6. On examining the shores for a landing-place for his troops, the general feared that the task before him was hopeless. At length a cove was selected for the attempt and Brigadier Wolfe—who afterwards became famous—was honoured with the command of the attacking party. The place selected was more strongly defended than it seemed to be. About a thousand Frenchmen lay behind entrenchments covered in front by fir trees, felled and laid on the ground. Eight cannon were planted to sweep every part of the beach, and these pieces were masked by young evergreens stuck in the ground before them.
7. The British were allowed to come within close range unmolested. Then the batteries opened, and a deadly storm of grape and musket-shot was poured upon the boats. It was clear in an instant that to advance further would be destruction; and Wolfe gave the signal to sheer off. But three boats on the right, little exposed to the fire, made straight for the shore before them. There the men landed on a strand strewn with rocks and lashed with breakers, but sheltered from the cannon by a projecting point. Wolfe hastened to support them. Many of the boats were stove among the rocks, and others were overset, but most of the men tumbled through the surf and climbed the crags. Forming his men in compact order, Wolfe attacked and carried with the bayonet the first French battery. Thus the first footing was gained, the first move of the great game was played and won.
8. The great guns were now landed and the siege commenced. The British lines grew closer and closer, and their fire more and more destructive. On the thirteenth day of the siege the guns of the Island Battery that guarded the entrance were dismounted and silenced. The French commander, Ducour, then sank four of his large ships to block the mouth of the harbour and prevent any English ships from entering. This did not, however, prevent six hundred English sailors from rowing into the harbour on a dark night and setting fire to the remaining ships.
9. It is pleasing to find that during the siege various courtesies were exchanged between the two commanders. Ducour, hoisting a flag of truce, sent a letter to Amherst offering the services of a skilful surgeon in case any English officers required them. Amherst, on his part, sent letters and messages from wounded Frenchmen in his hands to Ducour, and begged his wife to accept a gift of pine-apples. She returned his courtesy by sending him a present of wine. After an exchange of courtesies like this the cannon spoke again. The lady herself was seen on the ramparts every morning encouraging the French soldiers by her presence, and even firing cannon with her own hand.
10. On the twenty-sixth day the last of the enemy's guns was silenced, and all was ready for the assault. Finding it impossible to hold out any longer, Ducour surrendered. It was stipulated that the garrison should be sent to England as prisoners of war, and that all artillery and arms should be given up intact.
11. Amherst proceeded to complete his task by making himself master of the adjacent possessions of France, including Cape Breton and what are now called Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Meanwhile another British force was successful in capturing Fort Duquesne, the key of the Great West. The town which rose around this fort was called Pittsburg, in honour of the minister who had planned its capture. This success opened the country west of the Alleghanies to the pushing British colonists, and deprived France of one-half of her savage allies in that region.
12. Thus ended the campaign of 1758. The Canadian winter imposed a truce on the combatants. Wolfe returned to England and, though only thirty-two years of age, was raised by Pitt, the great war minister, to the rank of general. When some one remarked to His Majesty, George II., that Pitt's new general was mad, "Mad is he?" returned the king; "then I hope he will bite some other of my generals."
(6) CAPTURE OF A SECOND GIBRALTAR.
1. The conquest of Canada hinged on the capture of Quebec the "Gibraltar of America." This task was assigned to General Wolfe—a bold, impetuous, and intrepid warrior, who had already won the admiration of the soldiers at the siege of Louisbourg, and was about to win undying fame at Quebec. No one had less the likeness of a hero. It is worth while to picture out the man as he looked, at the time of his appointment, that we may learn to distrust a hasty judgment formed from mere outside appearance.
2. The forehead and chin receded, the nose was slightly upturned, the mouth expressed no resolution, and nothing but the clear, bright, and piercing eye bespoke the spirit within. He wore a black three-cornered hat, his red hair was tied in a tail behind; his narrow shoulders, slender body, and long, thin limbs were cased in a scarlet coat, with broad cuffs and ample skirts that reached the knee; while on his left arm he wore a band of crape in mourning for his father. Wolfe's life was a constant battling with ill-health. He seems always to have been at his best in the thick of battle; most complete in his mastery over himself and others at a perilous crisis.