is-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de
Saint-Veran, whose family seat was Candiac, near Nismes, in the south
of France.

[2] Parkman gives the following paraphrase of the Latin inscription;

"Soldier and chief and ramparts' strength are nought;
Behold the conquering cross! 'T is God the triumph wrought."

{247}

XVIII.

THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE VALLEY OF
THE ST. LAWRENCE--CANADA IS WON BY
WOLFE ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM.

(1759-1763.)

When the campaign opened in 1759 the French had probably under arms in
Canada not far from twenty thousand men, regulars, militia, and
Indians--one-fifth only being French regiments. At Detroit there was a
very insignificant garrison, as it was of minor importance compared
with Niagara, which was the key to the Lakes and West. Here Pouchot,
an able officer, who has given us an interesting memoir of the war, was
stationed, with authority to call to his assistance the French forces
at Presqu'ile, Le Boeuf, and Venango--some three thousand men
altogether, made up mostly of colonial forces and Indian auxiliaries.
At Fort Rouille (Toronto) there was no force worth mentioning, as it
was a mere dependency of Niagara. Fort Frontenac had been destroyed by
the English, and the French had no posts from that point as far as
Montreal except at {248} Point-au-Baril (near Ogdensburgh), and Ile
Galops, by the side of the well-known rapids of that name. The
security of Montreal depended mainly on the French continuing to hold
control of Lake Champlain, and Ile-aux-Noix which they now set to work
to fortify. Bourlamaque, an able officer, was in command at the French
forts of the lake with a force of over two thousand men, of whom
one-half were Canadian, and had orders to abandon Carillon and Crown
Point, if necessary, and advance to Ile-aux-Noix. At Quebec, probably
fourteen thousand men, of whom four thousand were the pick of the
French regiments in Canada, were under command of Montcalm, Levis, and
Vaudreuil, and were entrenched on a height of land stretching for
nearly six miles from the St. Charles River, to the southeast of the
fortress, as far as Montmorency River, where its current rushes wildly
forward for its tremendous leap of over two hundred and fifty feet into
a deep and rocky abyss, and forms that glistening sheet of billowy foam
which, seen from a distance, resembles a snowdrift suspended in air.
The fortifications of Quebec had been strengthened fo