trievable. When
darkness put an end to the fire on both sides, the English troops
received orders to embark in the boats, half a regiment at a time. But
all order was soon lost; four times as many as the boats could sustain
crowded down at once to the beach, rushed into the water, and pressed on
board. The sailors were even forced to throw some of these
panic-stricken men into the river, lest all should sink together. The
noise and confusion increased every moment, despite the utmost exertions
of the officers, and daylight had nearly revealed the dangerous posture
of affairs before the embarkation was completed. The guns were
abandoned, with some valuable stores and ammunition. Had the French
displayed, in following up their advantages, any portion of the energy
and skill which had been so conspicuous in their successful defense, the
British detachment must infallibly have been either captured or totally
destroyed.

Sir William Phipps, having failed by sea and land, resolved to withdraw
from the disastrous conflict. After several ineffectual attempts to
recover the guns and stores which Major Walley had been forced to
abandon, he weighed anchor and descended the St. Lawrence to a place
about nine miles distant from Quebec, whence he sent to the Comte de
Frontenac to negotiate for an exchange of prisoners. Humbled and
disappointed, damaged in fortune and reputation, the English chief
sailed from the scene of his defeat; but misfortune had not yet ceased
to follow him, for he left the shattered wrecks of no less than nine of
his ships among the dangerous shoals of the St. Lawrence. The government
of Massachusetts was dismayed at the disastrous news of which Phipps was
himself the bearer. He arrived at Boston on the 19th of November, with
the remains of his fleet and army, his ships damaged and weather beaten,
and his men almost in a state of mutiny from having received no pay. In
these straits the colonial government found it impracticable to raise
money, and resorted to "bills of credit," the first paper money which
had ever been issued on the American continent.

Great indeed was the joy and triumph of the French when the British
fleet disappeared from the beautiful basin of Quebec. With a proud heart
the gallant old Comte de Frontenac penned the dispatch which told his
royal master of the victory. He failed not to dwell upon the
distinguished merit of the colonial militia, by whose loyalty and
courage the arms of Fra