1759

THE FALL OF QUEBEC

MONTREAL THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT

THE SPRING ICE SHOVE—NEWS FROM FRANCE—MILITARY HONOURS SENT BUT POOR REINFORCEMENTS—PROJECTED FRENCH INVASION OF ENGLAND—GLOOM IN CANADA—THE MONTREAL MILITIA AT THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC—FALL OF QUEBEC, MONTREAL SEAT OF GOVERNMENT—THE WINTER ATTEMPT TO REGAIN QUEBEC—THE EXPECTED FRENCH FLEET NEVER ARRIVES—RETREAT OF FRENCH TO MONTREAL.

At the commencement of April, the violent breaking up of the ice of the St. Lawrence proclaimed that spring had arrived. "It was a sight," said Montcalm, "to see the masses of ice heaping up, mountain-like, amidst great noise. The ice shove took place at 7.30 A. M. It happens from time to time and makes one fear for a part of Montreal, which is built too near the river. One year it bore down all the walls of the town. This year it has battered the ChÂteau de CalliÈres, a house at the extremity of the town, so called, because it was the dwelling of the governor general of that name."

The troops began to be moved. At last the vessels from France reached Quebec and Bougainville returned to Montreal on May 14th to render his report to the governor general, confirming his letters, arriving ahead. The situation now unfolded by Bougainville, with the letters from the court at Versailles and the ministers of war and marine to Vaudreuil and Montcalm, was one of intense anxiety. France was in a pitiable state of degeneracy. A weak king sat without honour on its throne, surrounded by ministers without pride and without patriotism, sad successors of a Henry IV, a Richelieu, a Louis XIV and a Colbert. There was no consistent policy in the king's council. The king, who had boasted "aprÈs moi, le dÉluge," was a nobody, and Madame la Marquise de Pompadour virtually prime minister, all powerful. There was no credit. The finances were inadequate to pay for the toilettes and the shameful splendours of the Pompadour, whose budget was greater than that of Canada under the infamous government of Louis XV. France saw its erstwhile moral and political grandeur in decay; its administration of its foreign and home affairs a by-word heightened by the scandalous disorders of the court of a king who was a gamester and a high liver.

It is no wonder then that Bougainville, after three months' insistent solicitations in France with M. Berryer, the minister of marine, the Marshal de Belle-Isle and the Pompadour, could only obtain the reinforcement for Canada of 400 men and some ammunition, and inadequate supplies of provisions. In his journal he notes that "M. Berryer who, from being a lieutenant of the police in Paris, had been made minister of marine, would not understand that Canada was the barrier of our other colonies and that the English would not attack any others until they had chased us out of it. This minister was fond of proverbs and he told me pertinently that one did not seek to save the stables when the house was on fire." Hence the small reinforcements for the stables of Canada.

Honours, however, were thickly scattered. Montcalm had been made a lieutenant-general, with an increase of salary, with the red ribbon of knighthood of the Order of St. Louis; de LÉvis became a marÉchal de camp; Bourlamaque had been created a brigadier, Bougainville a colonel, and both had received supplementary pensions; M. de Vaudreuil was named Grand Croix of the Order of St. Louis; M. de Rigaud, his brother, received for life the concession of the Port of Baie Verte (Green Bay). Many other officers received pensions, promotions or the Cross of St. Louis.

Without the necessary reinforcements the colony appeared abandoned. The argument given for this to Vaudreuil and Bigot in a letter dated February 3d from the minister of marine was that "the continuation of the war in Europe, the too great risks by sea and the necessity of reuniting the naval forces, did not allow of their separation or the hazarding of a part of them to afford the uncertain succour which would be employed more usefully for the state and the relief of Canada, in expeditions more prompt and decisive later."

Yet in spite of the news that the English counted on invading Carillon and Quebec—Amherst at Carillon and Wolfe at Quebec—Montcalm's instructions were "to hearken to no capitulation, but to defend himself foot by foot, and not to imitate the shameful conduct of Louisbourg." [211] Vaudreuil had to keep his foot in Canada at any price. The letter of M. Berryer to Montcalm and Vaudreuil, dated February 10, 1759, put this explicitly: "Your principal object, which you ought not to lose sight of, must be to preserve at least a sufficient portion of this colony and to hold it, in view of recovering the whole on the declaration of peace, it being a very different thing, in a treaty to stipulate for the restitution of the whole of a colony, than for that only of dependent portions lost in the hazard of war.... Moreover, His Majesty will not lose sight of you during this campaign.... He will busy himself about means to assist you effectively, not only through the new reinforcements he may send you, but still more by efficient manoeuvres to procure diversions of the strength likely otherwise to oppose you."

