e _Diary_, printed
in Stone, _Life of Johnson_, II. 394. Compare Pouchot, II. 105, 106.
_Letter from Niagara_, in _Boston Evening Post_, No. 1,250. _Vaudreuil
au Ministre, 30 Oct. 1759._]

Pouchot had now no choice but surrender. By the terms of the
capitulation, the garrison were to be sent prisoners to New York, though
honors of war were granted them in acknowledgment of their courageous
conduct. There was a special stipulation that they should be protected
from the Indians, of whom they stood in the greatest terror, lest the
massacre of Fort William Henry should be avenged upon them. Johnson
restrained his dangerous allies, and, though the fort was pillaged, no
blood was shed.

The capture of Niagara was an important stroke. Thenceforth Detroit,
Michillimackinac, the Illinois, and all the other French interior posts,
were severed from Canada, and left in helpless isolation; but Amherst
was not yet satisfied. On hearing of Prideaux's death he sent Brigadier
Gage to supersede Johnson and take command on Lake Ontario, directing
him to descend the St. Lawrence, attack the French posts at the head of
the rapids, and hold them if possible for the winter. The attempt was
difficult; for the French force on the St. Lawrence was now greater than
that which Gage could bring against it, after providing for the safety
of Oswego and Niagara. Nor was he by nature prone to dashing and
doubtful enterprise. He reported that the movement was impossible, much
to the disappointment of Amherst, who seemed to expect from subordinates
an activity greater than his own.[744]

[Footnote 744: _Amherst to Gage, 28 July, 1 Aug., 14 Aug., 11 Sept.
1759. Diary of Sir William Johnson_, in Stone, _Life of Johnson_, II.
394-429.]

He, meanwhile, was working at his fort at Crown Point, while the season
crept away, and Bourlamaque lay ready to receive him at Isle-aux-Noix.
"I wait his coming with impatience," writes the French commander,
"though I doubt if he will venture to attack a post where we are
intrenched to the teeth, and armed with a hundred pieces of
cannon."[745] Bourlamaque now had with him thirty-five hundred men, in a
position of great strength. Isle-aux-Noix, planted in mid-channel of the
Richelieu soon after it issues from Lake Champlain, had been diligently
fortified since the spring. On each side of it was an arm of the river,
closed against an enemy with _chevaux-de-frise_. To attack it in front
in the face of its formidable arti