And so matters were settled. Nairn marched with the troops to take his share in what I have always looked upon as the most admirable of Murray's achievements, a campaign politic, rather than military; at once to overawe and reassure the inhabitants, and, this accomplished, to converge on Montreal with Amherst and Haviland.
The situation in which Lévis found himself was impossible, and it only remained for Vaudreuil to accept the terms of capitulation which were offered. From his point of view they were no doubt honourable, but in his anxiety to save the goods and chattels of a parcel of shopkeepers, he saw fit to sacrifice the honour of those troops, who, for six arduous campaigns, had stood between him and his fate. Thus, on the 8th of September, 1760, Canada passed forever into the hands of the English; who thus held America from Florida to Hudson Bay, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. But these events will no doubt be more fully related by “the gentleman at his desk—” and I will return.
Soon after the arrival of the victorious troops with their prisoners from Montreal, a double marriage was celebrated in the chapel of the Ursulines, General Murray standing for Margaret, while M. de Lévis rendered the same courtesy to Angélique, and the officiating priest was le père Jean.
At two we sat down to dinner in the General's quarters, surrounded by friends old and new; for those who had withstood each other so stoutly in the field now vied only in expressions of personal admiration and esteem. Poulariez, Malartic, and le petit Joannès sat side by side with Fraser, Burton, and Rollo, while the two generals shared the honours of the feast with Margaret and Angélique.
M. de Lévis did me the honour to request that I would supplement his encomium on our hosts by a few words in English, which I did with poor enough effect; but on being called upon on all sides for a song, I retrieved my halting prose with the following, which I had set to the old air of “Dalmeny”:
“Though unrelenting fate hath cast In camps opposed our lot, Though we have faced each other oft And Scot hath drawn on Scot, I cannot hold that Chance, or Time, Or waste of sundering sea. Can part the banished hearts that meet At one in their Ain Countrie.
“We've sprung from every mile that lies 'Twixt Tweed-side and Ardshiel, To wake the corners of the world With clash of Scottish steel. We've kept our faith to King and Prince And held it ample fee, If life or death might keep our name Alive in our Ain Countrie.
“We've ridden far for name and fame. We've never stooped for gold. We've led the flying columns back With victory in our hold. We've won undying name and fame! Yet all o' it I'd gie To see the red sun set at hame, At hame, in my Ain Countrie.”
The enthusiasm of our generous hosts over my effort formed a fitting close to the festivity, and the refrain of “Our Ain Countrie” was carried forth from the room to pass from lip to lip until the whole garrison was wild over it, and many a homesick fellow found sad consolation in my poor effusion of an idle hour. Such a gratification is the highest which a man of taste can receive, and it is to be regretted that more men of genius do not direct their efforts to such pleasing ends.
With our friends Poulariez, Joannès, and others in command of the Royal Roussillon, we were provided for in the Duke, Captain Renwick, where Kit, Angélique, with her husband, and a score of English officers assembled to bid us farewell, so that our leaving resembled more a party of pleasure than the embarkment of a defeated army.