Which I Could No Longer Decline, And
Which I Ought Not To Gain.
"Indeed, if M. WOLFE understands his business he has only to receive
my first fire, give a volley in return, and then charge; when my
Canadians - undisciplined, deaf to the sound of the drum, and thrown
into confusion by his onset - would be incapable of resuming their
ranks.
Moreover, as they have no bayonets with which to oppose those
of the enemy, nothing would remain for them but flight; and then -
behold me beaten without resource.
"Conceive my situation! a most painful one for a General-in-Chief, and
which causes me many distressing moments.
"Hitherto, I have been enabled to act successfully on the defensive;
but will a continuance in that course prove ultimately successful?
that is the question which events must decide! Of this, however, you
may rest assured, that I shall probably not survive the loss of the
colony. There are circumstances which leave to a General no choice but
that of dying with honour; such may soon be my fate; and I trust that
in this respect posterity will have no cause to reproach my memory."
[209]
MONTCALM, conspicuous in front of the left wing of his line, and
WOLFE, at the head of the 28th Regiment, and the Louisbourg
Grenadiers, towards the right of the British line, must have been
nearly opposite to each other at the commencement of the battle, which
was most severe in that part of the field; and, by a singular
coincidence each of these heroic leaders had been twice wounded during
the brief conflict before he received his last and fatal wound.
But the valiant Frenchman, regardless of pain, relaxed not his efforts
to rally his broken battalions in their hurried retreat towards the
city, until he was shot through the loins, when within a few yards of
the St. Louis Gate. And so invincible was his fortitude that not even
the severity of this mortal stroke could abate his gallant spirit or
alter his intrepid bearing. Supported by two grenadiers - one at each
side of his horse - he re-entered the city; and in reply to some woman
who, on seeing blood flow from his wounds as he rode down St. Louis
street, on his way to the chateau, [210] exclaimed, Oh, mon Dieu!
mon Dieu! le marquis est tue! courteously assured them that he was
not seriously hurt, and beg them not to distress themselves on his
account. Ce n'est rien! Ce n'est rien! Ne vous affligez pas pour
moi, mes bonnes amies. The last words of WOLFE - imperishably
enshrined in history - excite, after the lapse of a century, the
liveliest admiration and sympathy, and similar interest may, perhaps
be awakened by the narrative of the closing scene in the eventful
career of his great opponent.
On the 24th of March, 1761, the French troops who had served in Canada
under Montcalm, through M de Bougainville, applied to the British
Government for leave to raise a monument to the illustrious dead hero.
The British Government, through Mr. Pitt, sent back to Paris on the
10th April, 1761, a graceful letter of acquiescence.
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