1760] MONTREAL. 401 CHAPTER VII. When the news of Amherst's arrival at Lachine was known, and that at eleven o'clock he had commenced his march upon Montreal, the resolution was taken to withdraw the force within the walls, and Dumas' corps was moved nearer the city. As the British force appeared upon the plain to the west of the city, the militia abandoned the army and returned to their parishes. Several of the married men of the regular army deserted and joined their families. About two thousand were all that remained in the field, and they had only provisions sufficient for from fifteen to twenty days.* A council of war of the officers was held on the night of the 6th at the house of de Vaudreuil, when a memoir proposing a capitulation was read by Bigot. It set forth that, by the desertion of the Canadians and of a great number of the soldiers, the whole available force was 2,400 men. The Indians had made peace with the English, and had even offered to aid in conquering the French. It was to be expected that on the morning Murray would land on the island of Montreal, and the corps on the southern bank of the river would join the main army, and that it was for the benefit of the colony to obtain an advantageous capitulation. The conclusion was accepted by all present. On the morning of the 7th, de Bougainville was sent with a proposal to Amherst for a cessation of arms for a month. It was refused, and after some conversation Amherst consented that no movement should be made until twelve o'clock. De Vaudreuil, however, at ten o'clock sent a messenger to Amherst on this occasion he offered to capitulate, and he des vivres pour environ quinze à vingt jours." Journal de Lévis, p. 303. + et même leur avoient offert de prendre les armes pour achever de nous réduire." Journal de Lévis, p. 304. 2B enclosed the terms on which he proposed to surrender. There had been no attempt to oppose Amherst; indeed, as the inhabitants of the city had refused to take up arms, there was no means of doing so. There however had been some show of resistance against Murray's advance. A battalion of colonial troops had been placed on Saint Helen's island, and the flute, the "Marie," had received all the guns she was capable of carrying. Two batteries had been constructed at the foot of the current so as to oppose any attempt at landing. Murray, however, disembarked at ten o'clock at Pointe aux Trembles, ten miles from Montreal, and had then advanced four miles, where he remained until the evening, when he came up close to the faubourg. Amherst cannot be considered as having been exacting in the conditions which he was willing to grant, as the terms of the capitulation shew. There was one clause enforced by him peculiarly distasteful to de Lévis, that the troops should lay down their arms, be sent prisoners to France, and not serve during the war. At the request of de Lévis, de Vaudreuil sent back du Lac with a letter asking a reconsideration of the terms. Amherst replied that he had set forth the terms he had determined to grant, and he desired an immediate reply as to their acceptance, for the conditions. would not be changed. Again de Vaudreuil sent de Bougainville with a request to Amherst that he would hear his explanation. Amherst gave the same answer, he could make no change in the conditions; and he desired an immediate reply to know if they were accepted or not.* The negotiations, however, were not concluded, for de Lévis sent his quartermaster-general, de la Pause,† on the subject of the too rigorous article imposed upon the troops, which he said they could not accept, and he asked Amherst to consider its hardship, Amherst briefly repeated the substance of his former letters, and demanded a definite answer by the bearer. * Amherst wrote: "Je ne saurois changer en rien les conditions que j'ai offertes à M. le Marq. de Vaudreuil et je compte sur la reponse définitive par le retour du parleur." +"notre maréchal général de logis." 1760] THE CAPITULATION. 403 Knox gives an account of this interview which is not authenticated by other evidence. It must, however, be borne in mind that Knox was present with the troops, and that he was generally well informed of what took place. His work was published within a few years after the event in 1769, and there is every reason to believe that it was seen by Amherst. I give, therefore, his description of what passed between Amherst and de Lévis' messenger. De Lévis makes no allusion to his sending de la Pause; of that fact there can be no doubt. I am myself inclined to believe in the correctness of Knox's statement. "When," says Knox, "When," says Knox, "the bearer of this billet saw that the general had perused its contents he attempted to support the chevalier's complaint respecting the article alluded to; but his excellency commanded him to silence and told him he was fully resolved, for the infamous part of the troops of France had acted in exciting the savages to perpetrate the most horrid and unheard of barbarities in the whole progress of the war, and for other open treacheries as well as flagrant breaches of faith, to manifest to all the world by this capitulation his detestation of such ungenerous practices, and disapprobation of their