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1775.]

HESSIAN MERCENARIES.

155

tent with the policy now adopted, and it enabled the Crown to appoint Commissioners who were authorised, on inquiry, to except the whole or part of a colony from the restrictions of the present bill. Though vehemently attacked by the Opposition, the bill was passed by one hundred and twelve to sixteen.

These large majorities in support of measures which the Americans believed to be as illegal as oppressive, were well calculated to remove all doubt, if any had existed, that their rights would be little regarded when they came in conflict with the interests of England.

Conciliatory propositions were also offered by Mr. Hartley,' not materially different from those proposed by him at the preceding session; and after a sharp debate, they were rejected by the accustomed majority.

These ministerial measures encountered the same opposition in the House of Lords, and obtained the same success as in the House of Commons.

It appeared during the session that treaties had been made with the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, and other German princes, for the hiring of seventeen thousand troops for the American service; which measure had been warmly assailed by the Opposition, and defended by the ministers on the ground of the impracticability of raising the requisite levies in the British kingdoms; and that these foreign troops, moreover, had the advantage of being disciplined and experienced.

The Opposition, led by men of great talents and eloquence, fought every inch of ground, and varied their mode of attack against the policy, the justice, the constitutionality of their measures, and sometimes compelled the ministers to change their grounds of defence;

1 December 7th.

156

INVASION OF CANADA.

[CHAP. II. but whenever the question came to a vote, it appeared plainly that from two-thirds to three-fourths of the members were for sustaining the claims they had asserted; and that there was no chance of a peaceable adjustment of the present controversy but by a submission on the part of the colonies. On the twenty-third of May, the session terminated.

In March, Congress received information of the failure of the invasion of Canada under General Montgomery.

As early as June preceding, the expedition had received the sanction of Congress, provided General Schuyler should deem it expedient. It was accordingly, with his approval, determined to invade Canada with a force of three thousand men from New England and New York, under the command of Major-general Schuyler and Brigadiers Wooster and Montgomery; and batteaux were ordered to be built at Ticonderoga and Crown Point for the transportation of the troops on Lake Champlain.

When General Schuyler arrived at Saratoga, he found that none of the preparations ordered had been made, and that the troops were in a state of utter disorganization. It then became necessary for him to return to Albany to have a conference with Indians whose friendship was doubted; and the command of the expedition, which the impatience of their friends in Canada made them prematurely undertake, devolved on General Montgomery, an officer of high reputation. He was ordered to wait for reinforcements at Isle aux Noix, where he was found by General Schuyler, who, however, was, from indisposition, soon rendered incapable of active duty.

Under various difficulties, not the least of which were a spirit of insubordination in the troops, and the igno

1776.]

SUCCESSES IN CANADA.

157

rance and inexperience of the officers, Montgomery defeated Carleton, and finally forced St. Johns to capitulate, and afterwards Montreal.

He then advanced to Quebec, but with a force greatly reduced by the troops left to garrison Chamblée, St. Johns, and Montreal, and by the fact that many, profiting by the short term of their enlistments, returned home. He thus had with him but three hundred men to accomplish the capture of Quebec.

General Washington had prudently planned another expedition by way of co-operation, which was to enter Canada through Maine and the St. Lawrence, about ninety miles below Montreal. This enterprise was confided to Benedict Arnold, who had displayed great energy and spirit in the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. About one thousand men were placed under his command; but, delayed by the want of organization in the army, it was the middle of September before he began his march. The difficulties he then encountered in forcing his way through a wilderness abounding both with mountains and morasses, was so great, that one-third of his detachment left him and returned home. He, however, persevered, and after a march of thirty-two days through this dreary region, without seeing any sign of human habitation, impeded at every step by thick woods, by deep morasses, or steep mountains, it was the third of November before he reached the Chaudiere, a river emptying into the St. Lawrence. On the ninth of November, he arrived at Quebec. The town had an insignificant garrison, and the inhabitants were so utterly surprised, that could Arnold have at once crossed the St. Lawrence, the town would have immediately surrendered. A high wind, however, rendered the passage across the river impracticable. In

158

JUNCTION OF MONTGOMERY AND ARNOLD. [CHAP. II.

the interval reinforcements had arrived, and the inhabitants recovered from their first consternation.

Arnold finally crossed with most of his force, and obtaining possession of the Heights of Abraham, there formed his men, and proposed to march at once on Quebec; but this purpose being earnestly opposed by his officers, was abandoned. He then had under him but seven hundred men, many of whose arms had become unfit for service.

Learning that the British officer commanding, Colonel M'Lean, intended to make a sortie, Arnold thought it prudent to retire to Point aux Trembles, twenty miles above Quebec, and there await the arrival of General Montgomery.

These two leaders formed a junction early in December, and marched immediately to Quebec, where General Carleton had recently arrived, and had been actively engaged in preparing for defence. He there had under him a garrison of fifteen hundred men, including militia and seamen. Montgomery's whole force was less than one thousand men. He, however, decided, first on laying siege to the town, and, subsequently, on attempting to take it by assault. He divided his little force into four divisions, two of which, by feints, were to divert the attention of the enemy, and two under himself and Arnold to make real attacks on opposite quarters of the town. Between four and five o'clock in the morning, in a snow-storm, on the thirty-first of December, the sig nal was given, and when they had every prospect of success, a discharge of a single gun from one of the batteries proved fatal to Montgomery and two of his captains. Thus discouraged, the assailants made a precipitate retreat, and left the force under Arnold to the undivided resistance of the garrison. While he was advancing at

1774.]

ARNOLD AT QUEBEC.

159

the head of his men, he too was wounded in the leg, and was carried off the field. Morgan, the next in command, pressed on and succeeded in taking a battery and capturing most of its men. But the next day he found that his force was inadequate to effect the conquest of the place, or even to his own defence, especially as there were few of his men disposed to undertake the bold and almost desperate attacks he still was intent on making. He was thus reluctantly compelled to attempt a retreat, which, however, he was unable to effect, and he, with his division, finally surrendered themselves prisoners of war. The British state their loss at only eighteen killed and wounded. The loss of the Americans was four hundred

men.

Arnold, on whom the command now devolved, still continued the siege, though he had under him only seven hundred men; and General Carleton did not think it prudent, with such troops as he had, to molest him.

After the death of General Montgomery, Congress appointed Major-general Lee to take command of the forces in Canada; but before he could engage in any active operations, his services were more imperiously required in another quarter. He was transferred to the Southern department.

General Thomas was subsequently appointed to take the command of the army in Canada. Seeing no prospect of a successful attack of Quebec, especially as strong reinforcements might soon be expected from England, he concluded to retreat, and the same day they heard of the arrival of a British fleet in the harbor. This retreat was made with such precipitation, that most of the sick, and all the military stores, remained in possession of the enemy. At the first post at which Thomas halted, he was attacked by the small-pox, which proved fatal.

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