r some years back,
and its defences were entrusted to Ramesay, who had led a force to Nova
Scotia in the year of the Duke d'Anville's disastrous expedition. The
city was ill-provided with provisions for any sustained siege, despite
the opportune arrival of some relief from France in the spring. The
whole country had been impoverished by the continuous drain on the
agricultural and labouring population during the war, and the Canadians
themselves began {249} to lose courage, and assembled at the call of
the authorities with less spirit than they had hitherto shown. Canada
was literally on the brink of ruin, after so many years of war and
privation. Corruption had eaten into the very body of Canadian life
and government. The Intendant Bigot had been for years amassing riches
at the expense of the country, and had, in imitation of his lord and
master at Versailles, his fair Canadian Pompadour to bedeck with jewels
and favours from the proceeds {250} of his ill-gotten gains. The names
of Pean, Varin, Cadet, Estebe, and Clavery are the most conspicuous
amongst those officials who became rich on Canadian misery and
misfortune, and are dishonourably associated with the darkest hours of
Canadian history. "What a country," said Montcalm, "where all the
knaves grow rich, and honest men are ruined." Not the least
discouraging feature of matters in Canada at this critical time, when
unity and harmony were so necessary, was the jealousy that Governor de
Vaudreuil, a weak, vain man, but honest and attached to his native
province, entertained of Montcalm, who was himself imbued by the
loftiest spirit that could animate a brave soldier and loyal Frenchman.

[Illustration: Major-General James Wolfe.]

It was decided that the army under General Wolfe, less than nine
thousand men, and the fleet under Admiral Saunders, should attack
Quebec; that the Commander-in-Chief, Amherst, should advance against
Montreal by way of Lake Champlain, and that Brigadier Prideaux and Sir
William Johnson should lead a considerable force against Niagara. The
English fleet arrived before Quebec on the 20th June, and no time was
lost in commencing operations against the fortress. Wolfe was well
supported by such able soldiers as Monckton, Murray, and Carleton, the
latter of whom became famous in later Canadian history as Lord
Dorchester. Brigadier Townsend, however capable, was irritable and
egotistic. The soldiers admired Wolfe for his soldierly q