Chapter 17

As the boats came close to a point on the bank a sentinel challenged, "_Qui vive?_" "_La France!_" replied an officer of Fraser's Highlanders who spoke French well. "_À quel regiment?_" again challenged the suspicious soldier. "_De la Reine_," answered the same officer, who happily remembered that some companies of this regiment were with Bougainville. {256} Fate that eventful night was on the side of the bold Englishman. The French were expecting a convoy of provisions, and the sentinel called out, "_Passe!_" Another sentry, more suspicious, ran down to the water's edge, and asked, "_Pourquoi est-ce que vous ne parlez plus haut?_" The captain replied with wonderful coolness, "_Tais-toi, nous serons entendus!_"--an answer which satisfied the guard. In this way the English boats were able to steal into the cove without being stopped. A few minutes later the heights were gained, the guard was overpowered, and the British regiments were climbing to the level land without hindrance. By six o'clock Wolfe was able to form his army of nearly four thousand men in line of battle on the Plains of Abraham.[1] "This is a serious business," exclaimed Montcalm, as he saw the red line of the English regiments on the table-land behind Quebec. He appears to have almost immediately come to the conclusion that it was necessary to fight the English before they received any accessions of strength, and not to wait for Bougainville, who would probably come up in time with his force of two thousand men. By ten o'clock the two armies--that of Montcalm outnumbering the English probably by fifteen hundred--were advancing on each other. The French as they drew near poured a volley into the ranks of the British regiments, but the latter reserved their fire until they were within forty yards of their enemy, when they discharged their guns with most deadly effect. The {257} French fell in heaps, and as the bullets crashed amongst their faltering ranks, they broke and retreated. The battle was literally won in a few minutes. Wolfe, who had been wounded in the wrist at the beginning of the fight, was leading a charge of the grenadiers, who had shown such fateful precipitancy at Montmorency, when he was fatally wounded. He was removed to a redoubt in the rear and laid on the ground, where he remained for a few minutes in a swoon or stupour. "They run! See how they run!" exclaimed one of the men watching their wounded chief. "Who run?" he called, as he attempted to rise for an instant. "The enemy, sir; 'egad, they give place everywhere!" "Go, one of you, my lads," ordered the dying General, whose brain was still clear and active, "with all speed to Colonel Burton, and tell him to march Webb's regiment down to the St. Charles River, and cut off the fugitives to the bridge." He turned on his side and said: "God be praised, I now die in peace." Then, in a moment later, he passed into the great silent land. Montcalm also received his death blow while he was endeavouring to give some order to his beaten army. He was borne along by the crowd of retreating soldiers through the St. Louis gate into the town. A few hours later, on the 14th September, he breathed his last. His last words were in commendation of Chevalier de Lévis--a soldier in no way inferior to himself in military genius.

Monckton, who was next to Wolfe in rank, had been also severely wounded in the battle, and {258} consequently by a strange irony of fate, Townshend, who had been unfriendly to Wolfe, and had doubted his military capacity, was called upon to take command. Lévis was absent at Montreal, unfortunately for French interests at this very critical juncture, and Vaudreuil's opinion prevailed for a retreat to Jacques Cartier. When Lévis arrived and Vaudreuil consented to march to the support of Quebec it was too late. Ramesay had decided to capitulate, in view of the ruined condition of the city and walls, the scarcity of rations, and the unwillingness of the Canadian troops and citizens to continue the defence, when they found that the English were about to resume the attack. When the French army was moving towards Quebec, the English were in possession, and the _fleur-de-lis_ had given place to the red cross of England on the old fort of St. Louis. By the terms of capitulation the troops were to be allowed to march out with the honours of war, and to be landed in France; the inhabitants were not to be disturbed; the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion was allowed, and safeguards granted to houses of clergy and communities. All conditions were provisional until a treaty was arranged between the Powers.

The body of Montcalm was buried beneath the floor of the Ursuline Convent, in a grave which had been already partly hollowed out by a bursting shell. Many years later an English governor-general, Lord Aylmer, placed in the chapel of the convent a plain marble slab, with the following graceful tribute to the memory of a great soldier of whom English and French Canadians are equally proud.

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HONNEUR À MONTCALM

LE DESTIN EN LUI DÉROBANT LA VICTOIRE L'A RÉCOMPENSÉ PAR UNE MORT GLORIEUSE!

