vernment, and the Great Commoner, healthy minded, rugged, and
enthusiastic, now stood to middle-class England as an embodiment of
strength and purpose, which sent new blood coursing through her veins
and braced her for the gathering storm.

To America, where the clouds were darkest, Pitt first turned his
attention. Louisbourg, Carillon, Duquesne, and Quebec must be brought
low, if, as was his purpose, French power was not only to be crushed
but absolutely destroyed. And towards this goal Pitt moved swiftly at
the head of a nation as resolute as himself. Loudon and Webb were
instantly recalled, and Amherst, Wolfe, and Howe were appointed in
their places, the last being ordered to second Abercrombie, whom Pitt
had reluctantly retained in his command.

The years since 1745 had been years of growing strength for
Louisbourg, and in 1758 it almost equalled Quebec itself in
importance. Its capable commandant, the Chevalier de Drucour, counted
four thousand citizens and three thousand men-at-arms for his
garrison; while twelve battleships, mounting five hundred and
forty-four guns, and manned by three thousand sailors and marines,
rode at anchor in the rock-girt harbour, the fortress itself, with its
formidable outworks, containing two hundred and nineteen cannon and
seventeen mortars. Bold men only could essay the capture of such a
fortress, but such were Wolfe, Amherst, and Admiral Boscawen, whose
work it was to do.

The fleet and transports sailed from Halifax, bearing eleven thousand
six hundred men full of spirit and faith in their commanders. All
accessible landing-places at Louisbourg had been fortified by the
French; but in spite of this precaution and a heavy surf, Wolfe's
division gained the beach and carried the redoubts at Freshwater
Cove. A general landing having been thus effected, Wolfe marched round
the flank of the fortress to establish a battery at Light-house Point.
The story may only be outlined here. First the French were forced to
abandon Grand Battery, which frowned over the harbour, then the Island
Battery was silenced. On the forty-third day of the siege, a frigate
in the harbour was fired by shells, and drifting from her moorings,
destroyed two sister ships. Four vessels which had been sunk at the
mouth of the harbour warded Boscawen's fleet from the assault, but did
not prevent six hundred daring blue-jackets from seizing the _Prudent_
and _Bienfaisant_, the two remaining ships of the French squadr