer stand to their guns

bravely won; 5600 men, soldiers, sailors, and marines were prisoners; eleven ships of war taken or destroyed; 240 pieces of ordnance, 15,000 stand of arms, and a great amount of ammunition, provisions,

d, and the chivalrous Wolfe himself, as he neared the awful surf, staggered in his resolution, and, purposing to defer the enterprise, waved his hat for the boats to retire. Three young subaltern officers, however, commanding the leading craft, pushed on ashore, having mistaken the signal for what their stout hearts desired-the order

e long red line of British infantry closed in from day to day. His light troops were swept from the neighboring woods; his sallies were interrupted or overwhelmed. Well-armed batteries were pushed up to the very ramparts; a murderous fire of musketry struck down his gunners at their work; three gaping breaches lay open to the assailants;[117] his best ships burned or taken; his officers and men worn with fatigue and watching; four fifths of his artillery disabled; then, and not till then, did the brave Frenchman give up the trust which he had nobly and faithfully held. To

le de St. Jean, now Prince Edward's Island. This latter territory had long been an object of great importance to Canada; the fertility of the soil, the c

of St. Lawrence. The object of this expedition was to destroy the French settlements at Miramichi, the Baye de Chaleurs, Gaspé, and as far up the banks of the Great River as the season might permit; then to disperse or carry away the inhabitants: by this it was

to the grim refuge of the wilderness. Among the settlements devastated by this expedition was the flourishing fishing station of Mont Louis.[119] The intendant in charge of the place offered a ransom of 150,000 livres to save the stores and provisions his people's industry had created, but the relentless law of retr

ontrast with the glory of the recent victory. But we may not hear, without a blush of shame and sorrow, how the simple Acadian peasantry were made to pay the penalt

ia, that it would be advisable to detach a portion of the army to strengthen Abercromby, and assist him to repair his disaster, of which they were informed. Accordingly, Amherst sailed for Boston on the 30th of August with five battalions, arrived on the 13th of September, and the next day landed his troops. Despite the interested remonstrances of the local aut

TNO

e like Fox. Glory was the bright star that ever shone before his eyes, and ever guided him onward-his country's glory and his own. 'My lord!' he once e

hich he became the soul of the British councils, conciliated the good-will of the king, infuse

oever is out, I am sure we are undone both at home and abroad: at home, by our increasing debt and expenses; abroad, by our ill luck and incapacity.... The French are masters to do what they

Louisburg; because, upon the issue of that attempt I think the whole salvation of this country and Europe does ess

Appendix

d, near Fresh-water Cove, before the successfu

n the hands of the English during the last war, was in the course of this siege entirely demolished by two or three shots from one of the British bat

t, and wrote an account of it to a friend in England. That he had honorably distinguished himself may be inferred from his prom

8th, which we fortunately effected after encountering dangers that are almost incredibl

he fate of the expedition on the uncertain chances of a council of war,[120] but at once to attempt the landing,

the private men and the sutlers entered through the breaches and gaps with as much ease as if there had only been an old dit

1

r Wo

August

quitted the thoughts of the future operations in part, as ordered, to assist Major-general Abercromby by sending five or six regiments to him, which I told Brigadier Lawrence he should command, in case we could not go to Quebec.... I have proposed this to the admiral for the day after the surrender of the town, and I am thoroughly convinced he will not lose one moment's time in pursuing every thing for forwarding and expediting the servic

your most obedien

. Amh

espondence, v

on one side by the inaccessible mountains of N?tre Dame. It is nearly half way between Quebec and t

a council of war but once, which was previous to his passing the Ganges on his famous expedition to Moorshedabad;