at a place called Potasse, which was defended by a battery of a few pieces of cannon; further on, at the distance of two hundred paces from this, stood a redoubt, furnished with a sufficient guard. The soldiers that composed it, being the greater part Canadians, on seeing the enemy approach, were seized with terror, threw down their arms, and fled. The battery itself was abandoned; and if the Americans could have advanced with sufficient expedition, they would certainly have been masters of it. But in turning Cape Diamond, the foot of which is bathed by the waters of the river, they found the road interrupted by enormous masses of snow. Montgomery, with his own hands, endeavored to open a path for his troops who followed him, man by man; he was compelled to wait for them. At length having assembled about two hundred, whom he encouraged with voice and example, he moved courageously and rapidly towards the barrier. But in the meantime, a cannonier who had retreated from the battery, on seeing the enemy halt, returned to his post, and taking a match, which happened to be still burning, fired a cannon charged with grape-shot; the Americans were within forty paces. This single explosion totally extinguished the hopes they had conceived. Montgomery, as well as captains Macpherson and Cheesman, both young men of singular merit, and dear to the general, were killed upon, the spot. The soldiers shrunk back on seeing their general fall; and colonel Campbell, on whom the command devolved, was not a man capable of executing so perilous an enterprise. The flight soon became universal; so that this part of the garrison no longer having enemies to combat, was at liberty to fly to the succour of that which was attacked by Arnold.

This colonel, who was himself at the head of the forlorn hope, marched by the way of St. Roc, towards the place called Saut-auMatelot. Captain Lamb followed him with a company of artillery, and one piece of cannon; next came the main body, preceded by the riflemen under captain Morgan. The besieged had erected at the entrance of the avenue, a battery, which defended a barrier. The Americans found themselves confined within a passage obstructed by deep snow, and so commanded by the works of the enemy, that his grape-shot swept it in every direction. Meanwhile, Arnold advanced rapidly under the fire of the besieged, who manned the walls. He received a musket ball in the leg, which wounded bim severely, splintering the bone. It was necessary to carry him to the hospital, almost by compulsion. Captain Morgan then took the command, and with all the impetuosity of his character, he launched himself against the battery, at the head of two companies. The artillery of the enemy continued to fire grape-shot, but with little effect.

The American riflemen, celebrated for their extreme address, killed many of the English soldiers through the embrasures. They applied ladders to the parapet; the besieged were daunted, and aban

doned the battery to the assailants. Morgan with his companies, and a few soldiers of the centre, who were come up to the vanguard, made many prisoners, English as well as Canadians; but his situation became extremely critical. The main body had not yet been able to join him; he had no guide, and he was unacquainted with the city; he had no artillery; and the day was still far from dawning. He found himself constrained to halt; his soldiers began to reflect upon their position; their ardor cooled rapidly. The ignorance in which they were of the fate of their other columns, the obscurity of night, the snow which fell with redoubled violence, the firing of musketry which was heard on every side, and even behind them, finally, the uncertainty of the future, filled the boldest spirits with an involuntary terror. Morgan alone resisted the panic; he rallied his riflemen, promising them a certain victory. He ran to the barrier, to spur on those who had remained behind. Lieutenant-colonel Green, majors Bigelow and Meigs, joined him with their companies. The morning began to dawn, when Morgan, with a terrible voice, summoned his troops to the assault; he led on with fury against a second battery, which he knew to be only a few paces distant, though masked by an angle of the road; on turning the corner, be encountered a detachment of English, who had sallied from the battery, under the command of Captain Anderson. The latter summoned the Americans to lay down arms. Morgan levelled a musket at his head, and laid him dead upon the ground. The English then retreated within the battery, and closed the barrier. A fierce combat ensued, which cost many lives to the two parties, but most to the Americans, whose flanks were exposed to a destructive fire of musketry from the windows of the houses. Meanwhile, some of the most adventurous having rested their ladders against the palisades, appeared disposed to leap it, but on seeing two files of soldiers prepared to receive them on the points of their bayonets, they renounced this project. Cut down by a continual fire, they now sought shelter in the houses. Morgan remained almost alone, near the barrier, endeavoring in vain to recall his soldiers, and inspire them with fresh courage. Weariness, and the menacing countenance of the enemy, had disheartened the most audacious. Their arms, bathed by the snow, which continued to fall impetuously, were no longer of any use to them. Morgan then seeing the expedition frustrated, ordered the retreat to sound, in order to avoid being surrounded. But the soldiers who had taken refuge in the houses were afraid to expose themselves to the tempest of shot that must have been encountered, in gaining the corner of the avenue, where they would have been out of danger, and whence they might have retired behind the first barrier. The loss they had sustained, the fury of the storm, and the benumbing effects of the cold, had deprived them of all courage. In the meantime, a detachment of the besieged sallied out from a gate

of the palace, and captain Dearborne, who, with his company of provincials, held himself in reserve near this gate, having surrendered, the English retook all this part of the city; consequently, Morgan saw himself encircled by enemies. He proposed to his followers, to open, with arms, the way of retreat; but they refused in the hope that the assault given on the other part might have succeeded, and that Montgomery would soon come to their relief. They resolved to defend themselves, in the meantime ; but having at length perceived by the continually increasing multitude of enemies, the true state of things, they yielded to destiny, and laid down arms.

