“I am satisfied you are right,” answered the General.
Then, turning to the man who had brought the message, he said, “You will return at once to Captain Langlade, and tell him we shall join the army at Quebec as quickly as possible. And now, gentlemen, we will call a general council of officers, and then to-morrow at dawn en route; we are approaching the end.”
“And a good thing too,” said Bougainville. “We have shilly-shallied long enough. It is time the English understood once for all that we intend to remain masters of Canada, and to hold the fortress upon which old Samuel Champlain first planted the French flag.”
The following day the whole forces of the French and Colonial army were on their way to Quebec. Only three battalions were left at Ticonderoga, and a strong detachment placed so as to resist any possible attack by Lake Ontario. The French took up positions at the mouth of the St. Charles on the east, and the river Montmorenci on the north-east, which Montcalm had fortified with the greatest possible skill. Across the mouth of the St. Charles a boom of logs chained together was placed, protected by mounted cannon. A bridge of boats crossing the river connected the city with the camp. All the gates of Quebec except that of St. Charles were closed and barricaded. A hundred and six cannon were mounted on the walls, whilst on the river there was a floating battery of twelve heavy pieces, a number of gunboats, and eight fireships.
The army for the defence mustered, they posted sixteen thousand men, for the most part advantageously, behind defensive works. A large portion of these were Canadians, who were of little use in the open field, but fought well behind intrenchments; there were also upwards of a thousand Indians from the brave tribes of the Iroquois, or five nations. It was at the end of June, and the country round Quebec, naturally fertile, was in the height of its summer glory. On the curving shore from the St. Charles to the rocky gorge of Montmorenci, for a distance of seven to eight miles, were to be seen the whitewashed dwellings of the parish of Beauport, and the fields on both sides studded with tents, huts, and Indian wigwams. Midway between the little river of Beauport, on a rising ground, stood a large stone house, round which tents were thickly clustered. Here Montcalm had his headquarters.
Looking down upon her defenders, Quebec sat perched upon her rock, a congregation of stone houses, palaces, convents, and hospitals; the uniformity being broken by the green trees of the seminary gardens, the spires of the cathedral, the Convent of the Ursulines, and the monastic buildings of the Recollets and the Jesuits. A firm, solid mass she looked in the summer sunshine, unconquered, and it seemed unconquerable. A lovable town, quaint even then, with its one-storied houses, built heavily of stone and stuccoed brick, with two dormer windows full of house plants in each roof. Here and there, higher still, a weather-worn wood-coloured gallery was seen, pent-roofed and balustered, geraniums showing through the balusters, and white doves circling around and cooing upon the windowsills. Such as she was in her homely fashion, French and English alike looked up to her—the one with loving pride, the other with covetous desire.
On the 26th of June the English fleet anchored off the Island of Orleans, a few miles below Quebec. A small party attempting to land was opposed by the Canadians, but they were beaten off, and the whole army then landed.
When William Pitt gave the command of the English army in Canada to General Wolfe, it was but natural that such an act should arouse feelings of jealousy in men older than himself, and under whose orders he had served in the earlier part of the campaign. Wolfe himself was more alive to the responsibility than to the honour which was almost thrust upon him. The state of his health was most precarious; in fact, he was rarely free from acute pain, and it required an immense power of self-command and energy to enable him to bear up against fatigue and mental anxiety. Nevertheless, he had accepted the command unhesitatingly, and with the determination of conquering Quebec and adding this new jewel to the English crown.
To accomplish this he knew that half measures were no longer feasible. From the end of the Island of Orleans he could see and judge the full strength of the enemy; three great batteries frowned down upon him from above Quebec, behind which rose the redoubts and parapets of Cape Diamond, whilst three other batteries down to the river’s edge guarded the lower part of the town. The whole country round was covered with earthworks, redoubts, and intrenchments; the river with floating batteries, fireships, and other engines of war. His first act was to issue a proclamation in the king’s name:—
“His Excellency Major-General James Wolfe, Commander-in-Chief of his Britannic Majesty’s troops now stationed in the river St. Lawrence, to the people of Canada.
“My king and master George III., justly irritated against France, has resolved to humble her pride and to revenge the insults she has inflicted on the English colonies. With this purpose in view he has sent me, at the head of a formidable army, with a fleet which has already advanced almost into the centre of their chief city, to deprive France of all her establishments in North America, and to proclaim British rule. This is my mission, and by the grace of God I hope to carry it into effect.
“James Wolfe.”