Wolfe's remains were taken to England, where they were received with every demonstration of respect that a grateful nation could give. In Europe and America the news of this victory had made the people wild with joy. "With a handful of men," said Pitt, in the House of Commons, "he has added an empire to English rule." A monument in that Walhalla of great Englishmen, Westminster Abbey, records that he "was slain in a moment of victory." On the heights of Quebec, in the rear of its noble terrace, still stands the stately obelisk which was erected in 1828 under the inspiration of the Earl of Dalhousie in honour of Montcalm and Wolfe, and above all others attracts the interest of the historical student since it pays a just tribute to the virtue and valour of the two great commanders in the following simple but well conceived language:

MORTEM. VIRTUS. COMMUNEM. FAMAM. HISTORIA. MONUMENTUM. POSTERITAS. DEDIT.

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Wolfe was only in his thirty-third year when he died on the field of Abraham. Montcalm was still in the prime of life, having just passed forty-seven years. Both were equally animated by the purest dictates of honour and truth, by a love for the noble profession of arms, and by an ardent desire to add to the glory of their respective countries. Montcalm was a member of the French nobility, and a man of high culture. His love for his mother, wife, and children is shown in his published letters, written while in Canada, and he was ever looking forward to the time when he could rejoin them in his beloved château of Candiac, and resume the studies he liked so well. Some Canadian writers have endeavoured to belittle Montcalm, that they may more easily explain away the failings of Vaudreuil, a native Canadian, who thwarted constantly the plans of a greater man; but an impartial historian can never place these two men on the same high level. Wolfe's family was of respectable origin, and he inherited his military tastes from his father, who became a general in the English army. He had few advantages of education in his youth, though in later life he became studious, and had much love for mathematics. A soldier's life was his ambition, and fame was his dominating impulse. His indomitable spirit governed his physical weakness. The natural kindness of his nature rose superior to the irritability sometimes caused by his ill-health, and made him always sympathise with the joys, sorrows, and feelings of all classes among whom he lived. He had that magnetic power of {262} inspiring his soldiers and companions with his own confidence and courage which must sooner or later give them victory. He was a good son and made a confidant of his mother. He was fond of female companionship, and was looking forward hopefully to a woman's love, and to a home of his own, when Fate ruthlessly struck him down before the walls of Quebec at the moment of victory.

It is impossible within the limited space of this story to dwell at any length on the events that followed from the taking of the Canadian capital until the cession of Canada three years later. General Murray, who was afterwards the first governor-general of Canada, had charge of the fortress during the winter of 1759-60, when the garrison and people suffered much from cold and disease--firewood being scarce, and the greater number of the buildings in ruins.

Lévis had decided to attack the town in the spring, as soon as the French ships were able to come down from near Sorel, where they had been laid up all the winter. Towards the last of April, Murray marched out of the fortress and gave battle at St. Foy to the French army, which largely outnumbered his force. His object was to attack the French before they were able to place themselves thoroughly in position before Quebec, but he suffered a considerable loss, and was obliged to retire hurriedly within the walls of the town, which was then regularly invested by Lévis and the French ships. The opportune arrival of the English fleet dashed the rising hopes of the French to the ground, {264} and Lévis was obliged to retreat to Montreal. In the month of September of the same year General Amherst descended the St. Lawrence, after having captured the fort at Île Galops--afterwards Fort William Augustus. Brigadier Haviland left Lake Champlain, captured Île-aux-Noix, and then marched on Montreal; Brigadier Murray came up from Quebec. All these forces concentrated on the same day on the island of Montreal, and Vaudreuil had no alternative except to capitulate. By the terms of capitulation, which were drawn up, like those of Quebec, in French, Great Britain bound herself to allow the French Canadians the free exercise of their religion, and certain specified fraternities, and all communities of _religieuses_ were guaranteed the possession of their goods, constitutions, and privileges, but a similar favour was denied to the Jesuits, the Franciscans, or Recollets, and the Sulpicians, until the King should be consulted on the subject. The same reservation was made with respect to the parochial clergy's tithes. On the 10th of February, 1763, by the Treaty of Paris, France ceded to Great Britain Canada, with all its dependencies, the island of Cape Breton, and the Laurentian Isles. By this treaty the King pledged himself "to give the most effectual orders, that his new Roman Catholic subjects may profess the worship of their religion, according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, as far as the laws of Great Britain permit." All the pretensions of France to Acadia were at last formally renounced. England also received all the country east of the River Mississippi, except the city of New {266} Orleans and the neighbouring district, as well as Florida from Spain in return for Havana. Subsequently France gave up New Orleans to Spain, as well as the great region of Louisiana westward of the Mississippi. France was allowed to retain the barren islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, and certain fishing rights on the coasts of Newfoundland, which she had previously given by the Treaty of Utrecht. George II. had died during 1760, and George III. was now King of England. Pitt was forced to resign, and the King's favourite, the incapable Bute, who became premier, made peace without delay. Pitt opposed the fishery concessions to France, but Bute attached relatively little importance to them, and they have ever since remained to torment the people of Newfoundland, and create complications in case that island consents to enter the Canadian Dominion. Still, despite these concessions, England gained great advantages from the peace, and became the greatest colonial and maritime power of the world.

