e
opposite side on which the enemy was posted: that there was a ford below
the Falls passable in every tide for some hours, at the latter part of
the ebb and beginning of the flood; and he hoped that means might be
found of passing the river higher up, so as to fight the marquis
de Montcalm upon less disadvantageous terms than those of directly
attacking his intrenchments. Accordingly, in reconnoitring the river
Montmorenci, a ford was discovered about three miles above; but the
opposite banks, which were naturally steep and covered with woods,
the enemy had intrenched in such a manner, as to render it almost
inaccessible. The escort was twice attacked by the Indians, who were as
often repulsed; but these rencounters cost the English about forty men
killed and wounded, including some officers. Some shrewd objections
might be started to the general's choice of ground on this occasion.
He could not act at all without passing the river Montmorenci at a
very great disadvantage, and attacking an enemy superior to himself in
number, secured by redoubts and intrenchments. Had he even, by dint of
extraordinary valour, driven them from these strong posts, the success
must have cost him a great number of officers and men: and the enemy
might have retreated behind the river St. Charles, which he also must
have passed under the same disadvantages, before he could begin his
operations against the city of Quebec. Had his good fortune enabled him
to surmount all these difficulties, and after all to defeat the enemy in
a pitched battle, the garrison of Quebec might have been reinforced
by the wreck of their army; and he could not, with any probability of
success, have undertaken the siege of an extensive fortified place,
which he had not troops sufficient to invest, and whose garrison would
have been nearly equal in number to the sum total of the troops he
commanded. At any rate, the chance of a fair engagement in the open
field was what he had little reason to expect in that situation, from
the known experience, and the apparent conduct, of the French general.
These objections appeared so obvious and important, that general Wolfe
would not determine to risk an attack, until he had surveyed the upper
part of the river St. Laurence, in hopes of finding some place more
favourable for a descent.

On the eighteenth day of July, the admiral, at his request, sent two
ships of war, two armed sloops, and some transports with troops on
board,