to Lord George Germaine, Secretary of State, shows his own sense of the general conduct of the officers and men under his command. Among the Canadian officers who particularly distinguished themselves, were Colonel Dupré, Major Ecuyer, and Captains Bouchette, Laforce and Chabot of the Marine. Thus," says General CARLETON, "ended our siege and blockade, during which the mixed garrison of soldiers, sailors, British and Canadian militia, with the artificers, from Halifax and Newfoundland, showed great zeal and patience, under very severe duty, and uncommon vigilance, indispensable in a place liable to be stormed, besides great labor necessary to render such attempts less practicable. "I cannot conclude this letter without doing justice to Lieutenant Colonel MACLEAN, who has been indefatigably zealous in the KING'S service, and to his regiment, wherein he has collected a number of experienced good officers, who have been very useful. Colonel Hamilton, Captain of His Majesty's ship, Lizard, who commanded the battalion of seamen, his officers and men, discharged their duty with great alacrity and spirit. The same thing must be acknowledged of the masters, inferior officers and seamen, belonging to His Majesty's transports, and merchantmen, detained here last fall: only one seaman deserted the whole time. The militia, British and Canadian, behaved with a steadiness and resolution, that could hardly have been expected from men unused to arms. Judges, and other officers of government, as well as Merchants, cheerfully submitted to every inconvenience to preserve the town: the whole, indeed, upon the occasion, showed a spirit and perseverance that do them great honor. "Major Caldwell, who commanded the British militia all winter, as Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, and is bearer of these despatches to your Lordship, has proved himself a faithful subject to His Majesty, and an active and diligent officer. He, and, indeed, almost every loyal subject, are very considerable sufferers by the present hostile invasion." Having thus brought to a close our account of the various and eventful scenes which have passed under review, it may be observed, that QUEBEC is remark able among North American cities, for having been five times invested by regular forces :-First, in 1629, when, in the infancy of the Colony, it fell into the hands of the English,-in 1690, after its natural capabilities for defence had been improved by the art of fortification, when it successfully resisted the attack of Sir WILLIAM PHIPPS,-in 1759, when, after the battle of the Plains, it was once more won by England,-in 1760, when, having been maintained during the winter, it was unsuccessfully besieged by de Lévi ;-and lastly, in 1775, when after having been stormed without success after having sustained a siege and blockade of six months duration-the enemy was compelled to abandon his camp in despair. Since that time no hostile banner has been displayed before its walls; and so long as it is defended by a garrison, loyal and resolute to do their duty-so long as England maintains the glory of her Navy-QUEBEC may bid defiance to external attack and foreign violence. May the "time honored" standard of Great Britain continue to wave from the battlements that crown this renowned fortress, never to be removed but by her own act, with the consent and free will of her generous people! Should it ever be lowered, may it be only in the spirit of honor and benevolence, in order to promote the rising destinies of a new North American Empire, called into existence by the force of events, and by the operation of those progressive changes which human means can neither foresee, or prevent from occurring in the lapse of years, and in the fullness of time! But it is not our province to indulge a presumptuous speculation into futurity,-satisfied that the past can never be forgotten, or undone; and that whatever be its fate to come, may so long as fame 66 shall wait upon heroic deeds," the renown of Quebec will derive its chief lustre from the reflected glories of England, her might, valor and enduring generosity! Prudens futuri temporis exitum cras vel atrá Nube polum PATER Occupato, GENERAL MONTGOMERY. RICHARD MONTGOMERY was a gentleman of good family, in the North of IRELAND, and connected by marriage with Viscount RANELAGH of that Kingdom. He had been Captain in the 17th Regiment of Foot, and had fought successfully the battles of ENGLAND, under the immortal WOLFE, on the Plains of Abraham. He afterwards married the daughter of Judge LIVINGSTON, of Livingston Manor, on the North River, who was living in 1818. MONTGOMERY imbibed the prevalent politics of his father-in-law's family, and joined the cause of the Colonists against the mother country. MARSHALL, however, in his life of WASHINGTON, remarks, that, though he had embraced the American cause with enthusiasm, he had become wearied with its service. ...... He had determined to withdraw from the army, and had signified, before marching from Montreal, his resolution to resign the commission which had been conferred upon him." MARSHALL adds as a probable incentive