Freedom won on the Plains of Abraham, and a great Frenchman and a great Englishman consecrated by their deaths on the same battlefield the future political union of two races on the northern half of the continent, now known as the Dominion of Canada.

[1] Named after Abraham Martin, a royal pilot, who, in early times, owned this now historic tract.

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XIX.

A PERIOD OF TRANSITION--PONTIAC'S WAR--THE QUEBEC ACT.

(1760-1774.)

The Canadian people, long harassed and impoverished by war, had at last a period of rest. They were allowed the ministrations of their religion without hindrance, and all that was required of the parochial clergy was that they should not take part in civil affairs, but should attend exclusively to their clerical duties. The seigniors and priests, no doubt, did not give up for some time the hope that Canada would be restored to France, but they, too, soon bowed to the necessity of things, and saw that their material and spiritual interests were quite secure under the new government. None of the _habitants_ ever left Canada after the war. A few members of the seigniorial nobility, the officials and some merchants--perhaps three hundred in all--may have gone back to France. Men like Bigot and Varin on their return were severely punished, and forced to give up as much as possible of their ill-gotten {268} gains. Governor de Vaudreuil himself was cast into the Bastile, but it was ascertained after investigation that he had no connection with the crimes of the worthless parasites that had so long fattened on the necessities of the unhappy province. He died soon after his imprisonment; the iron of humiliation had probably eaten into the heart of a man who, whatever his faults, had many estimable qualities, and loved his native country.

For several years Canada was under what has been generally called the military régime; that is to say, the province was divided into the three districts of Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal, of which the government was administered by military chiefs; in the first place by General Murray, Colonel Burton, and General Gage respectively. These military authorities--notably General Murray--endeavoured to win the confidence of the people by an impartial and considerate conduct of affairs. Civil matters in the parishes were left practically under the control of the captains of militia, who had to receive new commissions from the British Crown. Appeal could be always made to the military chief at the headquarters of the district, but, as a matter of fact, the people generally managed their affairs among themselves, in accordance with their old usages and laws. Military councils tried criminal cases according to English law.

While the French Canadians were in the enjoyment of rest on the banks of the St. Lawrence and its tributary rivers, the Western Indians, who had been the allies of France during the war, suddenly arose and seized nearly all the forts and posts which {269} had been formerly built by the French on the Great Lakes, in the valley of the Ohio, and in the Illinois country. After the taking of Montreal, Captain Robert Rogers, the famous commander of the Colonial Rangers, whose name occurs frequently in the records of the war, was sent by General Amherst to take possession of the forts at Presqu'ile, Detroit, Michillimackinac, Green Bay, and other places in the West. In the course of a few months there were in all these western posts small garrisons of English soldiers. In the neighbourhood of Detroit and Michillimackinac there were French Canadian villages, conspicuous for their white cottages with overhanging bark roofs and little gardens, orchards, and meadows. Forts Chartres and Vincennes were still in the possession of the French, and there was a population of nearly two thousand French Canadians or Louisiana French living in the Illinois country, chiefly at Cahokia and Kaskaskia on the Mississippi. The Indian tribes that took part in the rising of 1763 were the Ottawas, Pottawattomies, Ojibways (Chippeways), Wyandots (Hurons), and Kickapoos, who lived in the vicinity of the upper lakes; the Delawares (Loups or Lenapes) and the Shawanoes, who had their villages on the Ohio and its tributary rivers, especially on the Muskingkum and the Scioto; the Sauks or Saks, who encamped on the Wisconsin; the Senecas, who lived not far from the Niagara. All these Indians, except the Wyandots and Senecas, were members of the Algonquin family. The Senecas were the only tribe of the Six Nations that took part in the alliance against {270} England; the other tribes were, happily for English interests, under the influence of Sir William Johnson.

French emissaries from the settlements on the Mississippi made the Indians believe that they would be soon driven by the English from their forest homes and hunting grounds, and that their only hope was in assisting France to restore her power in America. Many of these Indian tribes, as well as French settlers, believed until the proclamation of the treaty of Paris that Canada would be restored to the French. Indian sympathy for France was intensified by the contumely and neglect with which they were treated by the English traders and authorities. The French, who thoroughly understood the Indian character, had never failed to administer to their vanity and pride--to treat them as allies and friends and not as a conquered and subject race. By the judicious distribution of those gifts, on which the tribes had begun to depend and receive as a matter of right, the French cemented the attachment of the Indians. The English, on the other hand, soon ceased to make these presents, and neglected the Indians in other ways, which excited their indignation and wounded their pride.

