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Show Tl AV /L THROUGH LOWER CANADA: f:1te of the day n1ight hrJ.vc turned out very differently; or had he, in~ HcnJ f hazarding a batt! at all, retired within the walls of the city and Jdl:ndcd it, the pbce was fo Hrong that there i'l rca/on to think it might have ] ·ld out until th approach of \·vintct·, when the Britifh fhips mu£1: hav, quitted the riv r, ancl General Wolfe would confcq tently have been un 1er the neccf11ty of railin~ the 11cgc. Gen 'ral \Volfe thought it a vain attempt to make an atrault on the fid of the town which lies toward the water, where the rock is ~ ficcp, and {o caJ1ly defended; his object wa to get behind it and to carry n the :Hta k on the land fide, where there is an extenfive plain adjoining the town, and not a great d al lower than the highcft part of the 1 oint. In order to do io, he firft of all attem ptcd to land his troops fome miles below the town, ncar the Fall· of M0ntmorenci. Here the banks of the river arc by no means fo diDicult f a(cent as nbove the town; but they were defended by a brge divifion of the French for es, which had tht:own up :!i·vcral firong redoubts, and in attC:lllJ ting to lan 1 \r\Tolft: was rcpulfcd with lofs. Above ~cbe , the banks of the river arc cxtr mely high, and fo !l.cc1 at the fam time, that by the French they wer de med inacceffiblc. l' oil d, howev ·r, in his firfl ~ttempt to get on {hare, General W lfi' formed the bold ddion of afc n ling to the t p of thefe banks, commonly call"d the H ight: f braham. To prepar the way for it, poflefllon was taken of Point Levi, the 1 oint fi.tuatcd oppofite to that 0 11 which ~chc fland s, and from thence a hc.:tvy bombardment was commenced n the town, in ord r to deceive the en my. In th mean tim · boats were 1 rcp:1r J; the troops ·m arked; they paired the town with mullkd oars, in the night, unobfci"v d, and landed at a cove, about two mil ·s above. The foldi rs clambered up th hcigl ts with <rrcat difl1 ulty, and the guns \ ere haul ·d up by mean of ropes and pullics fi. ed round the trees, with which th bank ar covered from top to bottom. At the top the phin commen e , :md xtends l r~ unll ·r the w.t11s of the ity; here it was that the mcmor. 1 batt!· \ as fonght, in which C,cneral Wolf· unha1 pily p rifhed, at the very moment when all his noble cxct tion were about t be crowned with ~-<~ that Q U E B 1! C. that fucccfs which th y fo minently defl:rvcd . The fpot where the illuilrious hero hr ':Jthcd hi h{l is m::~rke d with a la rge Hone, on whi h a trll c meri lion:1.l 1! n e is dr,l w JL N twir hflanding th at the grc.tt vVolfc found it fuc:h a very diflicult tafk to gLt poffdlion of Q:.:cbcc, and th.1t it has hctn r<.: ttdercd {0 much fl.rongcr !incc hir, time, yet the peo1 k of the Vn.tt:d ~ tate confidently imagine, at this day, that if there were a ru pture wit 1 Great Drita in) ti cy need only fend an army thither, anJ the plac · tn •,tft fal l it to th eir hand immediat ·ly. A ·no]J, after his return from the expedit ion :1gainH the place, under Montgon,cry, in the y ·ar 177 5, l'1~-.:cl Ji·equct ·tly to de 1are, that if he had not been woundc I he D1ould c ·rtainly h tve carried it. But l1owevc:r that expedition m. y be admired for it <; gr ·at boldncf, it was, in reality, far fi·om being fo nearly att 'IH.leJ \ .ith (ucc (s as the vanity of Arnold ha led his countryr 1en to ima n- inc. ~ All though ts of taking th~,., city by a n.:.guhr flege were abandoned by the Americans, when they came before it; it wa only by attempting to fl:orm it at an unexpeCted hour that they ftw any probability of wrelt:ing it from the Briti01. Th night of the tl irty-f1rfl of D cembcr was accordingly fixed upon, and the city was attacl· ·cl at the fttmc moment in three ph es. But although the garri ~o 1 were completely furprifcd, and the greater part of the rampart guns lud bccr1 difinounted, and laid up for the winter, during which Jca!on it wa thought impofTible for an army to make an attacl· fo vigorous that cannon would be wanting to repel it, yet the Amcric.tns were , t one bafHcd in their attempt. Arnold, in endeavouring to fore St. John'~ Gate, which le:tds out on the back part of the to vn, n t f<tr fi·ot 1 the plains of Abraham, was wounded, and repuHt:d ,., ith gr at lo[c;. Mo11tgomery furprifcd the guard of the .fi1£1: barrier, at one nd of the low<:r town, and pail~· 1 it ; hut at the fecond be was {hot, and his men were driven b.tck. The thir divifion of the Ameri ans entered the lower town in another quarter, ' hiclJ, as I h::~ve before f..'lid, lies very much cxpofcd, by pafling over rhc ice: they r ma·ncd thnc for a day or two, and durinb that time they fct fire to fomc building, amongi1: hich was one of the r ligious hou(cs; bu they were finally diilodgc(l without much diB1culty. r he two Jivifions unda |
