town.

On the afternoon of the 16th a party of English, led by Wolfe, suddenly
dashed forward, and, driving back a company of French, seized some
rising ground within three hundred yards of the ramparts, and began to
intrench themselves there. All night, the French kept up a furious fire
at the spot, but, by morning, the English had completed their
intrenchment, and from this point pushed on, until they had reached the
foot of the glacis.

On the 21st, the French man of war Celebre was set on fire by the
explosion of a shell. The wind blew the flames into the rigging of two
of her consorts, and these also caught fire, and the three ships burned
to the water's edge. Several fires were occasioned in the town, and the
English guns, of which a great number were now in position, kept up a
storm of fire night and day.

On the night of the 23rd, six hundred English sailors silently rowed
into the harbour, cut the cables of the two remaining French men of
war, and tried to tow them out. One, however, was aground, for the tide
was low. The sailors therefore set her on fire, and then towed her
consort out of the harbour, amidst a storm of shot and shell from the
French batteries.

The French position was now desperate. Only four cannon, on the side
facing the English batteries, were fit for service. The masonry of the
ramparts was shaken, and the breaches were almost complete. A fourth of
the garrison were in hospital, and the rest were worn out by toil.
Every house in the place was shattered by the English artillery, and
there was no shelter either for the troops or the inhabitants.

On the 26th, the last French cannon was silenced, and a breach effected
in the wall; and the French, unable longer to resist, hung out the
white flag. They attempted to obtain favourable conditions, but
Boscawen and Amherst insisted upon absolute surrender, and the French,
wholly unable to resist further, accepted the terms.

Thus fell the great French stronghold on Cape Breton. The defence had
been a most gallant one; and Drucour, the governor, although he could
not save the fortress, had yet delayed the English so long before the
walls, that it was too late in the season, now, to attempt an attack on
Canada itself.

Wolfe, indeed, urged that an expedition should at once be sent against
Quebec, but Boscawen was opposed to this, owing to the lateness of the
season, and Amherst was too slow and deliberate, by nature, to
determine suddenly o