The city was now in a state of siege, and the French well knew that if they opened fire on the English the enemy would retaliate by bombarding houses, public buildings, and churches, with a great loss of life and property. Many of the Canadians had gone home to their farms, and some of the French regulars had also deserted, so that the army in the city did not number over twenty-five hundred men.
“We cannot fight them,” said Vaudreuil. “They have not less than seventeen thousand soldiers, and hundreds of cannon, and large quantities of ammunition. If we fight, the city will be laid low from end to end; and men, women, and children ruthlessly slaughtered.”
Lévis, a born fighter, demurred at first, but soon saw the wisdom of the advice; and a council of war was held. It was a stormy scene, and it took many hours to draw up a form of capitulation. The French officers wished to march out of Montreal with the honors of war, and wished many other things; and these were all put into the paper which was sent to General Amherst the next morning.
“I cannot grant this form of capitulation,” said Amherst, on looking the paper over. “I will grant some conditions, but not others. The whole force must lay down its arms, and not serve again during the present war.”
When this answer was brought back, Vaudreuil merely shrugged his shoulders, but Lévis went into a rage, and vowed he would never submit.
“I will myself send a note to General Amherst to show him that he is asking too much,” said Lévis, and sent the note without delay. In return Amherst stated that he was fully resolved to make the army lay down its arms. He was horrified over the way the French Indians had been allowed to massacre wounded and helpless English soldiers, and he considered that the enemy must be taught a stern lesson in retaliation.
It was a time of wild excitement in Montreal, for the citizens, and those who had come into the city for protection, were afraid that the English might bombard the place at any moment. When a cannon boomed out as a signal, a hundred cries would ring out. Business had come to a complete standstill, and many places were boarded and locked up; and in some instances goods of value, and money, and jewels, were buried.
For the time being those in the various prisons about the city were practically neglected, and in at least three cases the prisoners almost starved to death because of this neglect. The keeper of the jail in which Henry was confined went off one night, and failed to appear during the next day.
“Something is wrong, that’s sure,” said one of the prisoners. Then he yelled loudly for water, but nobody came to answer his demand.
Henry was pale and thin, and suffered as much for the want of fresh air as for proper food. The jail was a vile place, and the conditions there were steadily growing worse. One prisoner had committed suicide, and another had gone stark, raving crazy.