Boishebert was doing in Acadia, Vaudreuil was doing on a larger scale in
Canada. By indefatigable lying, by exaggerating every success and
covering over every reverse, he deceived the people and in some measure
himself. He had in abundance the Canadian gift of gasconade, and boasted
to the Colonial Minister that one of his countrymen was a match for from
three to ten Englishmen. It is possible that he almost believed it; for
the midnight surprise of defenceless families and the spreading of
panics among scattered border settlements were inseparable from his idea
of war. Hence the high value he set on Indians, who in such work outdid
the Canadians themselves. Sustained by the intoxication of flattering
falsehoods, and not doubting that the blunders and weakness of the first
years of the war gave the measure of English efficiency, the colonists
had never suspected that they could be subdued.

[Footnote 679: _Proces de Bigot, Cadet, et autres, Memoire pour le Sieur
de Boishebert._]

But now there was a change. The reverses of the last campaign, hunger,
weariness, and possibly some incipient sense of atrocious misgovernment,
began to produce their effect; and some, especially in the towns, were
heard to murmur that further resistance was useless. The Canadians,
though brave and patient, needed, like Frenchmen, the stimulus of
success. "The people are alarmed," said the modest Governor, "and would
lose courage if my firmness did not rekindle their zeal to serve the
King."[680]

[Footnote 680: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 10 Avril, 1759._]

"Rapacity, folly, intrigue, falsehood, will soon ruin this colony which
has cost the King so dear," wrote Doreil to the Minister of War. "We
must not flatter ourselves with vain hope; Canada is lost if we do not
have peace this winter." "It has been saved by miracle in these past
three years; nothing but peace can save it now, in spite of all the
efforts and the talents of M. de Montcalm."[681] Vaudreuil himself
became thoroughly alarmed, and told the Court in the autumn of 1758 that
food, arms, munitions, and everything else were fast failing, and that
without immediate peace or heavy reinforcements all was lost.

[Footnote 681: _Doreil au Ministre, 31 Juillet, 1758. Ibid. 12 Aout,
1758. Ibid. 31 Aout, 1758. Ibid. 1 Sept. 1758._]

The condition of Canada was indeed deplorable. The St. Lawrence was
watched by British ships; the harvest was meagre; a barrel of flour cost
two hundred franc