approach of the British, should he find himself unable to resist them. Crown Point was to share the same fate, and he was then to retire to an island at the head of Lake Champlain, and there, aided by the shipping, to make the most stubborn resistance possible, and thus prevent the junction of the armies under Amherst and Wolfe. To withstand any force which might descend from Lake Ontario, the Chevalier De la Corne, with eight hundred regulars and militia, was directed to intrench himself above Montreal, and there hold out to the best of his power.

The campaign of 1759 opened with the advance of Brigadier Prideaux, at the head of nearly four thousand regular troops and militia, and a large body of Iroquois, led by Sir William Johnson, against the fort at Niagara. Leaving a detachment under Colonel Haldimand to construct a tenable post at Oswego, the army embarked on Lake Ontario, the 1st of July, and coasting its southern shore landed on

you; come, rather, we conjure you by all that is capable of affecting you; come and solicit them of your own accord, with a spirit full of meekness and contrition. For these purposes, after conferring with our respectable brethren the Canons of our Cathedral Church, having invoked the holy name of God, we have ordered, and do hereby order, the due performances of the services herein directed. Imprimis, In the country parishes, on the first Sunday of every month, shall be a procession, without the host or sacrament, to the place and at the hour each of the rectors shall appoint. In that procession shall be sung the litanies of the saints, then the psalm Miserere mei Deus; and immediately after the ancient and common prayers of salutation, the priest shall make an honourable atonement in the name of sinners, which he may find in the ritual for Trinity Sunday. Secondly, Every secular and regular priest shall add to the prayers of the mass the prayer of the Deus Refugium. Thirdly, In all the benedictions of the holy sacrament shall be sung the tract Domine non secundum, with the versicles and prayer for the remission of sins. Fourthly, In the different churches of Quebec-namely, the Cathedral, the Church of La Victoire in the Lower Town, the Seminary, the College of the Jesuits, that of the Recollets and Ursulines-shall be performed alternately a Nona or Ninth: the holy mass shall be celebrated at seven o'clock in the morning, the litanies of the saints, and the psalm Miserere mei Deus shall be sung thereat, an honourable atonement shall be made for sinners, and the whole concluded with the benediction of the sacrament, in the holy chalice only: on the working days, the votive masses of the Holy Angels, of the Holy Trinity, of the Holy Cross, of the Virgin Mary, for all necessities, for times of war and for peace, shall be said reciprocally. The mass of the patron of the church or chapel shall be said: first, at the Jesuits of Saint François Xavier, in the Lower Town at Ste Genevieve, at the Ursulines, and at the Seminary instituted for the conversion of the Indians. What is prescribed for Quebec shall be observed as much as possible at Montreal and at Three Rivers; the camps and forts shall also observe what is appointed for the country parishes. This mandate shall be read after the Gospel of the mass of the parish, on the first Sunday immediately after the receipt thereof."

the 7th at one of its inlets six miles east of Niagara. Situated at the apex of the angle formed by the junction of the river with the lake, the fort was easily invested on the land side, while the numerous armed boats of the British effectually intercepted all communication by water.

Pouchot, the French commandant, had no sooner learned the approach of the British than he despatched a courier eastward to Frontenac to solicit aid, and another to Detroit and the other western posts with orders to their commandants to hasten to his assistance with all the men they could spare, and as many Indians as could be collected. Confidently expecting succour, he determined to defend the fort to the last extremity, and returned a prompt refusal to the demand of the British general requiring him to surrender at discretion. "My post is strong," said he, "my garrison faithful; and the longer I hold out the more I will win the esteem of the enemy."

Prideaux planned his approaches with skill, and rapidly advanced them towards the defences, which soon began to crumble under a well-aimed and vigorous fire. Encouraged by the arrival of a small body of French and Indians, who succeeded at night in getting into the fort unobserved, the besieged made a sally on the 11th, but were almost immediately repulsed and driven in under the shelter of their guns. On the night of the 13th the British finished their parallels to the lake, and the next day their fire became so heavy that the besieged could only find safety in the covered way and behind their ramparts. On the 19th the French schooner Iroquois arrived from Frontenac, and lay off the fort, but dare not venture in, owing to the British guns, which night and day kept up a harassing and destructive fire. Still Pouchot held bravely out, and watched anxiously for the aid which the summer breezes of Erie should bring to his assistance, and which Prideaux, aware of its approach, had already taken measures to intercept. But the latter was not fated to see the successful issue of his skill and courage. On the evening of the 19th he was killed in the trenches, while issuing orders, when the command devolved on Sir William Johnson.

Meanwhile, De Aubrey rapidly descended from Detroit, at the head of twelve hundred Frenchmen, collected from the different posts to wards the Ohio, and nearly fourteen hundred Indians. On the 23d four savages made their way into the beleaguered fort with a letter to Pouchot, informing him that succour was at hand, and that the British lines would speedily be attacked. But Johnson's scouts had given him ample intelligence of De Aubrey's approach, and he coolly prepared

for the combat. Leaving sufficient troops to guard the trenches, he threw forward strong pickets, on the evening of the 23d, to occupy the woods on either side of the rough forest road leading from Chippewa to Niagara, and connected these by a chain of Indian skirmishers. These arrangements completed, and no enemy appearing, the troops lay down to rest with their arms in their hands. It was a warm July night, and the stars glimmered brightly down upon the sombre forest, now unruffled by even the faintest breeze. To the contemplative mind, the scene must have been one of peculiar solemnity and grandeur. Close at hand, the stillness was unbroken save by the monotonous breathings of the many sleepers, or the sentinel's tread. A little further on there was a brief pause around the beleaguered fort, and then its dark sides were suddenly illuminated by its own guns, or revealed by the red light of a salvo from the hostile trenches. From the distance, the dull boom of the cataract fell upon the ear like the noontide roar of life in London, or the rush of the approaching storm. The white tents of the besieging army, the watch-fires of the camp, the bright moon whose rays peered softly down amidst the sprays of the forest tree to glance from the polished muskets of the sleeping sentinel or the Indian's tomahawk, and the soft feathery cloud of spray that rose upwards from the Horse-shoe Falls, all tended to complete a scene of surpassing interest.

