sion, that the Commander-in-Chief may know where to find them; but Hawke, like Nelson, thought only of attacking the first ship of his opponent he might be able to come up with. The plan of Rodney, Howe, St. Vincent, and Nelson, dashing through the enemy's line, and throwing it into confusion, and then attacking ship to ship, is the sure way of arriving at a decisive result. Mr. Charles Dupin, who knows more of naval matters than most of the French officers, and is now in the department of the minister of marine, successfully ridicules what he terms "the pious respect of his countrymen for the sacred order of the line of battle," to which he says, "the combined fleets were sacrificed at Trafalgar." While Nelson advanced in two close columns, to overwhelm the centre of this "sacred line," the two wings remained immovable: they were" in line," (he says,) "and that was enough; and in this position they looked on, avec une effrayante impassibilité,' until the centre was destroyed-then, and not till then, forgetting all respect for the sacred order of the line, they thought, not of seeking to remedy any part of the evil, but of making their escape."

Rear-Admiral Durell, who, after the reduction of Louisburg, retired with his squadron to Halifax, put to sea in the spring of the year, with the view of intercepting any supplies which the French might send out for the garrison of Quebec. Rear-Admiral Holmes was sent from England, early in the spring, with a reinforcement to join Rear-Admiral Durell ;

and as the enemy had been so completely subdued at home, the government determined to strike a blow at their foreign possessions; and with this view Admiral Sir Charles Saunders was despatched from England in the Neptune, of ninety guns, to take command of the fleet in North America; and, in conjunction with the land-forces under Major-General Wolfe, who embarked with him, to lay siege to Quebec. Having touched at Louisburg, and the General and troops having re-embarked, a junction was formed with the ships assembled, under the command of Rear-Admiral Durell, when the combined fleets amounted to twenty sail-of-the-line, two fifties, and thirteen frigates, besides sloops, bombs, and fire-ships.

The appointment by Mr. Pitt of so young a major-general as Wolfe, to command the land-forces, caused much the same kind of jealousy and displeasure in the army, as was felt by the navy when Anson first gave the command of a powerful squadron to Hawke; but the result proved how well the two ministers knew the men they selected for their respective commands. The same thing happened afterwards, when Lord St. Vincent gave to Nelson the Mediterranean command. Sir John Orde was indignant at being passed over, and wrote a remonstrance to Lord Spencer, sending, very properly, a copy of it to Lord St. Vincent. The Earl told him in reply, "that those who are responsible for measures have an undoubted right to appoint

the men they prefer to carry them into execution." It may here be noticed that, in February, 1755, Mr. Jervis received his first commission as lieutenant from Lord Anson, who also placed him on the present occasion in the Neptune.

On the 1st June the expedition left Louisburg, and on the 23rd the whole fleet got up to the Island of Codré, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they found Rear-Admiral Durell and his squadron. Sir Charles hoisted his flag in the Stirling Castle, and, with the fleet and troops, proceeded higher up the Gulf, and on the 26th anchored off the Island of Orleans. General Monckton took up a post at Point Levi, to dislodge the enemy from thence, who, on the 1st July, sent down from Quebec three floating batteries, with which they cannonaded this post, till driven away by Captain Lindsay of the Trent. General Wolfe visited Levi, and caused batteries to be erected for cannonading Quebec across the river. Returning to Orleans, he embarked the army on the 9th July, and early in the morning made a descent on the north shore, below the falls of Montmorenci, under cover of the Porcupine sloop and Boscawen armed ship. Sir Charles had appointed Lieut. Jervis (afterwards Lord St. Vincent) to command the Porcupine, and here commenced a friendship between Wolfe and him, two congenial spirits, which was, alas! too soon destined to cease.

The detail of the operations are clearly and dis

tinctly stated by General Wolfe, in a letter to Mr. Pitt, of the 3rd September; and those of the navy equally so by Sir Charles Saunders to the same minister. A few extracts from the latter will suffice. Having mentioned that, on the 28th June, at midnight, the enemy sent down from Quebec seven fireships, he observes, that though our ships and transports were so numerous, and necessarily spread over so great a part of the Channel, they were all towed clear, and ran aground, without any part of the fleet receiving the least damage from them; and on the 20th July he adds," At midnight the enemy sent down a raft of fire-stages, of near a hundred radeaux, which succeeded no better than their fire-ships."

On the 5th August, in the night, the admiral despatched twenty flat-boats up the river, to embark twelve hundred and sixty of the troops, with BrigadierGeneral Murray; and also sent up Admiral Holmes to act in concert with him, who was ordered to use his best endeavours to get at and destroy the enemy's ships above the town. "The enemy," Sir

66

Charles says, appears to be numerous, and to be strongly posted; but let the event be what it will, we shall remain here as long as the season of the year will permit, in order to prevent their detaching troops from hence against General Amherst. The town of Quebec is not habitable, being almost entirely burnt and destroyed. I should have written to you sooner from hence; but while my despatches

ill:

were preparing, General Wolfe was taken very he has been better since, but is still greatly out of order."

This sickness of Wolfe created, among the troops, as great uneasiness as that which was occasioned, in the public mind at home, by the receipt of the despatches, in which the difficulties and delay were described as far beyond what had been anticipated. On his return to the camp a universal joy was felt in the whole army; and the General formed his plan, in concert with the Admiral, for striking the decisive blow. On the 12th September, all being ready, Wolfe issued a general order to the troops, which thus concludes:-" The officers and men will remember what their country expects from them, and what a determined body of soldiers, inured to war, is capable of doing against five weak French battalions, mingled with disorderly peasantry. The soldiers must be attentive and obedient to their officers, and resolute in the execution of their duty." It would be out of place here to enter upon a detail of the landing, and the disposition of the troops, and of the several regiments that composed the two lines and the reserve: it is sufficient to state that, on the morning of the 13th, the two armies under Wolfe and Montcalm, respectively, were in motion: the French having advanced briskly within musket-shot, began to fire, but the British troops reserved theirs until the enemy had approached within thirty yards. They then kept up their fire