This enigmatic, mysterious allusion, not then understood, was to nothing less than to the projected invasion of England which, it was thought, would withdraw the English forces from Canada. This plan, conceived by M. Machault, prompted by the MarÉchal de Belle-Isle and enthusiastically adopted by Choiseul, forty-six years before Napoleon, was actually attempted. But Pitt, becoming aware of the preparations, quickly encircled the British Isles and Ireland with a powerful fleet and organized the militia forces on land, and sent Rodney, Boscawen and Hawke to attack the French fleets when mobilizing. Lavisse, in the "Histoire de France," 8, II, p. 219, tells the result: "The Atlantic fleet was rendered as powerless as was that of the Mediterranean with the loss to France of twenty-nine vessels of the line and thirty-five frigates; its fleet was reduced to nearly nothing. It was no longer in the position to defend its colonies." [212]

It was a gloomy lookout for the military authorities at Montreal. To them it seemed as if the government at home, unmindful of the sacrifice of its heroes in Canada by field, flood and ice, was ready to abandon the "few arpents of snow" as too great a burden for its weak shoulders and to shamefully lower the fleur-de-lys to the flag of England. [214]

The forces at the disposal of Canada were, according to the census taken in January, only 15,229. The census of February, 1759, gave a total population in Canada of 82,000, with 20,000 able to bear arms. (Cf., Rameau, "La France aux Colonies," p. 86.) This would not include the regular army and the domiciliated Indians.

Smith, in his "History of Canada," states that "when the government wanted the services of the militia as soldiers, the colonel of militia, or the town major, in consequence of a requisition from the governor general, sent orders to the several captains of militia in the country parishes to furnish a certain number of militiamen, chosen by those officers, who ordered the drafts into town under an escort commanded by an officer of militia, who conducted them to the town major, where they were each furnished with a gun, a capot, a Canadian cloak, a breechclout, a cotton shirt, a cap, a pair of leggings, a pair of Indian shoes and a blanket; after which they were marched to the garrison for which they were destined. The militia were generally reviewed once or twice a year to inspect their arms."

They acted as bushrangers and would march with the French regulars to the tune of "Malbrouk s'en va-t'en guerre."

To these had been communicated, by Vaudreuil, the king's order to fight even to extinction, and the governor general, to his honour, added: "For my part, I am determined to consent to no capitulation, convinced of its dangerous consequences for all the Canadians. The thing is so certain that it would be incomparably sweeter for them, their wives and their children, to be buried under the ruins of the colony."

With these few but resolute troops Canada had now to defend herself, attacked at three points—Quebec, Carillon and Niagara—against overwhelming odds. Quebec was the first objective of attack by the English, and on May 21st Montcalm left Montreal to put it in a position, as far as it was possible, to stand the siege. On May 24th he was joined by Vaudreuil. The story of the siege of Quebec, which lasted two months and twelve days—from July 6th to September 18th—is foreign to our purpose; but we must know that the militia of the town of Montreal, to the number of 1,150, acquitted themselves honourably on that heroic occasion. On September 13th Quebec dates its fall. It was the fatal day of the disaster on the Plains of Abraham, where Montcalm, bearing his death wound, was led on his horse by three soldiers by the St. Louis gate to the city. At 5 o'clock on the morning of September 14th he breathed his last like a Christian hero, believing in the promises of immortality. Wolfe also had met his fate in the same engagement. [215]

On October 18th the English fleet left Quebec. The town was desolate. After the death of Wolfe, Monckton put Murray in command of the garrison, with twenty gunships. Brigadier General Murray remained there with 7,300 men, at once governor and commander in chief. Lord Townshend and Admiral Saunders, with the rest of the fleet, returned to England with the embalmed body of Wolfe.

