nded in chief, should, with another army of regular troops and
provincials, amounting to twelve thousand men, reduce Ticonderoga and
Crown Point, cross the lake Champlain, and, proceeding along the river
Richelieu to the banks of the river St. Laurence, join general Wolfe in
the siege of Quebec: that brigadier-general Prideaux, with a third body,
reinforced with a considerable number of friendly Indians, assembled
by the influence and under the command of sir William Johnston, should
invest the French fort erected at the fall or cataract of Niagara, which
was certainly the most important post of all French America, as it in
a manner commanded all the interior parts of that vast continent. It
overawed the whole country of the Six Nations, who were cajoled into a
tame acquiescence in its being built on their territory: it secured all
the inland trade, the navigation of the great lakes, the communication
between Canada and Louisiana, and opened a passage for inroads into
the colonies of Great Britain. It was proposed that the British forces,
having reduced Niagara, should be embarked on the lake Ontario, fall
down the river St. Laurence, besiege and take Montreal, and then join or
co-operate with Amherst's army. Besides these larger armaments, colonel
Stanwix commanded a smaller detachment for reducing smaller forts, and
scouring the banks of the lake Ontario. How far this project was
founded on reason and military knowledge may be judged by the following
particulars, of which the projectors were not ignorant. The navigation
of the river St. Laurence is dangerous and uncertain. The city of
Quebec was remarkably strong from situation, and fortification, from the
bravery of the inhabitants, and the number of the garrison. Monsieur
de Montcalm, an officer of great courage and activity, kept the field
between Montreal and Quebec, with a body of eight or ten thousand men,
consisting of regular troops and disciplined militia, reinforced by
a considerable number of armed Indians; and another body of reserve
hovered in the neighbourhood of Montreal, which was the residence of
monsieur de Vaudreuil, governor-general of Canada. The garrison of
Niagara consisted of above six hundred men; the march to it was tedious
and embarrassed; and monsieur de Levi scoured the country with a flying
detachment, well acquainted with all the woods and passes. With respect
to general Amherst's share of the plan, the forts of Ticonderoga
and Crown-Point