rs as soon as they occupied Montreal. It was
assuredly the influence of the French clergy that rendered entirely
ineffectual the mission of Chase, Franklin, and the Carrolls of
Maryland--one of whom became the first Roman Catholic archbishop of the
United States--who were instructed by congress to offer every possible
inducement to the Roman Catholic subjects of England in Canada to join
the revolutionary movement.

Richard Montgomery, who had commanded the troops invading Canada, had
served at Louisbourg and Quebec, and had subsequently become a resident
of New York, where his political opinions on the outbreak of the
revolution had been influenced by his connection, through marriage, with
the Livingstones, bitter opponents of the British government. His merit
as a soldier naturally brought him into prominence when the war began,
and his own ambition gladly led him to obey the order to go to Canada,
where he hoped to emulate the fame of Wolfe and become the captor of
Quebec. He formed a junction, close to the ancient capital, with the
force under Benedict Arnold, who was at a later time to sully a
memorable career by an act of the most deliberate treachery to his
compatriots. When Montgomery and Arnold united their forces before
Quebec, the whole of Canada, from Lake Champlain to Montreal, and from
that town to the walls of the old capital, was under the control of the
continental troops. Despite the great disadvantages under which he
laboured, Carleton was able to perfect his defences of the city, which
he determined to hold until reinforcements should arrive in the spring
from England. Montgomery had neither men nor artillery to storm the
fortified city which he had hoped to surprise and easily occupy with the
aid of secret friends within its walls. Carleton, however, rallied all
loyal men to his support, and the traitors on whom the invaders had
relied were powerless to carry out any treacherous design they may have
formed. The American commanders at once recognised the folly of a
regular investment of the fortress during a long and severe winter, and
decided to attempt to surprise the garrison by a night assault. This
plan was earned out in the early morning of the thirty-first of
December, 1775, when the darkness was intensified by flurries of light
blinding snow, but it failed before the assailants could force the
barricades which barred the way to the upper town, where all the
principal offices and buildings wer