stand
neutral in the contest, promised them, if they did so, full protection
in property and religion, and threatened that, if they presumed to
resist the invaders, their houses, goods, and harvests should be
destroyed, and their churches despoiled. As soon as the troops were out
of sight the inhabitants took down the placard and carried it to
Vaudreuil.

The brigade marched along the river road to Point Levi, drove off a body
of French and Indians posted in the church, and took possession of the
houses and the surrounding heights. In the morning they were intrenching
themselves, when they were greeted by a brisk fire from the edge of the
woods. It came from a party of Indians, whom the rangers presently put
to flight, and, imitating their own ferocity, scalped nine of them.
Wolfe came over to the camp on the next day, went with an escort to the
heights opposite Quebec, examined it with a spy-glass, and chose a
position from which to bombard it. Cannon and mortars were brought
ashore, fascines and gabions made, intrenchments thrown up, and
batteries planted. Knox came over from the main camp, and says that he
had "a most agreeable view of the city of Quebec. It is a very fair
object for our artillery, particularly the lower town." But why did
Wolfe wish to bombard it? Its fortifications were but little exposed to
his fire, and to knock its houses, convents, and churches to pieces
would bring him no nearer to his object. His guns at Point Levi could
destroy the city, but could not capture it; yet doubtless they would
have good moral effect, discourage the French, and cheer his own
soldiers with the flattering belief that they were achieving something.

The guns of Quebec showered balls and bombs upon his workmen; but they
still toiled on, and the French saw the fatal batteries fast growing to
completion. The citizens, alarmed at the threatened destruction, begged
the Governor for leave to cross the river and dislodge their assailants.
At length he consented. A party of twelve or fifteen hundred was made up
of armed burghers, Canadians from the camp, a few Indians, some pupils
of the Seminary, and about a hundred volunteers from the regulars.
Dumas, an experienced officer, took command of them; and, going up to
Sillery, they crossed the river on the night of the twelfth of July.
They had hardly climbed the heights of the south shore when they grew
exceedingly nervous, though the enemy was still three miles off. The
Semi