port. At their head was Captain Vauquelin, the hero of Louisbourg, who was as able in the council room as he was intrepid in combat. There, also, was the old captain known to everyone as bonhomme Pellegrin—a trifle deaf but still active and possessed of consummate experience, who had piloted the squadron which brought out Montcalm and his troops. It was to this old and experienced sailor that the officers confided the messages for their families at home, and through him they received their replies.

In response to the first demand made by the general the council unanimously decided to place three hundred sailors at the disposal of the engineers, to work on the defences along the St. Charles River. Captain Duclos undertook the construction of a floating battery, and vessels which were each to carry one gun. This little fleet was to be manned by one thousand four hundred sailors.

It was proposed to close the straightest channel, the Traverse, between the Island of Orleans and Ile Madame, by sinking ten of the largest ships, and to build batteries in this neighbourhood, one at Cap Tourmente and the other at Cap Brûlé, but neither project was carried out because Captain Pelletier, being sent a few days later to take soundings in the Traverse, found it much wider than reported.

The same day Montcalm wrote to the Chevalier de Lévis: "We have just learned from the cap

THE ENGLISH FLEET IN SIGHT

tains of two merchant-men that they saw at Saint Barnabé six or seven vessels, probably the advance guard of the English fleet. However, no signals were made, and we have no formal notice, which prevents me from moving my battalions because we must be saving in our food supply. However, have them in readiness, for in less than twentyfour hours you may have another courier instructing you to put them on the move. M. Rigaud will kindly put in readiness the Canadians whom M. de Vaudreuil intends for the defence of this point. I am sending marching orders for Languedoc's battalion.

"I expect that M. de Vaudreuil has already left. If you will kindly communicate to him the contents of this letter."

Vaudreuil was already on the march, and de Lévis was very shortly to follow him. That very midnight the entire right bank of the St. Lawrence was illuminated from cape to cape as far as Quebec, which replied by the signals previously agreed upon. A courier sent from Baie St. Paul at the same time told of the arrival of the English vanguard at the anchorage of Ile-aux-Coudres.

Then the last doubts vanished. Previous to that time the optimists, headed by Vaudreuil, had flattered themselves that the English fleet could not overcome the difficulties presented by the navigation of the river. Within their own memories Admiral Walker's squadron had been lost upon the

rocks of Sept Iles in a severe gale. Possibly the elements might again be favourable. All the women, their souls all devotion, besieged the churches, the religious orders were continually engaged in prayer, and pilgrimages and processions went to Notre Dame des Victoires to obtain this special favour. But finally came such evidence as no one could longer doubt.

Feverish agitation and activity took possession of the city and the country, whence the people flocked, all armed, towards the capital. A final note from Montcalm found Lévis on his way to Quebec:

"I have still less time, my dear Chevalier," he wrote, "for writing since the arrival of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, for I have to allow him to play the rôle of general. I act as secretary and major for him, and greatly long to have you with us and to greet you.

It was the first time that Vaudreuil had taken his place in the army beside Montcalm, whose position became all the more irritating by reason of his recent promotion to the rank of lieutenant-general. The governor had no such high rank, and yet Montcalm had to hand over the generalship to him. This division of the generalship was, as has been seen, an inherent vice of the colonial system, which was repeated in the civil relations of the governor and the intendant. It had contributed to many conflicts, and threatened fatal results. In the final crisis the court could see no way out of the diffi