onel
and of the Commander of the troops, and he can't serve
without it. If I was in Carleton's place I wouldn't stay
an hour in the Army after being aimed at and distinguished
in so remarkable a manner.' But Carleton bided his time.

At the beginning of 1759 Wolfe was appointed to command
the army destined to besiege Quebec. He immediately
submitted Carleton's name for appointment as
quartermaster-general. Pitt and Ligonier heartily approved.
But the king again refused. Ligonier went back a second
time to no purpose. Pitt then sent him in for the third
time, saying, in a tone meant for the king to overhear:
'Tell His Majesty that in order to render the General
[Wolfe] completely responsible for his conduct he should
be made, as far as possible, inexcusable if he should
fail; and that whatever an officer entrusted with such
a service of confidence requests ought therefore to be
granted.' The king then consented. Thus began Carleton's
long, devoted, and successful service for Canada, the
Empire, and the Crown.

Early in this memorable Empire Year of 1759 he sailed
with Wolfe and Saunders from Spithead. On the 30th of
April the fleet rendezvoused at Halifax, where Admiral
Durell, second-in-command to Saunders, had spent the
winter with a squadron intended to block the St Lawrence
directly navigation opened in the spring. Durell was a
good commonplace officer, but very slow. He had lost many
hands from sickness during a particularly cold season,
and he was not enterprising enough to start cruising
round Cabot Strait before the month of May. Saunders,
greatly annoyed by this delay, sent him off with eight
men-of-war on the 5th of May. Wolfe gave him seven hundred
soldiers under Carleton. These forces were sufficient to
turn back, capture, or destroy the twenty-three French
merchantmen which were then bound for Quebec with supplies
and soldiers as reinforcements for Montcalm. But the
French ships were a week ahead of Durell; and, when he
landed Carleton at Isle-aux-Coudres on the 28th of May,
the last of the enemy's transports had already discharged
her cargo at Quebec, sixty miles above.

Isle-aux-Coudres, so named by Jacques Cartier in 1535,
was a point of great strategic importance; for it commanded
the only channel then used. It was the place Wolfe had
chosen for his winter quarters, that is, in case of
failure before Quebec and supposing he was not recalled.
None but a particularly good officer would have bee