m had England sent
out a body of men so perfect in discipline, spirit, and material of war,
and assuredly none so well commanded since the days of Marlborough. It
was well it was so, seeing that they were destined to attack one of the
strongest posts in the world, defended by an army nearly twice as
numerous as themselves, and fighting, moreover, in defence of its home
and country and, as it fully believed, of its religion. The young
general was thoroughly alive to the numerical weakness of his force,
but that he rejoiced in its efficiency is evident from his letters, and
he was hard to please. "If valor can make amends for want of numbers,"
he wrote to Pitt, "we shall succeed."

Admiral Durell, with ten ships, had been sent forward early in May to
stop French supply- or war-ships from ascending the St. Lawrence when
navigation opened. It was June 1st when Wolfe and Saunders with the main
army followed him, owing to fog and ice and contrary winds, in somewhat
straggling fashion. The bands played the time-honored air of _The Girl I
Left Behind Me_, and the men cheered lustily as the ships cleared the
bar, while at the mess-tables, says Knox, there was only one toast among
the officers--"British colors on every French fort, post, and garrison
in America." With Saunders went twenty-two ships of the line--five
frigates and seventeen sloops-of-war, besides the transports. All went
smoothly till the 20th, when, the wind dropping, they were caught in the
cross-currents caused by the outpouring waters of the Saguenay, which,
draining a vast mountain wilderness to the northward, would be accounted
a mighty river if it were not for the still mightier one that absorbs
it. Here the ships ran some risk of fouling, but escaped any serious
damage, and in three days were at the Ile aux Coudres, where the real
dangers of the navigation began. It must be remembered that such a
venture was unprecedented, and regarded hitherto as an impossibility for
large ships without local pilots. The very presence of the first made
the second possible, for some of the vessels approaching the shore ran
up French flags, whereupon numbers of the country people, in response to
an invitation, came on board, little guessing the visitors could be
their enemies.

Pilots were by this ruse secured, and their services impressed under
pain of death. Knox, who understood French, tells us that the poor
unwilling pilot who took his ship up the tortuous channel made