: See _Supra_, p. 374.]

Vaudreuil continues thus: "I am in despair, Monseigneur,
to be under the necessity of painting you such a portrait after
death of Monsieur the Marquis of Montcalm. Though it contains
the exact truth, I would have deferred it if his personal
hatred to me were alone to be considered; but I feel too
deeply the loss of the colony to hide from you the cause of
it. I can assure you that if I had been the sole master, Quebec
would still belong to the King, and that nothing is so disadvantageous
in a colony as a division of authority and the mingling of troops
of the line with marine _[colony]_ troops. Thoroughly knowing
Monsieur de Montcalm, I did not doubt in the least that unless I
condescended to all his wishes, he would succeed in ruining Canada
and wrecking all my plans."

He then charges the dead man with losing the battle of
Quebec by attacking before he, the Governor, arrived to take
command; and this, he says, was due to Montcalm's absolute
determination to exercise independent authority, without
caring whether the colony was saved or lost. "I cannot hide
from you, Monseigneur, that if he had had his way in past
years Oswego and Fort George _[William Henry]_ would never
have been attacked or taken; and he owed the success at Ticonderoga
to the orders I had given him."[811] Montcalm, on the other hand,
declared at the time that Vaudreuil had ordered him not to risk a
battle, and that it was only through his disobedience that
Ticonderoga was saved.

[Footnote 811: _Vaudreuil au Ministre de la Marine,_ 30 _Oct. 1759._]

Ten days later Vaudreuil wrote again: "I have already had
the honor, by my letter written in cipher on the thirteenth of
last month, to give you a sketch of the character of Monsieur
the Marquis of Montcalm; but I have just been informed of
a stroke so black that I think, Monseigneur, that I should
fail in my duty to you if I did not tell you of it." He goes
on to say that, a little before his death, and "no doubt in
fear of the fate that befell him," Montcalm placed in the
hands of Father Roubaud, missionary at St. Francis, two
packets of papers containing remarks on the administration
of the colony, and especially on the manner in which the
military posts were furnished with supplies; that these observations
were accompanied by certificates; and that they involved
charges against him, the Governor, of complicity inpeculation.
Roubaud, he continues, was to send these pape