On the following morning, at daybreak, Johnson pushed forward his grenadier companies and part of the 46th regiment to strengthen his front, while the 44th regiment was formed in reserve to preserve the communication with the troops in the trenches, and to act wherever its assistance might be needed. About eight o'clock the head of the French column was perceived advancing through the woods, with large bodies of Indians covering either flank. As the enemy came on, the British outposts fell steadily back on the main body without firing, while the Iroquois pressed forward to parley with the French Indians, with a view of inclining them to peace. The latter refused to abandon their allies, and accordingly the warriors of the Six Nations again resumed their post on the flanks of the British.

De Aubrey now speedily formed his force, and advanced to the attack. Shouting their appalling war-cry the Indians burst through the woods, and fell furiously upon the British line, which coolly awaited their approach, and swept them away with a few rolling volleys. The close and steady fire with which they were received completely astonished the western warriors, and so thorough was

their discomfiture, that they disappeared altogether from the field of battle. Their flight left the flanks of the French completely exposed, and they were soon boldly turned by the Iroquois, who pressed rapidly forward through the woods, while the British held their ground in front with the utmost steadiness. Attacked on all sides by greatly superior numbers, the French hesitated, gave way, and, after an action of little more than half an hour, broke into utter rout. Aubrey and all his surviving officers, with a great part of his troops, were taken prisoners, while the fugitives were rapidly pursued and slain or driven into the wilderness, where the numerous dead lay uncounted.

De

No sooner had Johnson withdrawn his forces from the battle-field, than he sent an officer with a flag of truce to inform Pouchot of the victory he had won, and exhorted him to surrender without further bloodshed. The French chief doubted the information, and requested that one of his officers might be allowed to see the prisoners, and hear the tale of their defeat from them. The request was granted, and thus assured of the hopelessness of aid, Pouchot surrendered up the fort and garrison. The terms were liberal. The French were to march out with all the honours of war, and then to lay down their arms on the lake shore. The women and children were to have safe conveyance to the nearest port of France, while the garrison, six hundred strong, were to be conveyed to New York by the most convenient route. All stores, provisions, and arms, were to be given up to the British general, who undertook, on his part, to preserve his prisoners from every injury and insult, a promise which, unlike Montcalm, he faithfully redeemed. And thus did prudence and valour, with trifling loss of life, win the most important post on the great highway of the west. So decisive, indeed, was the victory, and so effectually did it weaken the western posts of the French, whose garrisons under De Aubrey had either been killed or captured, that the officer and troops sent from Pittsburg by Stanwyx took possession of the forts as far as Erie without resistance. Johnson's modesty was equal to his merit. "I have only to regret," he writes in his despatch to Amherst, "the loss of General Prideaux and Colonel Johnson. I endeavoured to pursue the late general's vigorous measures, the good effects of which he deserved to enjoy."

While the siege at Niagara was in progress, a strong body of Canadians and Indians under La Corne, who had ascended to Frontenac, made a demonstration against the detachment left at Oswego by Brigadier Prideaux. On the 5th of July La Corne en

deavoured to carry that post by surprise, by rapidly advancing some Indians and Canadians; but these were speedily repulsed, although their fanaticism was incited to the utmost by a Jesuit, the Abbe Piquet. The attack was renewed on the following day, but a few discharges of grape and musketry speedily compelled the enemy to retire, and La Corne was under the necessity of departing without a single scalp, although, as some deserters stated, he had offered a large sum for a trophy of this horrible description.

Meanwhile the Commander-in-chief assembled the main army at Lake George, and had considerable difficulty in keeping the militia together, owing to desertion to their homes. Threats and promises and moderate punishments failed to keep them by their colours, till at length general court-martial sentenced four deserters to be shot; and even this terrible example did not altogether abate the evil. On the 22d of June, Amherst traced out the plan of Fort George, near the spot where Fort William Henry formerly stood, and on the 21st of July, every preparation being completed, his army, over eleven thousand strong, one-half of whom were regulars, with fifty-four guns, embarked and moved down the lake in four columns. Next day it landed near the place where Abercromby had disembarked the year before. The British vanguard, composed principally of light troops, pushed rapidly forward into the bush, and soon encountered a detachment of French and Indians, who were overpowered and dispersed. Amherst followed with his main body in good order, and halted for the night at the Saw-mills, preparatory to an assault on the French lines, which he learned from some deserters were guarded by De Bourlemaque, with a body of three thousand four hundred men, composed of regulars, Canadians, and Indians.

That night the British lay upon their arms, while every exertion was made to bring up the artillery. But, although Amherst's force was inferior to Abercromby's army, the French next morning withdrew from the lines which had enabled them to gain their victory of the preceding year, and fell back upon Fort Carillon. The British grenadiers immediately occupied the deserted intrenchment, and the rest of the army encamped a short distance to the rear. A sharp fire was soon opened from the fort on the British camp, but no loss was sustained owing to the great height and strength of the breastwork, which now proved a most effectual shelter. De Bourlemaque soon perceived that even the defence of the fort was impracticable, and, in pursuance of his orders in that case, silently abandoned it on the night of the 23d, leaving four hundred men behind to continue such resistance as might conceal his retreat. These carried out their