conduct, therefore insisted he might decline any remonstrance on the subject." It was not until the 8th that de Vaudreuil sent his unconditional acceptance of the articles. + De Lévis relates the cause of the delay. On his failure to obtain any modification of the terms from Amherst he directed de la Pause to see de Vaudreuil and to ask that the words "Canada" or "America" should be interlined. De Vaudreuil declined to make any such demand. Accordingly de Lévis, on the part of the officers, drew up a mémoire in which he stated that the terms offered by Amherst were inadmissible, being contrary to the interest of the King and dishonouring to the army. He asked that the negotiations should be discontinued and that a vigorous defence should be resolved upon, although de * Knox, II., p. 418. + De Vaudreuil wrote, "Je me suis determiné à accepter les conditions que propose votre Excellence." Lévis adds with extremely disproportionate forces and with little hope of success. Should the marquis de Vaudreuil, however, determine to accept the conditions imposed, that the troops should be permitted to retire to Saint Helen's island and there sustain the honour of the King's army; for they resolved to undergo every privation rather than submit to such dishonourable terms. De Vaudreuil's answer to this proposition, so opposed to all sense and reason that it is difficult to believe in its sincerity, was a positive order to de Lévis to conform to the capitulation. De Vaudreuil pointed out that the interest of the colony did not allow him to refuse the conditions of the English general, which were advantageous to the country. The whole proceeding does not add to de Lévis' reputation. He must have seen, that the civil responsibility, of de Vaudreuil as governor, would not admit of the acceptance of any such desperate alternative. Moreover, that he himself was powerless to make the least resistance against the eighteen thousand disciplined troops by whom he was surrounded. De Lévis tells us that he had but twenty-four hundred men and little food. What opposition could he have made to the attack of Amherst's force under any conditions? There is the more serious charge against de Lévis of a departure from personal honour, in ordering his troops to burn the colours to spare them the hard conditions of delivering them to their enemies. Amherst's account of what took place shews the meanness and want of honesty of this behaviour. Far better to yield under adverse circumstances one hundred standards, than for a gentleman to demean himself by a contemptible falsehood. De Lévis' theory of military honour cannot be held up for imitation, when, to preserve it, he condescended to wrong and misrepresentation, covering his delinquency by his assurance of his "word of honour" that he had not irregularly destroyed the standards, which in his journal he records with complacency he ordered to be committed to the flames.* "M. le chevalier de Lévis voyant avec douleur que rien ne pouvoit faire 1760] DESTRUCTION OF THE STANDARDS. 405 Amherst's report of what took place shews that he accepted this declaration as truth. He wrote to Pitt from Quebec on the 4th of October that ten French regiments had laid down their arms and had delivered up two colours taken from Pepperell's and Shirley's regiments at Oswego, "the marquis de Vaudreuil, generals and commanding officers of the regiments giving their words of honour that the Battalions had not any colours; they had brought them six years ago with them; they were torn to pieces, and, finding them troublesome in this country, they had destroyed them." The non-production of the French colours did not, however, take place without remark or an expression of dissatisfaction at their absence. When Amherst received de Vaudreuil's acceptance of the terms offered, he replied by asking the articles to be returned signed by major Abercrombie, and expressed the desire to shew every consideration to the officers. He wished, he said, to carry out the conditions with good order and in good faith, and he had given the command to colonel Haldimand, who, he trusted, would be personally agreeable to the French to take possession of the gates of the city. There must have been some report by Haldimand of the non-delivery of the colours, for there is a letter from Amherst to Haldimand on the subject, written three days after the capitulation. Amherst wrote that their being withheld was an infraction of the capitulation, contrary to the laws of war, which he could not permit. Haldimand was directed to notify de Vaudreuil that the colours must be found, and if the refusal to deliver them up was persisted in, in Amherst's own justification he must order the baggage to be searched before it was embarked. Amherst hoped that the orders de Vaudreuil would give would make this search useless, and that those, who had felt themselves authorized to withhold the standards, would have changer la détermination de M. le marquis de Vaudreuil, voulant épargner aux troupes une partie de l'humiliation qu' elles alloient subir, leur ordonna de brûler leurs drapeaux pour se soustraire à la dure condition de les remettre aux ennemis." Journal de Lévis, p. 308. + Can. Arch., Series A. & W. I., 94, p. 145. |