h against officers of his own rank and caste who came
from France. There was in Canada the eternal cleavage in outlook and
manners between the Old World and the New, which is found in equal
strength in New England, and which was one of the chief factors in
causing the American Revolution. Vaudreuil, born at Quebec in 1698, had
climbed the official ladder step by step until, in 1742, he had been
made Governor of Louisiana, a post he held for three years. He succeeded
the Marquis Duquesne as Governor of Canada in the year before Montcalm
arrived. He meant well but he was a vain man, always a leading figure in
the small society about him, and obsessed by a fussy self-importance. He
was not clever enough to see through flattery. The Intendant Bigot, next
to the Governor the most important man in Canada, an able and corrupt
rascal, knew how to manage the Governor and to impose his own will upon
the weaker man. Vaudreuil and his wife between them had a swarm of needy
relatives in Canada, and these and other Canadians who sought favors
from the Governor helped to sharpen his antagonism to the officers from
France. Vaudreuil believed himself a military genius. It was he and not
Montcalm who had the supreme military command, and he regarded as an
unnecessary intruder this general officer sent out from France.

Now that Montcalm was come, Vaudreuil showed a malignant alertness, born
of jealousy, to snub and check him. Outward courtesies were, of course,
maintained. Vaudreuil could be bland and Montcalm restrained, in spite
of his southern temperament, but their dispatches show the bitterness in
their relations. The court of France encouraged not merely the leaders
but even officers in subordinate posts to communicate to it their views.
A voluble correspondence about affairs in Canada has been preserved.
Vaudreuil himself must have tried the patience of the French ministers
for he wrote at prodigious length, exalting his own achievements to the
point of being ludicrous. At the same time he belittled everything done
by Montcalm, complained that he was ruining the French cause in America,
hinted that he was in league with corrupt elements in Canada, and in
the end even went so far as to request his recall in order that the more
pliant Levis might be put in his place. The letters of Montcalm are more
reserved. Unlike Vaudreuil, he never stooped to falsehood. He knew that
he was under the orders of the Governor and he accepted the situa