n evil, though a necessary
one. Their chief was, it is true, subordinate to him in virtue of his
office of governor;[368] yet it was clear that for the conduct of the
war the trust of the Government was mainly in Montcalm; and the Minister
of War had even suggested that he should have the immediate command, not
only of the troops from France, but of the colony regulars and the
militia. An order of the King to this effect was sent to Vaudreuil, with
instructions to communicate it to Montcalm or withhold it, as he should
think best.[369] He lost no time in replying that the General "ought to
concern himself with nothing but the command of the troops from France;"
and he returned the order to the minister who sent it.[370] The Governor
and the General represented the two parties which were soon to divide
Canada,--those of New France and of Old.

[Footnote 366: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 30 Oct. 1755._]

[Footnote 367: _Ordres du Roy et Depeches des Ministres, Fev. 1756._]

[Footnote 368: _Le Ministre a Vaudreuil, 15 Mars, 1756. Commission du
Marquis de Montcalm. Memoire du Roy pour servir d'Instruction au Marquis
de Montcalm_.]

[Footnote 369: _Ordres du Roy et Depeches des Ministres, 1756. Le
Ministre a Vaudreuil, 15 Mars, 1756_.]

[Footnote 370: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 16 Juin, 1756_. "Qu'il ne se mele
que du commandement des troupes de terre."]

A like antagonism was seen in the forces commanded by the two chiefs.
These were of three kinds,--the _troupes de terre,_ troops of the line,
or regulars from France; the _troupes de la marine_, or colony regulars;
and lastly the militia. The first consisted of the four battalions that
had come over with Dieskau and the two that had come with Montcalm,
comprising in all a little less than three thousand men.[371] Besides
these, the battalions of Artois and Bourgogne, to the number of eleven
hundred men, were in garrison at Louisbourg. All these troops wore a
white uniform, faced with blue, red, yellow, or violet,[372] a black
three-cornered hat, and gaiters, generally black, from the foot to the
knee. The subaltern officers in the French service were very numerous,
and were drawn chiefly from the class of lesser nobles. A well-informed
French writer calls them "a generation of _petits-maitres,_ dissolute,
frivolous, heedless, light-witted; but brave always, and ready to die
with their soldiers, though not to suffer with them."[373] In fact the
course of the war was to show pl