The City of Champlain was in other hands. It is attributed to Madame de Pompadour that on receipt of the news she uttered the frivolous comment, "At last, the king will sleep in peace." By Louis XV, this new wound to French national pride was received with indifference. Already beaten at Rosbach, Crevelt and Meudon, what mattered another loss so far away? Nevertheless he sent, at the entreaty of Vaudreuil, inadequate forces, which the English fleet never allowed to reach their destination.

The loss of Quebec was looked upon by the English, at home and in America, as the virtual conquest of Canada. England rejoiced with bonfire celebrations and the New England pulpits resounded with the oratory of thanksgiving for the conquest. France received the news with pain, but with no surprise. Patriotism was dead and there was little talk of sending a strong reinforcement. The ministers were content with sending 400 men, with three or four vessels loaded with provisions and warlike stores, and convoyed by a frigate. [216] Yet the Canadians did not despair. With indomitable courage, and buoyed up perhaps by the hope that some big scheme for their succour was being devised in Paris, they held to their policy under General de LÉvis, now in command, of disputing the position foot by foot. With the loss of the capital, Montreal became the seat of civil and religious governments, as well as the military headquarters. By the end of 1759 it was a small remnant that now remained to the French—the narrow strip of territory on the St. Lawrence from Jacques Cartier and Kingston, Montreal and Ile aux Noix being the only posts of importance still to be reduced.

During the winter of 1759-60, while petty hostilities were kept up with the enemy to divert their attention, busy preparations were being made in Montreal to advance to the recapture of Quebec at the breaking up of the ice. The historian, Parkman, in his "Montcalm and Wolfe," Vol. II, Ch. 29, thus describes this period:

"The difficulty was to find means of transportation. The depth of the snow and the want of draught animals made it necessary to wait till the river became navigable; but preparation was begun at once. LÉvis was the soul of the enterprise. Provisions were gathered from afar and near; cannon, mortars and munitions of war were brought from the frontier posts, and butcher knives weritted to the muzzles of guns to serve the Canadians in place of bayonets. All the working men about Montreal were busied in making tools and gun carriages. Stores were impressed from the merchants; and certain articles which could not otherwise be had, were smuggled, with extraordinary address, out of Quebec itself. Early in spring the militia received orders to muster for the march. There were doubts and discontent, 'but,' says a contemporary, 'sensible people dared not speak, for if they did they were set down as English.' Some there were who in secret called the scheme 'LÉvis' folly.' Yet it was perfectly rational, well conceived and conducted with vigour and skill. Two frigates, two sloops of war and a number of smaller craft still remained in the river, under the command of Vauquelin, the brave officer who had distinguished himself at the siege of Louisbourg. The stores and cannon were placed on board these vessels and the army embarked in a fleet of bateaux, and on the 20th of April the whole set out together for the scene of action. They comprised eight battalions of troops of the line and two of colony troops, with the colonial artillery, 3,000 Canadians and 400 Indians. When they left Montreal, their effective strength, besides Indians, is said by LÉvis to have been 6,910, a number which was increased as they advanced by the garrisons of Jacques Cartier, Deschambault and Pointe aux Trembles, as well as by the Canadians on both sides of the St. Lawrence below Three Rivers, for Vaudreuil had ordered the militia captains to join his standard with all their followers, armed and equipped, on pain of death. (Vaudreuil aux Capitaines de Milice, 16 avril 1760.) These accessions appear to have raised his force to between eight and nine thousand."

The story of the journey to Quebec, of the Battle of St. Foy and the second battle on the Plains of Abraham, although engrossing in its interest, takes us too far afield. Suffice it to say that the siege of Quebec was raised by the French during the night of May 16-17, after a short but brave campaign. Then followed their retreat.

The victory would have been with them if the expected fleet from France had arrived. The moment was critical; each side was scanning the St. Lawrence for their countries' flags, the red for England and the white for France. The British frigate Lowestoffe was the first to arrive on May 9th, to be followed a week later by the ship of the line, Vanguard, and the frigate, Diana. These latter arrived in the harbour on the evening of the 15th and on the next morning passed the town to attack Vauquelin's fleet in the river above, with the result of their destruction and the loss of the stores of food and ammunition. [217]

The little French fleet never arrived. They had run into the Baie des Chaleurs to escape from pursuing enemies. There they were found, and the frigate and the four vessels convoyed by it were burned by Captain Byron, then cruising with a powerful fleet in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. France was responsible for her delay and niggardliness in succouring her own.