posited in St. Paul's Cathedral {245}
amid the roar of cannon. This victory came at an opportune moment,
since Abercromby had suffered a humiliating repulse on the banks of
Lake Champlain. With a splendid force of regular and provincial
troops, from fourteen to fifteen thousand altogether, but entirely
destitute of artillery,--an evidence of extraordinary incapacity, or of
culpable negligence,--he had thrown himself upon most formidable
entrenchments of fallen trees, with their sharp ends pointing outwards,
that the French had ingeniously constructed in front of Carillon, which
was still incomplete, and defended by less than three thousand men
under Montcalm and Levis. The most unhappy incident of this disaster
was the death of Lord Howe, described by Wolfe, who knew him well, "as
the noblest Englishman that has appeared in my time, and the best
soldier in the British army." Abercromby hurriedly retired to the head
of Lake George, and was soon afterwards superseded by the cautious
Amherst. Montcalm was greatly encouraged by the spirit of his soldiers
throughout the attack, and erected a cross on the battle ground with
the following inscriptions of his own--the latter his paraphrase of the
first:

Quid dux? Quid miles? Quid strata ingentia ligna?
En signum! en victor! Deus hic, Deus ipse triumphat.

"Chretien! ce ne fut point Montcalm et la prudence,
Ces arbres renverses, ces heros, ces exploits,
Qui des Anglais confus ont brise l'esperance,
C'est le bras de ton Dieu, vainqueur sur cette croix." [2]

{246}

An important event of the year was the taking of Fort Frontenac by
Colonel Bradstreet, who had assisted in the first siege of Louisbourg.
The capture of this fort was regarded with every reason by the French
as "of greater injury to the colony than the loss of a battle." Fort
Duquesne, which was the key to the Ohio country, was abandoned by
Ligneris on the approach of Brigadier Forbes, a very capable Scotch
officer, but not until the French had beaten with considerable loss an
advance of the main forces commanded by Major Grant. Ligneris withdrew
his troops to Fort Machault (Venango), where he remained until the
following year. Fort Duquesne was renamed in honour of Pitt, and a
great manufacturing city has grown up on its site in the beautiful
valley which, in 1758, passed away forever from the French who had only
held possession of it for six short years.

[1] His full name was Lou