GENERAL WOLFE LANDS ON THE ISLAND OF ORLEANS.

The armament intended for Quebec sailed up the river St. Laurence, without having met with any interruption, or having perceived any of those difficulties and perils with which it had been reported that the navigation of it was attended. Their good fortune in this particular, indeed, was owing to some excellent charts of the river, which had been found in vessels taken from the enemy. About the latter end of June the land-forces were disembarked in two divisions upon the isle of Orleans, situated a little below Quebec, a large fertile island, well cultivated, producing plenty of grain, abounding with people, villages, and plantations. General Wolfe no sooner landed on the island of Orleans, than he distributed a manifesto among the French colonists, giving them to understand that the king his master, justly exasperated against the French monarch, had equipped a considerable armament in order to humble his pride, and was determined to reduce the most considerable French settlements in America. He declared it was not against the industrious peasants, their wives and children, nor against the ministers of religion, that he intended to make war; on the contrary, he lamented the misfortunes to which they must be exposed by the quarrel; he offered them his protection; and promised to maintain them in their temporal possessions, as well as in the free exercise of their religion, provided they would remain quiet, and take no part in the difference between the two crowns. He observed, that the English were masters of the river St. Laurence, so as to intercept all succours from Europe; and had besides a powerful army on the continent, under the command of general Amherst. He affirmed, that the resolution they ought to take was neither difficult nor doubtful; as the utmost exertion of their valour would be useless, and serve only to deprive them of the advantages which they might reap from their neutrality. He reminded them that the cruelties exercised by the French upon the subjects of Great Britain in America, would excuse the most severe reprisals; but Britons were too generous to follow such barbarous examples. He again offered to the Canadians the sweets of peace, amidst the horrors of war; and left it to themselves to determine their own fate by their own conduct. He expressed his hope that the world would do him justice, should they oblige him, by rejecting these favourable terms, to adopt violent measures. He expatiated upon the strength and power, as well as upon the generosity, of Great Britain, in thus stretching out the hand of humanity; a hand ready to assist them on all occasions, even when France was by her weakness compelled to abandon them in the most critical conjuncture. This declaration produced no immediate effect; nor indeed did the Canadians depend on the sincerity and promised faith of a nation, whom their priests had industriously represented as the most savage and cruel enemy on earth. Possessed of these notions, which prevailed even among the better sort, they chose to abandon their habitations, and expose themselves and families to certain ruin, in provoking the English by the most cruel hostilities, rather than be quiet, and confide in the general’s promise of protection. Instead of pursuing this prudent plan of conduct, they joined the scalping parties * of Indians who skulked among the woods; and falling upon the English stragglers by surprise, butchered them with the most inhuman barbarity.

* The operation of scalping, which, to the shame of both
nations, was encouraged both by French and English, the
savages performed in this manner—The hapless victim being
disabled, or disarmed, the Indian, with a sharp knife,
provided and worn for the purpose, makes a circular incision
to the bone round the upper part of the head, and tears off
the scalp with his fingers. Previous to this execution, he
generally despatches the prisoner by repeated blows on the
head, with the hammer-side of the instrument called a
tomahawk: but sometimes they save themselves the trouble,
and sometimes the blows prove ineffectual; so that the
miserable patient is found alive, groaning in the utmost
agony of torture. The Indian strings the scalps he has
procured, to be produced as a testimony of his prowess, and
receives a premium for each from the nation under whose
banners he has been enlisted.

Mr. Wolfe, whose nature revolted against this wanton and perfidious cruelty, sent a letter to the French general, representing that such enormities were contrary to the rules of war observed among civilized nations, dishonourable to the service of France, and disgraceful to human nature; he therefore desired that the French colonists and Indians might be restrained within due bounds, otherwise he would burn their villages, desolate their plantations, and retaliate upon the persons of his prisoners whatever cruelties should, in the sequel, be committed on the soldiers or subjects of his master. In all probability the French general’s authority was not sufficient to bridle the ferocity of the savages, who continued to scalp and murder, with the most brutal appetite for blood and revenge, so that Mr. Wolfe, in order to intimidate the enemy into a cessation of these outrages, found it necessary to connive at some irregularities in the way of retaliation.

M. de Montcalm, who commanded the French troops, though superior in number to the invaders, very wisely resolved to depend upon the natural strength of the country, which appeared almost insurmountable, and had carefully taken all his precautions of defence. The city of Quebec was tolerably fortified, secured with a numerous garrison, and plentifully supplied with provisions and ammunition. Montcalm had reinforced the troops of the colony with five regular battalions formed of the best of the inhabitants, completely disciplined all the Canadians of the neighbourhood capable of bearing arms, and several tribes of savages. With this army he had taken the field in a very advantageous situation, encamped along the shore of Beaufort, from the river St. Charles to the Falls of Montmorenci, every accessible part being deeply intrenched. To undertake the siege of Quebec against such odds and advantages, was not only a deviation from the established maxims of war, but a rash enterprise, seemingly urged in diametrical opposition to the dictates of common sense. Mr. Wolfe was well acquainted with all the difficulties of the undertaking; but he knew at the same time he should always have it in his power to retreat, in case of emergency, while the British squadron maintained its station in the river; he was not without hope of being joined by general Amherst; and he was stimulated by an appetite for glory, which the prospect of accumulated dangers could not allay. Understanding that there was a body of the enemy posted, with cannon, at the Point of Levi, on the south shore, opposite the city of Quebec, he detached against them brigadier Monckton, at the head of four battalions, who passed the river at night; and next morning, having skirmished with some of the enemy’s irregulars, obliged them to retire from that post, which the English immediately occupied. At the same time colonel Carlton, with another detachment, took possession of the western point of the island of Orleans: and both these posts were fortified, in order to anticipate the enemy; who, had they kept possession of either, might have rendered it impossible for any ship to lie at anchor within two miles of Quebec. Besides, the Point of Levi was within cannon shot of the city, against which a battery of mortars and artillery was immediately erected. Montcalm, foreseeing the effect of this manoeuvre, detached a body of sixteen hundred men across the river, to attack and destroy the works before they were completed; but the detachment fell into disorder, fired upon each other, and retired in confusion. The battery being finished without further interruption, the cannons and mortars began to play with such success, that in a little time the upper town was considerably damaged, and the lower town reduced to a heap of rubbish.