Such was the issue of the assault given by the Americans to the city of Quebec, in the midst of the most rigorous season of the year; an enterprise, which, though at first view it may seem rash, was certainly not impossible. The events themselves have proved it; for if general Montgomery had not been slain at the first onset, it is more than probable that on his part he would have carried the barrier, since even at the moment of his death the battery was abandoned, and only served by a few men; by penetrating at this point while Arnold and Morgan obtained the same advantages in their attacks, all the lower city would have fallen into the power of the Americans. However this may be, though victory escaped them, their heroic efforts will be the object of sincere admiration. The governor, using his advantages nobly, treated the prisoners with much humanity. He caused the American general to be interred with all military honors.

The loss of this excellent officer was deeply and justly lamented by all his party. Born of a distinguished Irish family, Montgomery had entered in early youth, the career of arms; and had served, with honor, in the preceding war between Great Britain and France. Having married an American lady, and purchased an estate in the province of New York, he was considered, and considered himself, an American. He loved glory much, and liberty yet more. Neither genius, nor valor, nor occasion, failed him; but time and fortune. And if it is allowable, from the past actions of man to infer the future, what motives are there for believing, that if death had not taken him from his country in all the vigor of his age, he would have left it the model of military heroism and of civil virtues! He was beloved by the good, feared by the wicked, and honored even by enemies. Nature had done all for him; his person, from its perfection, answered to the purity of his mind. He left a wife, the object of all his tenderness, with several children, still infants ;-a spectacle for their country, at once of pity and of admiration! The state, from gratitude towards their father, distinguished them with every mark of kindness and protection.* Thus died this man-whose name,

The author was misinformed with respect to this fact; the widow of general Montgomery never had any children. TRANSLATOR.

ever pronounced with enthusiasm by his own, has never ceased to be respected by the warmest of the opposite party; marvellous eulogium, and almost without example!

General Carleton still added to his reputation for prudence and intrepidity, in having maintained, under circumstances of such difficulty, both order and union, among soldiers assembled in haste, and altogether strangers to discipline. If, with means so feeble, he was able to repulse the formidable attacks of an enemy rendered more terrible by despair, he acquired an honor not inferior by the generosity with which he used victory.

Arnold, who, after the death of Montgomery, had taken the command of the troops, not thinking himself in safety under the walls of the city, extended his camp, with the intention of converting the siege into a blockade. He retired to a distance of three miles from the town; and intrenched himself, as well as the season, the want of all necessary articles, and the shortness of time, would admit of. Though still suffering much from his wound, he was vigilant to scour the country, and to intercept the provisions that were conducted to the city. The governor, on his part, satisfied with seeing the return of tranquillity for the present, and trusting in the hope of succours already announced, would not, by a second trial of fortune, expose himself to hazard the glory he had acquired, the fate of the province, and perhaps that of all the war. He therefore remained peaceably within the walls of the city, waiting for the favorable season, and reenforcements from England.

Thus terminated, in America, the year 1775, to give place to the subsequent, teeming with actions no less glorious, and events no less memorable.

END OF BOOK FIFTH.

BOOK SIXTH.

1775. THE general attention in England was now turned upon the great spectacle presented by the Americans, and their resistance rekindled the animosity of the different parties. It had been hoped, and the ministers themselves had confidently affirmed, that the late laws, and especially the troops recently despatched to the colonies, would promptly suppress sedition and reduce the factious to obedience. It was not doubted that the partisans of the royal cause, encouraged by the presence of soldiers, and desirous to avoid the vengeance of the laws, would display great energy, and separate themselves from the insurgents, to join the troops of the king, and reestablish the authority of government. It was also firmly believed that the southern provinces, on seeing the storm ready to burst upon their heads, would never espouse the quarrel of the provinces of the north; and it appeared infallibly certain that the dissentions which alienated the one from the other, would bring about the submission of all. But these hopes having proved entirely deceitful, a general discontent succeeded them, and on all parts the conduct of ministers was censured with asperity. It was deemed intolerable that the soldiers of the king, instead of victoriously keeping the field, should shamefully languish behind the walls of a city without daring to show themselves. The popular movements, which at first were only partial, now extended over the whole continent. The governors in the room of reestablishing the royal authority, were forced to fly from their posts and take refuge on board of ships.

to

The Americans, heretofore represented as trembling, and ready to humble themselves, were daily acquiring new audacity, and a more formidable energy in resistance. The members of parliament who had combated the influence of ministers, repeated, with loud cries, 'that such were the necessary fruits of their incapacity, of their infatuated obstinacy.' 'Since they have not been willing, it was said, grant the colonists the peace they implored, they ought, at least, to have made war upon them with sufficient forces; they have done too much to irritate, too little to subdue. Instead of surprising their adversaries before they could have furnished themselves with means of defence, they have given them a long warning, as if they wished to see them duly prepared; they have chosen to stake the entire fortune of the colonies, and brought into play only a part of their forces; they have dishonored the British nation not only with the Americans but among all the nations of the world; they have sullied it with the name of cruel, without having veiled the stigma with the lustre of victory. But we rejoice indeed, and greatly rejoice, to see thus defeated to their utter shame all the projects of the ministers