to the storming of Quebec on the 31st December, 1775, "the desire of closing his military career with a degree of brilliancy suited to the elevation of his mind, by the conquest of Quebec, and the addition of Canada to the United States." The excellence of his qualities and disposition procured him an uncommon share of private affection, as his abilities and services had of public esteem. Soon after his death, the Con. tinental Congress ordered a magnificent Cenotaph to be erected to his memory, in St. Paul's Church, NEW-YORK, with the following inscription : MONTGOMERY falls! Let no fond breast repine, That HAMPDEN's glorious death, brave Chief, was thine. The following matter of fact relating to the disinterment of the remains of this officer is unquestionably authentic. In the year 1818, a request having been made to the Governor-inChief, Sir John Sherbrooke, for leave to disinter the remains of General MONTGOMERY, in order that they might be conveyed to New-York, and there re-interred, His Excellency acceded to the request, which came to him on the part of Mrs. Montgomery, the widow of the General. Mr. JAMES THOMPSON, an old gentleman of respectability, serving in the Engineer Department at Quebec, (a Serjeant under General WOLFE at the conquest,) who bore arms during the siege of the winter 1775-6 in defence of the city, and on the morning after the attack, had found the body of the deceased General, and afterwards saw it interred in one of the bastions near St. Lewis-Gate, by order of the British Commander, was now ordered to explore the place of interment and dig up the remains. This he accordingly did in the presence of one of His Excellency's Aides-de-Camp, Captain Freer; and although the spot where the body had been deposited was entirely altered in appearance, from the demolition of an old building or powder magazine which was near it, and the subsequent construction of a range of barracks, he hit upon the foot of the coffin, which was much decayed, but of the identity whereof there could not be a doubt, no other body having been interred in its immediate neighbourhood, except those of the General's two Aides, M'Pherson and Cheeseman, which were placed on each side of their master's body, in their clothes, and without coffins. Mr. Thompson gave the following affidavit of the facts in order to satisfy the surviving relations and friends of General MONTGOMERY, that the remains which had been so disinterred after the lapse of forty-two years by the same hand that had interred them, were really those of the late General : "I, JAMES THOMPSON, of the city of Quebec, in the Province of Lower Canada, do testify and declare-that I served in the capacity of an Assistant Engineer during the siege of this city, invested during the years 1775 and 1776 by the American forces under the command of the late Major General RICHARD MONTGOMERY. That in an attack made by the American troops under the immediate command of General MONTGOMERY, in the night of the 31st December, 1775. on a British post at the southernmost extremity of the city, near Près-de-Ville, the General received a mortal wound, and with him were killed his two Aides-de-Camp, McPherson and Cheeseman, who were found in the morning of the 1st January, 1776, almost covered with snow. That Mrs. Prentice who kept an Hotel, at Quebec, and with whom General Montgomery had previously boarded, was brought to view the body, after it was placed in the Guard Room, and which she recognised by a particular mark which he had on the side of his head, to be the General's. That the body was then conveyed to a house, (Gobert's,)* by order of Mr. Cramahé, who provided a genteel coffin for the General's body, which was lined inside with flannel, and outside of it with black cloth. That in the night of the 4th January, it was conveyed by me from Gobert's house, and was interred six feet in front of the gate, within a wall that surrounded a powder magazine near the ramparts bounding on St. Lewis-Gate. That the funeral service was performed at the grave by the Reverend Mr. de Montmolin, then Chaplain of the garrison. That his two Aides-de-Camp were buried in their clothes without any coffins, and that no person was buried within twenty-five yards of the General. That I am positive and can testif and declare, that the coffin of the late General Montgomery, taken up on the morning of the 16th of the present month of June, 1818, is the identical coffin deposited by me on the day of his burial, and that the present coffin contains the remains of the late General. I do further testify and declare that subsequent to the finding of General Montgomery's body, I wore his sword, being lighter than my own, and on going to the Seminary, where the American officers were lodged, they recognized the sword, which affected them so much, that numbers of them wept, in consequence of which I have never worn the sword since. "Given under my hand, at the city of Quebec, Province of Lower Canada, 19th June, 1818. JAMES THOMPSON." *Gobert's house was at the corner of St. Lewis and St. Ursule streets, on the site of the house now numbered 42, St. Lewis Street. |