Wolfe silently descends; mind made up; thoughts hushed quiet into one great thought; in the ripple of the perpetual waters, under the grim cliffs and the eternal stars. Conversing with his people, he was heard to recite some passages of Gray's ELEGY, lately come out to those parts; of which, says an ear-witness, he expressed his admiration to an enthusiastic degree: "Ah, these are tones of the Eternal Melodies, are not they? A man might thank Heaven had he such a gift; almost as WE might for succeeding here, Gentlemen!"[Professor Robison, then a Naval Junior, in the boat along with Wolfe, afterwards a well-known Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh, was often heard, by persons whom I have heard again, to repeat this Anecdote. See Playfair, BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OFPROFESSOR ROBISON,--in Transactions of Royal Society of Edinburgh, vii. 495 et seq.] Next morning (Thursday, 13th September, 1759), Wolfe, with his 5,000, is found to have scrambled up by some woody Neck in the heights, which was not quite precipitous; has trailed one cannon with him, the seamen busy bringiug up another; and by 10 of the clock stands ranked (really somewhat in the Friedrich way, though on a small scale); ready at all poiuts for Montcalm, but refusing to be over-ready.
Montcalm, on first hearing of him, had made haste: "OUI, JE LESVOIS OU ILS NE DOIVENT PAS ETRE; JE VAIS LES E'CRASER (to smash them)!" said he, by way of keeping his people in heart. And marches up, beautifully skilful, neglecting none of his advantages.
Has numerous Canadian sharpshooters, preliminary Indians in the bushes, with a provoking fire: "Steady!" orders Wolfe; "from you not one shot till they are within thirty yards." And Montcalm, volleying and advancing, can get no response, more than from Druidic stones; till at thirty yards the stones become vocal,--and continue so at a dreadful rate; and, in a space of seventeen minutes, have blown Montcalm's regulars, and the gallant Montcalm himself, and their second in command, and their third, into ruin and destruction. In about seven minutes more the agony was done;"English falling on with the bayonet, Highlanders with the claymore;" fierce pursuit, rout total:--and Quebec and Canada as good as finished. The thing is yet well known to every Englishman;[The military details of it seem to be very ill known (witness Colonel Beatson's otherwise rather careful Pamphlet, THE PLAINS OFABRAHAM, written quite lately, which we are soon to cite farther);and they would well deserve describing in the SEYFARTH-BEYLAGEN, or even in the TEMPELHOF way,--could an English Officer, on the spot as this Colonel was, be found to do it!--Details are in Beatson (quite another "Beatson"), Naval and Military History, ii. 300-308; in Gentleman's Magazine for 1759, the Despatches and particulars: see also Walpole, George the Second, iii. 217-222.] and how Wolfe himself died in it, his beautiful death.
Truly a bit of right soldierhood, this Wolfe. Manages his small resources in a consummate manner; invents, contrives, attempts and re-attempts, irrepressible by difficulty or discouragement, How could a Friedrich himself have managed this Quebec in a more artistic way? The small Battle itself, 5,000 to a side, and such odds of Savagery and Canadians, reminds you of one of Friedrich's:
wise arrangements; exact foresight, preparation corresponding;caution with audacity; inflexible discipline, silent till its time come, and then blazing out as we see. The prettiest soldiering Ihave heard of among the English for several generations.
Amherst, Commander-in-chief, is diligently noosing, and tying up, the French military settlements, Niagara, Ticonderoga; Canada all round: but this is the heart or windpipe of it; keep this firm, and, in the circumstances, Canada is yours.
Colonel Reatson, in his recent Pamphlet, THE PLAINS OFABRAHAM,--which, especially on the military side, is distressingly ignorant and shallow, though NOT intentionally incorrect anywhere,--gives Extracts from a Letter of Montcalm's ("Quebec, 24th August, 1759"), which is highly worth reading, had we room. It predicts to a hair's-breadth, not only the way "M. Wolfe, if he understands his trade, will take to beat and ruin me if we meet in fight;"but also,--with a sagacity singular to look at, in the years 1775-1777, and perhaps still more in the years 1860-1863,--what will be the consequences to those unruly English, Colonial and other. "If he beat me here, France has lost America utterly,"thinks Montcalm: "Yes;--and one's only consolation is, In ten years farther, America will be in revolt against England!"Montcalm's style of writing is not exemplary; but his power of faithful observation, his sagacity, and talent of prophecy are so considerable, we are tempted to give the IPSISSIMA VERBA of his long Letter in regard to those two points,--the rather as it seems to have fallen much out of sight in our day:--MONTCALM TO A COUSIN IN FRANCE.
"CAMP BEFORE QUEBEC, 24th August, 1759.
