BOOKS.
THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC.* THERE is nothing which touches the siege of Quebec that is not interesting, and we therefore owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Doughty and his colleagues for the excellent work which they have achieved. It is not their fault if their narrative is lees valuable than their very full collection of documents, which fill three stout volumes. In following the footsteps of
• The Siege of Quebec, and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. By A. Doughty, in Collaboration with G. W. Parmelee. Government Edition. U vtls. Quebec ; Dassault and Proulx.
Parkman they set themselves a difficult, even a hopeless, task. But when the artist has finished his work there is room for the patient, less attractive historian, and while for our own pleasure we shall always consult Parkman's immortal pages, there is much in these six handsome volumes which supple- ments and explains the historian's masterpiece. The plans, portraits, and pictures which embellish the text are invaluable ; the hitherto unpublished documents are in themselves the raw material of a new history ; and some idea of Mr. Doughty's erudition may be given by the fact that his biblio- graphy covers not far short of two hundred pages. The story, no doubt, might have been better told. The facts are not always arranged with perfect judgment; but the authors are at their best at the highest point of the narrative, and the description of the battle is far better than the somewhat fragmentary biographies of Wolfe and Montcalm which precede it.
The campaign of 1759 was glorious alike to the French and English arms. For England the triumph was great indeed, both for itself and for its immediate effect. While it gave to General Wolfe immortal fame, it secured Canada to the English, and broke for ever the colonial power of France. For once in history the opposing generals were worthy the occasion upon which they met. Each was animated by the spirit of chivalry ; each thought that respect for his opponent was not incompatible with loyalty to his country's cause ; and it adds a sad, if romantic, completeness to the battle that both victor and vanquished fell upon the field. But while Mont- calm and Wolfe resembled each other in honour and bravery, in all else they present a striking contrast. Wolfe, though an Englishman, bad few of the qualities which we associate with the English character. He was a thing of air and fire, so fragile in health that an overcast day depressed his spirits, and yet for all his frailty so charged with energy and life that he could inspire by his mere voice energy and life in others. There is a passage in a fragment of a journal now preserved at Washington which admirably describes the temperament of Wolfe. "While the French were moving on the English line," says the journal, "General Wolfe stood at the head of the Louisbourgh and Bragg's grenadiers : his excited spirit was pouring itself forth in animated exhortations and fiery eloquence—which springs from that deep emotion which none but warriors can feel, which, when the noise of battle hurtles in the air, and contending nations are about to grapple in mortal fight, none but heroes can utter." For weeks before the battle Wolfe, stricken with disease, held himself aloof. "General Wolfe's health," said Townshend, "is but very bad," and he added with singular injustice, "his generalship—in my poor opinion—is not a bit better." But despite his health, despite the premonition of death of which this dreamer of dreams was conscious, Wolfe fought with a courage and im- petuosity which have made him for ever glorious. Montcalm, on the other hand, Frenchman though he was, had something of the dogged pluck and determination which are thought to belong to our own nation. He was, moreover, a rigid disciplin- arian, and he had done his best to suppress the vices of gambling and dissipation which disgraced the leaguered city. And if the characters of the two men were widely different, different also were the circumstances in which they fought. Wolfe, a young General of thirty-two, who bad been put over the heads of a hundred superior officers, knew that he enjoyed the con- fidence of Pitt and his countrymen. He fought with no grudging support, and in the full consciousness that the Minister who appointed him would put the best construction on all his actions. Montcalm, on the other hand, was the victim of distrust and treachery. His colleagues desired to discredit his policy rather than to aid his enterprise. At the very moment when the great General lay dead, Vaudreuil was mean enough to send, this message to the Minister of Marine : "From the moment of Monsieur Montcalm's arrival in this colony, down to that of his death, he did not cease to sacrifice everything to his boundless ambition. He sowed dissension among the troops, tolerated the most indecent talk against the Government, attached to himself the most disreputable persons, used means to corrupt the most virtuous, and when he could not succeed became their cruel enemy." Of course this tirade means no more than that Montcalin had a higher ambition than the aggrandisement of VaudreuiL But it illustrates clearly enough the difference which prevailed in the eighteenth century between the French and English systems. "To this British Roman," says Parkman of Pitt, in his most magniloquent style, "was opposed the pampered Sardan- apalus of Versailles, with the silken favourite, who by calcu- lated adultery had bought the power to ruin France." And it is no wonder that with none to help him but the pampered Sardanapalus and his satellites Montcalm suffered defeat.
It has been the fashion of late years to underrate the achievement of General Wolfe. An attempt has been made to filch from him his proper glory, and to confer it upon his Brigadiers. For this attempt there is no justification, and we are glad to see that Mr. Doughty and his colleagues, writing with all the documents before them, give it no countenance. The battle was Wolfe's, and Wolfe's alone. The fact that he accepted the advice of his Brigadiers is wholly to his credit, and it in no way lessens the splendour of his achievement. The plan was carried out as only Wolfe could have carried it out. The inspiration and authority alike were his. Even though he died before the battle was finished, it was fought to the end in accordance with his dispositions. That Towns- head ably seconded his commander is a most honourable proof of his ability, and it would have been much better for Townshend's reputation if his friends had not made an extravagant and unsupported claim on his behalf. The story of the taking of Quebec has been told a hundred times. It is told again in these volumes with circumstance and lucidity. It was on the night of September 12th that Wolfe embarked, and tradition declares that as the boats drifted beneath the cliffs he repeated Gray's stanza which begins : "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power." Every one knows how, by a piece of good fortune, a Highland officer was on board who could reply to the French sentry in his own tongue. By daylight Wolfe had, landed his troops, and by six o'clock Montcalm knew that the British army faced the city on the Plains of Abraham. Thus at last Wolfe forced the French to fight on ground of his own choosing, and when the French marched gallantly against them, the order to fire was not given until, in a familiar phrase, the English could see the whites of their opponents' eyes. Wolfe himself died content when in answer to his question, "Who run ? " he received the answer, "The enemy." Montcalm, less fortunate, died defeated; but with a noble justice a column is now dedicated to the two illustrious leaders to whom a common death gave a common glory.
Few who recognise Wolfe's military prowess remember that he also bad a rare gift of style. His proclamation to the Canadians is precisely what a military proclamation should be. "We are the masters of the river," he wrote; "no succour can reach you from France. General Amherst with a large army assails your southern frontier. Your cause is hopeless, your valour useless. Your nation has been guilty of great cruelty to our unprotected settlers : but we seek not revenge ; we offer you the sweets of peace amidst the honours of war. England in her strength will befriend you. France in her weakness leaves you to your fate." His message to the army on the day of the battle anticipated the famous sentence which Nelson signalled at Trafalgar. "The officers and men," said Wolfe, "will remember what their country expects." But on all occasions he found the right word, and he was, moreover, an excellent writer of letters, of which his correspondence here printed is sufficient proof. In brief, he spoke always with the accent of a great man, he acted always with the fire and decision of a hero, and he deserves the stately monument which the Canadian Government in these six volumes has raised to his memory.
Previous page
