re shaken by the most
terrible conflict of the century. England's alliance with Prussia drew
Austria and Russia into the war on the other side; and notwithstanding
the smallness of his kingdom, the military genius of Frederick the
Great was able to hold the three proudest powers of Europe at bay,
while Clive and Wolfe smote off the heads of the triple alliance in
India and North America. The history of Quebec is concerned with only
the latter campaign.

The Marquis de Montcalm, the newly appointed commander of the forces
in Canada, arrived about the middle of May, bringing with him the
Chevalier de Levis, Bourlamaque, and Bougainville, all of them better
generals than those to whom the fatuous Duke of Newcastle entrusted
the leadership of the English army. Montcalm himself is indeed one of
the most heroic and gallant figures in French Canadian history--the
personage, _par excellence_, of the closing chapter of French
dominion.

Born at his father's chateau in Candiac in 1712, he inherited all the
martial impetuosity of the southern noblesse. At fifteen he was an
ensign in the regiment of Hainaut, at seventeen a captain; and, in the
campaigns of Bohemia and Italy, his conspicuous valour won him quick
promotion. At forty-four he was a General, commanding the troops of
Louis XV. in New France. In appearance he was under middle height,
slender, and graceful in movement. Keen clear eyes lighted up a
handsome face, and wit sparkled upon his lips.

The Governor, Vaudreuil, son of a former ruler, was a Canadian by
birth, and accordingly prejudiced against officers who came from
France. A veiled antagonism springing up between himself and Montcalm
was a source of weakness to the French cause in America, and darkened
the closing struggle of the devoted French Canadians to keep the land
for their mother-country.

Montcalm on his arrival at once took stock, so to speak, of his
command. His two battalions of La Sarre and Royal Roussillon added
about twelve hundred men to the troops of the line already in New
France. These, it will be remembered, consisted of the battalions of
Artois and Bourgogne,--now the garrison at Louisbourg,--and the
battalions of La Reine, Languedoc, Guienne, and Bearn, numbering in
all about three thousand men. Besides these, about two thousand
_troupes de la marine_ constituted the permanent military
establishment. Last of all came the militia, nominally made up of all
the male inhabitants of Canada be