[The original of this manuscript is deposited in the French war archives, in Paris; a copy was, with the permission of the French Government, taken in 1855, and deposited in the Library of the Legislative Assembly of Canada. The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, through the kindness of Mr. Todd, the Librarian, was permitted to have communication thereof. This document is supposed to have been written about the year 1765, that is five years after the return to France from Canada of the writer, the Chevalier Johnstone, a Scottish Jacobite, who had fled to France after the defeat at Culloden, and obtained from the French monarch, with several other Scotchmen, commissions in the French armies. In 1748, says Francisque Michel,[A] “he sailed from Rochefort as an Ensign with troops going to Cape Breton; he continued to serve in America until he returned to France, in December, 1760, having acted during the campaign of 1759, in Canada, as aide-de-camp to Chevalier de Levis. On Levis being ordered to Montreal, Johnstone was detached and retained by General Montcalm on his staff, on account of his thorough knowledge of the environs of Quebec, and particularly of Beauport, where the principal works of defence stood, and where the whole army, some 11,000 men, were entrenched, leaving in Quebec merely a garrison of 1500. The journal is written in English, and is not remarkable for orthography or purity of diction; either Johnstone had forgotten or had never thoroughly known the language. The style is prolix, sententious, abounding in quotations from old writers. This document had first attracted the attention of one of the late historians of Canada, the Abbé Ferland, who attached much importance to it, as calculated to supply matters of detail and incidents unrecorded elsewhere. Colonel Margry, in charge of the French records, had permitted the venerable writer, then on a visit to Paris, to make extracts from it; some of which extracts, the abbé published at the time of the laying of the St. Foy Monument, in 1862. The Chevalier Johnstone differs in toto from the opinions expressed by several French officers of regulars, respecting the conduct of the Canadian Militia, in 1759, ascribing to their valour, on the 13th September, the salvation of a large portion of the French army. He has chosen the singular, though not unprecedented mode of the Dialogue, to recapitulate the events of a campaign in which he played a not inconsiderable part.”—J. M. LeMoine.]
[Published under the auspices of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec.]
A DIALOGUE IN HADES.
A PARALLEL OF MILITARY ERRORS, OF WHICH THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH ARMIES WERE GUILTY, DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF 1759, IN CANADA.
The Marquis de Montcalm:—Having ardently desired a conversation with you, sir, upon the operations of a campaign which proved to both of us so fatal, I have sought you continually amongst the shades ever since I descended here, where I soon followed you.
General Wolfe:—I can assure you, sir, I was equally impatient to meet with you. Some of my countrymen, arrived here since the battle of the 13th September, informed me that there was only an interval of a few hours in our sharing the same hard fate. They gave me some accounts of that event which joined Canada to the British dominions; but as they had a very imperfect knowledge of the circumstances, and entirely ignorant of your plan of operations, I have little information from them, and I am heartily glad that chance at last has procured me the pleasure of seeing you.
Montcalm:—Will you permit me, sir, before our conversation becomes serious, to offer some reflections upon the difference in our destiny. Your nation rendered you the greatest honours; your body was conveyed to London, and buried there magnificently in Westminster Abbey, amongst your kings. Generous Britons erected to your memory a superb monument over your grave, at public expense; and your name, most dear to your countrymen, is ever in their mouths, accompanied with praise and regret. But in my country what a strange indifference? What sensation did my death make upon my compatriots? My conduct denounced and censured without measure, is the continual subject of conversation for gossiping fools and knaves, who form the majority in all communities, and prevail against the infinitely small number to be found of honest, judicious, impartial men, capable of reflection. The Canadians and savages who knew the uprightness of my soul, ever devoted to the interests of my beloved king and country, they alone rendered me justice, with a few sincere friends, who, not daring to oppose themselves openly to the torrent of my enemies, bewailed in secret my unhappy fate, and shed on my tomb their friendly tears.
Wolfe:—In this blessed abode, inaccessible to prejudice, I vow to you, sir, I envy your condition, notwithstanding the horrible injustice and ingratitude of your countrymen. What can give more pleasure and self-satisfaction than the esteem and approbation of honest men? You were severely regretted and lamented by all those who were capable of discerning and appreciating your superior merit, talents, and eminent qualities. Disinterested persons of probity must respect your virtue. All officers versed in the art of war will justify your military tactics, and your operations can be blamed only by the ignorant. Were my army consulted, they would be as many witnesses in your favour. Your humanity towards prisoners won you the heart of all my soldiers. They saw with gratitude and veneration your continual care and vigilance to snatch them from out of the hands of the Indians, when those barbarians were ready to cut their throats, and prepared to make of human flesh their horrible banquets; refusing me even tears at my death, they weeped and bewailed your hard fate; I see in my mausoleum the proof only of human weakness! What does that block of marble avail to me in my present state? The monument remains, but the conqueror has perished. The affection, approbation and regret of the worthiest part of mankind is greatly preferable and much above the vain honours conferred by a blind people, who judge according to the event, and are incapable to analyse the operations. I was unknown to them before the expedition which I commanded in Canada; and if fortune, to whom I entirely owe my success, had less favoured me, perhaps, like Byng, I would have been the victim of a furious and unruly populace. The multitude has and can have success only for the rule of their judgment.