the face of his dead commander, and may have thought of that desperate
charge outside the gates--of the shouts of victory and cries of
defeat--where then the only sound to be heard was the wind rustling the
withered grass that had been dyed red in the blood of so many gallant
young hearts. The soldier's face may have softened as he thought of the
old hearthstone among the heather hills, where tales of the Border and
the traditions of his clan had fired his young soul for the glory of
conquest.

He was suddenly aroused from his dream by the announcement that two
warlike frigates were sailing below the cliffs. He hurried to the
bastion, which commanded the spot, to survey what might portend fresh
struggles and more bloodshed. But soon a standard was run up to the
masthead, unfolding to the breeze the flag of England. Immediately from
the ramparts, where so recently had proudly floated the flag of France,
an answering signal was shown, and, as the guns roared out a salute to
the British colours, it was also a farewell honour to the old _Regime_,
which has passed away forever from Canadian shores.

Of Murray, the first British Governor of Canada, it has been said that,
in the long roll of unblemished good service, in the record of his
honourable fidelity to his trust and duty, no passage of his life stands
out in brighter colours than this period, during which he turned a deaf
ear to intolerance and the spirit of persecution, and strove to show the
new subjects of the Crown how truly beneficent, just and good, with all
its errors, the rule of Great Britain had ever proved to be.

With the Treaty of Paris in 1763 King George III. abolished the French
laws, substituting for them the English Code in the newly won Dominion;
later on, however, by the "Quebec Act," they were restored to the
Canadians.

The members of the _Noblesse_, whose ties compelled their remaining in
Canada, sent to London to offer fealty to King George, and thus further
their personal interests.

When the Chevalier de Lery and his wife, the beautiful Louise de
Brouages, one of the most lovely women of her day, were presented at the
Court of St. James, the young Sovereign was so struck with her beauty
that he gallantly exclaimed:--

"If all Canadian ladies resemble her, we have indeed made a conquest."

A French writer of the time says:--

"How can we sufficiently deplore the loss of Canada, with all its
present value and with all its future hope--