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Earl of Harrington. No sooner had they arrived in the Upper Town, than General Carleton, who had learned the retreat of the enemy, determined to make a sortie and to harass their rear. He accordingly marched out at the head of eight hundred men ; but so rapid was the flight of the enemy, that a few shots only were exchanged, when they abandoned their stores, artillery, scaling ladders, leaving also their sick, of whom they had a great many, to the care of the British. The humanity with which they were treated was afterwards commemorated by Chief Justice Marshall in his life of Washington.

The conduct of General Carleton throughout the siege was beyond all praise. He always wore the same countenance, and as his looks were watched, his conduct infused courage into those of the inhabitants, who, unused to a siege, sometimes gave way to despondency. He was, indeed, a man of true bravery, guided by discrimination, conduct and experience. During the attack of the 31st December, he had taken post at Prescott-Gate, where he knew would be made the combined attack of Montgomery and Arnold, had they succeeded in passing the barriers at Près-de-Ville and the Sault-au-Matelot. Here he took his stand, and there is every reason to believe that he would have defended the post even to death. He had been heard to say, that he would never grace the triumph of the enemy, or survive the loss of the town.

The despatches announcing the retreat of the American forces from before Quebec were taken home by Colonel Caldwell, who received the usual present on the occasion. His Majesty immediately bestowed the Knighthood of the Bath upon General Carleton. The following extract from his despatches

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.

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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

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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
Caliginosâ nocte premit DEUS :

*

*

cras vel atrâ

Nube polum PATER Occupato,
Vel sole puro non tamen irritum
Quodcumque retro est, efficiet; neque
Diffinget, infectumque reddet,
Quod fugiens semel hora vexit.

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 bad 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.
With his shall Freedom consecrate thy name,
Shall date her rising glories from thy fame,
Shall build her throne of Empire on thy grave—
What nobler fate can patriot virtue crave!

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 :

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I, JAMES THOMPSON, of the city of Quebec, in the Province of Lower Canada, do testify and declare-that I served in the

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