ble a backing
out from a great enterprise will hardly be found elsewhere in English
annals. On the next day Vetch, disappointed and indignant, gave his mind
freely to the Admiral. "The late disaster cannot, in my humble opinion,
be anyways imputed to the difficulty of the navigation, but to the wrong
course we steered, which most unavoidably carried us upon the north
shore. Who directed that course you best know; and as our return without
any further attempt would be a vast reflection upon the conduct of this
affair, so it would be of very fatal consequence to the interest of the
Crown and all the British colonies upon this continent."[175] His
protest was fruitless. The fleet retraced its course to the gulf, and
then steered for Spanish River,--now the harbor of Sydney,--in the
Island of Cape Breton; the Admiral consoling himself with the reflection
that the wreck was a blessing in disguise and a merciful intervention of
Providence to save the expedition from the freezing, starvation, and
cannibalism which his imagination had conjured up.[176]

The frigate "Sapphire" was sent to Boston with news of the wreck and the
retreat, which was at once despatched to Nicholson, who, if he continued
his movement on Montreal, would now be left to conquer Canada alone. His
force consisted of about twenty-three hundred men, white and red, and
when the fatal news reached him he was encamped on Wood Creek, ready to
pass Lake Champlain. Captain Butler, a New York officer at the camp,
afterwards told Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, that when Nicholson heard
what had happened, he was beside himself with rage, tore off his wig,
threw it on the ground and stamped upon it, crying out, "Roguery!
Treachery!"[177] When his fit was over, he did all that was now left for
him to do,--burned the wooden forts he had built, marched back to
Albany, and disbanded his army, after leaving one hundred and fifty men
to protect the frontier against scalping-parties.[178]

Canada had been warned of the storm gathering against her. Early in
August, Vaudreuil received letters from Costebelle, at Placentia,
telling him that English prisoners had reported mighty preparations at
Boston against Quebec, and that Montreal was also to be attacked.[179]
The colony was ill prepared for the emergency, but no effort was spared
to give the enemy a warm reception. The militia were mustered, Indians
called together, troops held in readiness, and defences strengthened.
The sa