storm, which had very near destroyed him entirely, but with great difficulty, by the assistance of some cordials, he was brought to." 1 At length, carried all the way in his litter, he reached Philadelphia, where, after lingering through the winter, he died in March, and was buried with military honors in the chancel of Christ Church.

If his achievement was not brilliant, its solid value was above price. It opened the Great West to English enterprise, took from France half her savage allies, and relieved the western borders from the scourge of Indian war. From southern New York to North Carolina, the frontier populations had cause to bless the memory of the steadfast and allenduring soldier.

So ended the campaign of 1758. The centre of the French had held its own triumphantly at Ticonderoga; but their left had been forced back by the capture of Louisbourg, and their right by that of Fort Duquesne, while their entire right wing had been wellnigh cut off by the destruction of Fort Frontenac. The outlook was dark. Their own Indians were turning against them. "They have struck us," wrote Doreil to the minister of war; "they have seized three canoes loaded with furs on Lake Ontario, and murdered the men in them: sad forerunner of what we have to fear! Peace, Monseigneur, give us peace! Pardon me, but I cannot repeat that word too often."

1 Halket to Bouquet, 28 December, 1758.

NOTE. The Bouquet and Haldimand Papers in the British Museum contain a mass of curious correspondence of the principal persons engaged in the expedition under Forbes; copies of it all are before me. The Public Record Office, America and West Indies, has also furnished much material, including the official letters of Forbes. The Writings of Washington, the Archives and Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, and the magazines and newspapers of the time may be mentioned among the sources of information, along with a variety of miscellaneous contemporary letters. The Journals of Christian Frederic Post are printed in full in the Olden Time and elsewhere.

CHAPTER XXIII.

1758, 1759.

THE BRINK OF RUIN.

JEALOUSY OF Vaudreuil: he asks for MONTCALM'S RECALL; HIS DISCOMFITURE.-SCENE At the GoverNOR'S HOUSE. - DISGUST OF MONTCALM. THE CANADIANS DESPONDENT. - DEVICES TO ENCOURAGE THEM. - -GASCONADE OF THE GOVERNOR.-DEPLORABLE STATE OF THE COLONY.-MISSION OF BOUGAINVILLE. DUPLICITY OF VAUDREUIL. BOUGAINVILLE AT VERSAILLES. SUBSTANTIAL AID REFUSED TO CANADA. A MATRIMONIAL TREATY. RETURN OF BOUGAINVILLE. MONTCALM ABANDONED BY THE COURT; HIS PLANS OF DEFENCE.-SAD NEWS FROM CANDIAC.- BOASTS OF VAUDREUIL.

"NEVER was general in a more critical position than I was: God has delivered me; his be the praise! He gives me health, though I am worn out with labor, fatigue, and miserable dissensions that have determined me to ask for my recall. Heaven grant that I may get it!"

Thus wrote Montcalm to his mother after his triumph at Ticonderoga. That great exploit had entailed a train of vexations, for it stirred the envy of Vaudreuil, more especially as it was due to the troops of the line, with no help from Indians, and very little from Canadians. The governor assured the colonial minister that the victory would have bad

results, though he gives no hint what these might be; that Montcalm had mismanaged the whole affair; that he would have been beaten but for the manifest interposition of Heaven; and, finally, that he had failed to follow his (Vaudreuil's) directions, and had therefore enabled the English to escape. The real directions of the governor, dictated, perhaps, by dread lest his rival should reap laurels, were to avoid a general engagement; and it was only by setting them at nought that Abercrombie had been routed. After the battle a sharp correspondence passed between the two chiefs. The governor, who had left Montcalm to his own resources before the crisis, sent him Canadians and Indians in abundance after it was over; and while he cautiously refrained from committing himself by positive orders, repeated again and again that if these reinforcements were used to harass Abercrombie's communications, the whole English army would fall back to the Hudson, and leave baggage and artillery a prey to the French. These preposterous assertions and tardy succors were thought by Montcalm to be a device for giving color to the charge that he had not only failed to deserve victory, but had failed also to make use of it.2 He did what was possible, and sent strong detachments to act in the English rear; which, though they did not, and could not, compel the enemy to fall back,

1 Vaudreuil au Ministre, 8 Août, 1758.

2 Much of the voluminous correspondence on these matters will be found in N. Y. Col. Docs., x.

caused no slight annoyance, till Rogers checked
them by the defeat of Marin. Nevertheless Vaudreuil
pretended on one hand that Montcalm had done noth-
ing with the Canadians and Indians sent him, and
on the other that these same Canadians and Indians
had triumphed over the enemy by their mere presence
at Ticonderoga. "It was my activity in sending
these succors to Carillon [Ticonderoga] that forced
the English to retreat. The Marquis de Montcalm
might have made their retreat difficult; but it was in
vain that I wrote to him, in vain that the colony
troops, Canadians and Indians, begged him to pursue
the enemy."1 The succors he speaks of were sent in
July and August, while the English did not fall back
till the first of November. Neither army left its
position till the season was over, and Abercrombie
did so only when he learned that the French were
setting the example. Vaudreuil grew more and
more bitter.
"As the King has intrusted this colony
to me, I cannot help warning you of the unhappy
consequences that would follow if the Marquis de
Montcalm should remain here. I shall keep him by
me till I receive your orders. It is essential that
they reach me early." "I pass over in silence all
the infamous conduct and indecent talk he has held
or countenanced; but I should be wanting in my
duty to the King if I did not beg you to ask for his
recall."

1 Vaudreuil au Ministre, 8 Avril, 1759.
• Ibid.