SIEGE OF QUEBEC AND DEATH OF GENERAL MONTGOMERY.

General Montgomery.

surprise Quebec. His march through the wilderness we have already described. The sufferings of the party were extreme, being obliged to eat dog's flesh and the leather of their cartouch-boxes. Yet they arrived, on the 9th of November, at Point Levi, without any alarm having reached the capital; but all the shipping had unfortunately been removed from that side. Arnold was thus unable to cross, and in twenty-four hours the inhabitants were apprised of the danger. On the 14th that active officer contrived to pass the river and occupy the heights of Abraham, though his force was too small for active movements, till joined by Montgomery. This commander sent forward a reconnoitring party under Colonel Ethan Allen, who made a brave but rash attempt on Montreal, in which he was taken, with his party, and afterwards sent in irons to England.

Montgomery, however, having reduced the posts of St. John and Chambly, and made prisoners of their garrisons, which included a large proportion of the regular force in Canada, that city was quite unable to resist; and General Carleton, the governor, with difficulty escaped in a boat with muffled paddles. The American 1eader then advanced upon Quebec, and took the command of the united force. Carleton had under arms only eighteen hundred men, of whom not more than seventy were regulars; two hundred and thirty of Fraser's Highlanders, who had settled in the country, were re-embodied under Colonel M'Lean; the rest were British and Canadian militia, seamen, and others. The summons to surrender, however, was at once rejected; and Montgomery, after pushing the siege during the month of December without any prospect of success, determined to carry the place by a night-assault. On the 31st, two storming parties were formed,-one under himself and the other under Arnold. They were to advance from opposite sides, and meet at the foot of Mountain Street, then force Prescott Gate, and reach the Upper Town. The first battery encountered by Montgomery was defended chiefly by a party of Canadian militia, with nine British seamen to work the guns. Having received some previous notice, they were on the watch; and, about daybreak, saw amid the snow a body of troops in full march from Wolfe's Cove. Orders were given by the British commander to make no movement; and the Americans having halted at the distance of fifty yards, sent forward an officer to reconnoitre, who found everything perfectly still. On his return the assailants rushed forward in double quick time to the attack. When they were close to the spot, Captain Barnsfare, at the critical moment, gave the signal for a general discharge of guns and musketry. It told with unexpected and fatal effect; for, among many others, Montgomery himself the gallant chief, fell to rise no more. The troops, on witnessing this disaster, made a precipitate retreat.

Meantime Arnold, from the opposite side, pushed on his attack with desperate resolution. In assaulting the first barrier, he received a severe wound in the leg, which obliged him to quit the field. But his party, led on by Captain Morgan, carried the post, and pushed on to a second. Here, however, their efforts were vain; and General Carleton having sent a detachment upon their rear, they were surrounded, and finalIy, to the number of four hundred and twenty-six, obliged to surrender. Neither of the parties thus reached the main point of attack at Prescott Gate, where the governor was stationed, with the determination to maintain it to the last extremity.

The British were not yet aware of all the results of the contest. As soon as the retreat of the first party was ascertained, they went out and collected, from under the snow which had already covered them, thirteen bodies. The surmise soon arose that one of them was that of the commander; yet some hours elaased before an officer of Arnold's division identified him, with the deepest expressions of admiration and regret. Montgomery, a gentleman of good family in the north of Ireland, had served under Wolfe, but having afterwards formed a matrimonial connexion in America, he had adopted with enthusiasm the cause of the United States as that of liberty. His military character, joined to his private virtues, inspired general esteem, and has secured to him a place on the roll of noble and galIant chiefs who fell beneath the walls of Quebec.

Arnold succeeded to the command, and attempted still to maintain his ground; but the dispirited state of his men, still more than his actual loss, rendered him unable to keep up more than an imperfect blockade, at the distance of three miles. In April, 1776, his place was taken by General Wooster, who rought a reinforcement, and made some fresh attempts, but without success. Early In May, several vessels arrived from England with troops and supplies, on which the Americans raised the siege, and fell back upon Montreal. Thence they retired from post to post, till, on the 18th of June, they finally evacuated the province, on which they never made any further attempt.

Quebec