River, which was fordable
at low tide, was a redoubt of the enemy. He would have that. Perhaps,
to defend it the French chief would be forced out from his lines, and
a battle be brought on. Wolfe determined to play these odds. He would
fetch over the body of his army from the Island of Orleans, and attack
from the St. Lawrence. He would time his attack, so that, at
shallow water, his lieutenants, Murray and Townsend, might cross the
Montmorenci, and, at the last day of July, he played this desperate
game.

He first, and General Monckton, his second in command (setting out from
Point Levi, which he occupied), crossed over the St. Lawrence from their
respective stations, being received with a storm of shot and artillery
as they rowed to the shore. No sooner were the troops landed than they
rushed at the French redoubt without order, were shot down before it in
great numbers, and were obliged to fall back. At the preconcerted signal
the troops on the other side of the Montmorenci avanced across the river
in perfect order. The enemy even evacuated the redoubt and fell back to
their lines; but from these the assailants were received with so severe
a fire that an impression on them was hopeless, and the General had to
retreat.

The battle of Montmorenci (which my brother Harry and I have fought
again many a time over our wine) formed the dismal burthen of the first
despatch from Mr. Wolfe which reached England and plunged us all in
gloom. What more might one expect of a commander so rash? What disasters
might one not foretell? Was ever scheme so wild as to bring three great
bodies of men, across broad rivers, in the face of murderous batteries,
merely on the chance of inducing an enemy, strongly entrenched and
guarded, to leave his position and come out and engage us? 'Twas
the talk of the town. No wonder grave people shook their heads, and
prophesied fresh disaster. The General, who took to his bed after this
failure, shuddering with fever, was to live barely six weeks longer,
and die immortal! How is it, and by what, and whom, that Greatness is
achieved? Is Merit--is Madness the patron? Is it Frolic or Fortune? Is
it Fate that awards successes and defeats? Is it the Just Cause that
ever wins? How did the French gain Canada from the savage, and we from
the French, and after which of the conquests was the right time to
sing Te Deum? We are always for implicating Heaven in our quarrels, and
causing the gods to intervene what