so entirely broken by the slaughter at the second barrier, by the pelting of the storm, and by the freezing cold, that only a few could be stimulated again to expose themselves in the street, and he was under the necessity of returning without accomplishing his object. By this time a party of the garrison, consisting of about two hundred men, with some field-pieces, had made a sortie from the palace gate; and Captain Dearborne, who was stationed with his company near that port as a rear guard, having surrendered to them, they were in perfect possession of that part of the town, and had completely encompassed the residue of the division. In this desperate state of affairs, a council of the officers then present was held, when the bold proposition was made, to asseble immediately as many officers and men as could be instantly collected, and to cut their way back out of the town. The adoption of this daring resolution was only prevented by the suggestion, that the attack led by Montgomery, of whose fate they were entirely ignorant, might possibly yet be successful; and that in the event of his having entered the op posite part of the town, their co-operation might be of infinite value to him. On this account they determined to maintain still longer their present

This proposition too was made by Morgan.

situation;

situation; but the force of the enemy increasing very considerably, they soon perceived that they were no longer masters of their own destinies, and were compelled, about ten o'clock, to surrender themselves prisoners of war.

In this bold and unsuccessful attack on Quebec, the loss on the part of the enemy was extremely inconsiderable. It is stated by General Carleton, in his letter to General Howe, at only one Lieutenant and seventeen privates killed and wounded. On the part of the Americans the loss was about four hundred men, three hundred and forty of whom were prisoners. It fell chiefly on Arnold's division. the whole of which, except a few officers who attended him to the hospital, fell into the hands of the enemy. As the sharpest part of the action was at the second barrier, the loss in killed and wounded was chiefly sustained at that place. It was less considerable than it otherwise must have been, in consequence of the cover afforded to a large portion of the troops by the houses they had entered, which not only sheltered themselves, but by keeping up an irregular fire on the windows of those houses, in which a part of the garrison was placed, lessened the danger of those who remained in the open street. Captain Hendricks, of the Pennsylvania rifle-men; Lieutenant Humphries, of Morgan's company; and Lieutenant Cooper, of Connecticut, were among the slain.

Captains

Lamb and Hubbard, and Lieutenants Steele and Tisdale were among the wounded. Not an officer was at the second barrier who did not receive several balls through his clothes, and some of them were severely scorched by the powder from the muzzles of the muskets discharged at them. When the dangers to which they were exposed are con sidered, it is matter of wonder that any of them should have escaped.

But the loss sustained by the American Army, which was most fatal to their hopes, and most deplored, was their General.

Richard Montgomery, whose short but splendid course was now terminated, was a native of Ireland, and had served with reputation in the late war; after its conclusion he settled in New York, where he married an American lady, and took a very strong and decided part with the colonies in their contest with Great Britain. His military reputation was high throughout America. In the history of his achievements, while commanding in Canada, we find much reason for attributing to him the qualities of an active partizan; and, so far as a judgment can be formed of a capacity for conducting the movements of a large army, from the

* Captain Lamb finding it absolutely impossible to advance with his field-piece, had abandoned it, and brought on his company to the second barrier, near which he received his wound.

6

judicious

judicious management of a small one, we cannot hesitate to allow him the talents of an able General. At the head of a small body of undisciplined troops, drawn from different colonies, unwilling to be com-manded by a stranger, and jealous of him in the extreme; often disposed to disobedience, and anxious for their homes, whom he appears at length to have inspired with a large portion of the ardour and enthusiasm of his own mind, he conquered difficulties which not many would have ventured to meet, and till his last fatal moment was uniformly successful. With a few men just raised, and just about to disperse, badly furnished with arms, ammunition, and clothes, in little more than two months he made himself master of Canada from the lakes to Quebec; and as if determined to triumph over the climate itself, laid siege in the depth of winter to that important fortress. His measures seem to have been taken with judgment, and were certainly executed with great courage and unremitting exertion. When he appears to have risked much, and to have exposed his troops to hardships almost too great to be borne, this line of conduct was not capriciously or inconsiderately chosen: the state of his affairs absolutely required it, and without it a failure appeared to be inevitable. It was indispensably necessary to undertake the siege of Quebec during the winter, or to abandon altogether the great object of the expedition. With the

opening

opening of the river in the spring, it was not doubted that large reinforcements would arrive from England, and the place be effectually secured against any force America could employ for its reduction. The state of his army, which might soon disband itself, added to the excessive severity of the weather, made it extremely unsafe to trust to, the tedious operations of a regular siege. Indeed the weight of his artillery did not admit of his making a breach in the walls, and there was 110 hope of compelling a surrender by famine. Nor was the attempt to carry the place by assault, so very rash a measure, as its great strength, aud the event, might at first view induce us to suppose. The design was worthy the lofty spirit which formed it; though hazardous, it was not desperate; and though great courage was required to crown it with success, great courage was employed in its execution. He counted, and with reason, on the fears of the garrison, on the immense extent of ground they were under the necessity of guarding; and had he not fallen himself, or been deserted by his troops, it is even yet believed that he would have succeeded. The progress made by Arnold's division gives great countenance to this opinion; and some very intelligent officers belonging to that division, who, while prisoners in Quebec, endeavoured to inform themselves of the course of the action, aver, that when the General fell, the barrier had

Leen