Among the Western chiefs was Pontiac, whose name is as prominent in the history of the past as the names of the Onondaga Garangula, the Huron Kondiaronk (Rat), the Mohawk Thayendenagea (Brant), and the Shawanoese Tecumseh. He was the son of an Ottawa chief and an Ojibway mother, and had a high reputation and large influence among the {271} tribes of the upper lakes. He showed in his career all the strength and weaknesses of the Indian character--great courage, treachery, vanity, and generosity, according to the impulses of the moment. The war in which he took so prominent a part is generally called by his name; his is the central figure in the striking drama which was enacted in the Western and Ohio country for two years and a half before peace generally reigned and Canada could be considered secure from Indian attacks.

At Detroit, where Major Gladwin was in command, Pontiac hoped to seize the fort by a stratagem. The Ottawas and other Indians under that chief were to meet the English officers in council within the fort at an appointed time. They had filed off the tops of the barrels of their muskets so as to conceal them easily under their garments. While in council Pontiac was to give a signal which would tell the assembled warriors that the time had come for falling on the garrison and taking possession of the fort.[1] Some writers give credence to the story that an Indian maiden, the mistress of Gladwin, warned him of the scheme of the Indian chief, who came to the council, in accordance with his intention, and found the garrison in arms and ready for any treacherous movement on his part. He left the fort in anger, and soon afterwards attacked it with all his force, though to no purpose, as Gladwin was able to hold it for many months, until aid reached him from {272} the east. As one Indian woman's devotion saved Detroit, so the treachery of a Delaware girl gave Fort Miami and its little garrison to the Indians encamped on the Maumee. Holmes, the commandant, was her lover, and believed her when she told him that a squaw, who was seriously ill in one of the wigwams, wished to see him. He proceeded on his charitable mission, and was shot dead while about entering the place of his destination. At Michillimackinac Captain Etherington was surprised by a clever piece of strategy on the part of a body of Sacs and Ojibways, who invited him to witness a contest between them at their favourite sport of Lacrosse, which in these modern times has been made the national game of Canadians. While the game was going on, the gate was left open while the officers and soldiers stood in groups outside, close to the palisades, watching the Indians as they tossed the ball to and fro between the goals on the level ground opposite the fort. The squaws, wrapped in their blankets, passed in and out the fort, without attracting any attention from the interested spectators. Suddenly, when the game was most hotly contested, the ball was violently driven in the direction of the pickets of the fort. A crowd of the savage players tumultuously followed the ball, and in a moment were inside the fort where they snatched weapons from the squaws. One officer and several soldiers were instantly killed, but Etherington and the remainder of the garrison were taken prisoners. Etherington and a well-known trader of the West, Alexander Henry, eventually escaped, after having {273} been on several occasions on the point of death. In six weeks' time from the first attack on Detroit, on the 9th of May, 1763, all the forts in the Western and Ohio country had been seized and destroyed by the Indians, except Fort Pitt at the forks of the Ohio, the one at Green Bay which was abandoned, and another at Ligonier. The garrisons were massacred or made prisoners, and in many cases tortured and even eaten. The frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania were laid waste by hordes of savages, who burned the homes of the settlers, murdered a large number, and carried off many prisoners, men, women, and children, to their savage fastnesses in the western wilderness. The war never ended until Virginia and Pennsylvania--where the Quaker element still prevailed--were aroused from their apathy and gave the requisite aid to an expedition under the command of an able officer, Colonel Bouquet, who had been one of Brigadier Forbes's officers during the campaign of 1759 in the Ohio valley. He rescued Fort Pitt, after administering to the Indians a severe defeat at Bushy Run. A year later he succeeded in taking a large force into the very heart of a country where the Indians thought themselves safe from any attack of their white enemy. His unexpected appearance on the banks of the Muskingkum awed the Delawares, Shawanoes, and Mingoes, who gladly agreed to terms of peace, especially as they knew that Colonel Bradstreet was in their rear on the banks of Lake Erie. The prisoners, whom the Indians had taken during their raids on the frontier settlements of Virginia and {274} Pennsylvania, were restored to their friends and relatives who had, in the majority of cases, never hoped to see them again. The annals of those days tell us strange stories of the infatuation which some young women felt for the savage warriors whom they had wedded in Indian fashion. Some children had forgotten their mothers, and Parkman relates in his graphic narrative of those memorable times that one girl only recalled her childhood when she heard her distracted mother sing a song with which she had often lulled her daughter to sleep in happier days.

Peace again reigned in the West. Detroit, after repulsing Pontiac so successfully, was at last relieved, and the red cross of England floated above the forts of Chartres and Vincennes, which were given up by the French.