siege artillery,
were formidable enough against irregular troops and
makeshift batteries; while the warehouses and shipping
in the Lower Town were protected by two stockades, one
straight under Cape Diamond, the other at the corner
where the Lower Town turns into the valley of the St
Charles. The first was called the Pres-de-Ville, the
second the Sault-au-Matelot. The shipping was open to
bombardment from the Levis shore. But the Americans had
no guns to spare for this till April.

Montgomery's advance was greatly aided by the little
flotilla which Easton had captured at Sorel. Montgomery
met Arnold at Pointe-aux-Trembles, twenty miles above
Quebec, on the 2nd of December and supplied his little
half-clad force with the British uniforms taken at St
Johns and Chambly. He was greatly pleased with the
magnificent physique of Arnold's men, the fittest of an
originally well-picked lot. He still had some 'pusillanimous
wretches' among his own New Yorkers, who resented the
air of superiority affected by Arnold's New Englanders
and Morgan's Virginians. He felt a well-deserved confidence
in Livingston and some of the English-speaking Canadian
'patriots' whom Livingston had brought into his camp
before St Johns in September. But he began to feel more
and more doubtful about the French Canadians, most of
whom began to feel more and more doubtful about themselves.
On the 6th he arrived before Quebec and took up his
quarters in Holland House, two miles beyond the walls,
at the far end of the Plains of Abraham. The same day he
sent Carleton the following summons:

SIR;--Notwithstanding the personal ill-treatment I
have received at your hands--notwithstanding your
cruelty to the unhappy Prisoners you have taken, the
feelings of humanity induce me to have recourse to
this expedient to save you from the Destruction which
hangs over you. Give me leave, Sir, to assure you that
I am well acquainted with your situation. A great
extent of works, in their nature incapable of defence,
manned with a motley crew of sailors, the greatest
part our friends; of citizens, who wish to see us
within their walls, & a few of the worst troops who
ever stiled themselves Soldiers. The impossibility of
relief, and the certain prospect of wanting every
necessary of life, should your opponents confine their
operations to a simple Blockade, point out the absurdity
of resistance. Such is your situation!