strong palisades, with cannon. Nevertheless
there rose a general cry to cut the bridge of boats. By
doing so more than half the army, who had not yet crossed,
would have been sacrificed. The axemen were already at work,
when they were stopped by some officers who had not lost
their wits.

[Footnote 786: Confirmed by _Journal tenu a l'Armee,_ etc. "Divers
officiers des troupes de terre n'hesiterent point a dire, tout haut
en presence du soldat, qu'il ne nous restoit d'autre ressource que
celle de capituler promptement pour toute la colonie," etc.]

"M. de Vaudreuil," pursues Johnstone, "was closeted in a
house in the inside of the hornwork with the Intendant and
some other persons. I suspected they were busy drafting the
articles for a general capitulation, and I entered the house,
where I had only time to see the Intendant, with a pen in his
hand, writing upon a sheet of paper, when M. de Vaudreuil
told me I had no business there. Having answered him that
what he had said was true, I retired immediately, in wrath
to see them intent on giving up so scandalously a dependency
for the preservation of which so much blood and treasure had
been expended." On going out he met Lieutenant-colonels
Dalquier and Poulariez, whom he begged to prevent the apprehended
disgrace; and, in fact, if Vaudreuil really meant to capitulate for
the colony, he was presently dissuaded by firmer spirits than his own.

Johnstone, whose horse could carry him no farther, set out
on foot for Beauport, and, in his own words, "continued
sorrowfully jogging on, with a very heavy heart for the loss
of my dear friend M. de Montcalm, sinking with weariness,
and lost in reflection upon the changes which Providence had
brought about in the space of three or four hours."

Great indeed were these changes. Montcalm was dying;
his second in command, the Brigadier Senezergues, was
mortally wounded; the army, routed and demoralized, was
virtually without a head; and the colony, yesterday cheered as
on the eve of deliverance, was plunged into sudden despair.
"Ah, what a cruel day!" cries Bougainville; "how fatal to all
that was dearest to us! My heart is torn in its most tender
parts. We shall be fortunate if the approach of winter saves
the country from total ruin."[787]

[Footnote 787: _Bougainville a Bourlamaque, 18 Sept. 1759_.]

The victors were fortifying themselves on the field of battle.
Like the French, they had lost two generals; for Monckton,
se