e of Louis XIV. The cannon replied so well that at the
first shot the admiral's flag fell into the water; the Canadians,
braving the balls and bullets which rained about them, swam out to get
it, and this trophy remained hanging in the cathedral of Quebec until
the conquest. The _Histoire de l'Hotel-Dieu de Quebec_ depicts for us
very simply the courage and piety of the inhabitants during this siege.
"The most admirable thing, and one which surely drew the blessing of
Heaven upon Quebec was that during the whole siege no public devotion
was interrupted. The city is arranged so that the roads which lead to
the churches are seen from the harbour; thus several times a day were
beheld processions of men and women going to answer the summons of the
bells. The English noticed them; they called M. de Grandeville (a brave
Canadian, and clerk of the farm of Tadousac, whom they had made
prisoner) and asked him what it was. He answered them simply: 'It is
mass, vespers, and the benediction.' By this assurance the citizens of
Quebec disconcerted them; they were astonished that women dared to go
out; they judged by this that we were very easy in our minds, though
this was far from being the case."

It is not surprising that the colonists should have fought valiantly
when their bishops and clergy set the example of devotion, when the
Jesuits remained constantly among the defenders to encourage and assist
on occasion the militia and the soldiers, when Mgr. de Laval, though
withdrawn from the conduct of religious affairs, without even the right
of sitting in the Sovereign Council, animated the population by his
patriotic exhortations. To prove to the inhabitants that the cause which
they defended by struggling for their homes was just and holy, at the
same time as to place the cathedral under the protection of Heaven, he
suggested the idea of hanging on the spire of the cathedral a picture of
the Holy Family. This picture was not touched by the balls and bullets,
and was restored after the siege to the Ursulines, to whom it belonged.

All the attempts of the English failed; in a fierce combat at Beauport
they were repulsed. There perished the brave Le Moyne de Sainte-Helene;
there, too, forty pupils of the seminary established at St. Joachim by
Mgr. de Laval distinguished themselves by their bravery and contributed
to the victory. Already Phipps had lost six hundred men. He decided to
retreat. To cap the climax of misfortune, his fleet