nto the main body of the Lower Town. Here it was
that the most serious contention took place....Confined in a narrow
street, hardly more than twenty feet wide, and on lower ground,
scarcely a ball, well aimed or otherwise, but must take effect upon
us....A crowd of every class of the army had gathered into the narrow
pass, attempting to surmount the barrier, which was about twelve feet
or more high, and so strongly constructed that nothing but artillery
could effectuate its destruction....Within the barrier, and close into
it, were two ranges of musketeers, armed with musket and bayonet,
ready to receive those who might venture the dangerous leap....This
was near daylight,...and all hope of success having vanished, a
retreat was contemplated....The moment (however) was foolishly lost
when such a movement might have been made with tolerable success...and
Captain Laws, at the head of two hundred men, issuing from Palace
Gate, most fairly and handsomely cooped us up. Many of the men, aware
of the consequences, and all our Indians and Canadians, escaped across
the ice which covered the Bay of St. Charles....This was a dangerous
and desperate adventure, but worth while the undertaking, in avoidance
of our subsequent sufferings. Its desperateness consisted in running
two miles across shoal ice, thrown up by the high tides of this
latitude; and its danger, in the meeting with air-holes, deceptively
covered by the bed of snow...."

[Footnote 36: _Siege of Quebec_, 1775, 1776, by John Joseph Henry.]

[Illustration: Sir John Cope Sherbrooke.
Governor General of Canada 1816-1818.]

With the other wing of the invading army, the issue was even less
doubtful and far more tragic. Montgomery had pushed through the storm,
along the base of the cliffs from Wolfe's Cove to the base of Cape
Diamond. Deep snow covered the rocky pathway, and spray from the
fretting river had rendered it slippery with ice. Every man in the
chosen company knew the peril of the enterprise, and moved forward
stealthily. Soon the advance guard led by Montgomery in person could
discern through the driving snow the first straggling houses of the
Lower Town. A barrier crossed the roadway, but no sight or sound gave
evidence that the guard was on the alert. Forward they crept, silent
and full of desperate purpose. Suddenly, when they were within thirty
yards of the barrier and counting fully upon the surprise of the
outpost, four cannon and a score of muskets poun