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valor equal to their own. Sir Guy Carleton was a man of great daring and the sagest prudence. By his presence and virtue he infused his own indomitable spirit into the bosoms of all the inhabitants; and every day the siege was continued gave fresh proofs of the strength and security of his position. The besiegers, fearing delay, and sorely urged by the season, the climate, and the uncertainty of the service subordinate to their authority, resolved to risk the storming of the garrison at every hazard. That attempt was made at five o'clock in the morning, on the last day of the year, their forces being divided into four parties, the two principal of which were led in person by Montgomery and Arnold. A heavy snow-storm enveloped besiegers and besieged, amid the fury of which the devoted bands and their gallant leaders groped their way to the destined points of attack. These were, for the two main divisions, the two opposite sides of the lower town-Montgomery choosing that around Cape Diamond, by the banks of the river, which was guarded by an outpost. The pathway leading to this post was narrow and difficult, being under the steep precipices, and covered by large masses of ice, washed in upon it by the overgorged river. Along this the storming party advanced with extreme difficulty in single file, and the general himself leading the way, had more than once to halt for those that followed. Reaching the outpost, its guards, after a few random shots, fled to the battery; but being in advance of his men, the general again halted to give time to his followers to collect, and as soon as about two hundred were collected, he rushed forward, animating them by his voice and example, when one of the sentinels who had fled, astonished at the delay, returned to his post, and slowly applying a match to a gun mounted there, fired it without any immediate design. This single and chance shot decided the fate of the assault; its first victim was General Montgomery. He fell dead where he stood; and two young and gallant officers who shared his peril and daring, shared also his untimely fate. Colonel Campbell, on whom devolved the command, hesitated to advance; and the troops, whom no danger could deter, when following their beloved general, seeing him lying dead, retraced their steps with confusion and consternation. Arnold, to whom this disaster was unknown, approached the opposite battery, along the suburb of St. Rogers, about the same time. He, too, found all in readiness to meet him, and in assaulting the first battery, received a wound and retired to have. it dressed. The battery was, however, taken, and Captain Morgan, of the Virginia riflemen, who were leading the assault, was called

on by a unanimous shout to assume the command and rush forward. That dauntless officer accepted with eagerness the post of danger and of honour; at the same moment, Lieutenant Anderson, issuing from the gate, with the view of attacking the Americans, who were supposed to be plundering the exposed part of the town, challenged Captain Morgan, and received a ball through his head from Morgan's hand in reply. His troops fell back and closed the gate. The besiegers instantly scaling the wall, saw inside a large force, with their guns fixed to the earth, ready to receive any who descended on their bayonets, and at the same time a most destructive fire was poured upon them from windows and port-holes, beneath which they retired into the stone houses outside the barrier, where the dawning day discovered them endeavouring to answer, but ineffectually, the terrible fire from the barrier and surrounding posts. To appear even an instant outside their precarious shelter was certain death; and so depressed were the men by defeat, disaster, and cold, that they refused to attempt a retreat in the face of the murderous barrier. Meantime, troops issuing from another gate made their rear-guard prisoners, and completely surrounded them. But, even in this situation, the resolution which still upheld the American leaders, prompted the desperate attempt of cutting their way, sword in hand, through the town backwards. While preparing, however, for this last enterprise, they were entirely encompassed, and surrendered prisoners of war. Many officers of this detachment were killed, and all the rest, including the intrepid Morgan, except a few who accompanied Arnold, were taken prisoners. Thus ended this assault upon Quebec, which many have described as rash and desperate, but which all admit to be one of the most gallant upon record. Its failure supplies the readiest proof that it was ill-advised and unmilitary; but if, as it is on the other hand averred, the shot which deprived the army of its general was a random one, discharged by a trembling hand at a forsaken post, success might have changed the reasoning, and generated a host of critics, stout to assert that the enterprise was as wisely and surely planned as it was daring and chivalrous.

Upon Arnold's camp, the new year opened with gloomy prospects; yet, himself badly wounded, the army dispirited by defeat and suffering, his bravest chiefs dead or captured, and the winter closing around him with its frozen terrors, he did not hesitate to prosecute boldly the blockade. And the distress to which he reduced the garrison, which once or twice barely escaped falling into his hands, ere he was superseded in command, proves that his

energy was indomitable, and his operations those of a consummate military genius.

But in all that surrounded it of gloom and horror, in this season of snow and storms, nothing pressed so heavily on the American army as the fate of their too gallant general. No thought had they for calculating harshness in judging the enterprise which cost his life. And indeed, if want of foresight, to any extent, dimmed the lustre of that stupendous undertaking, it was amply redeemed by his personal contempt for danger, and his chivalrous fall. Nor does it well become the nation on whose arms victory smiled, to insult his memory on this ground; for, had he lived to divide their strength, or share in the encounter, history may be compelled to restrict the praises which British valour justly claims from the triumph of that eventful day. Nor was the voice of unkind criticism much heeded by the generous ear. No man fell in, or perhaps survived the war, save one, to whose virtue and courage so large and liberal a tribute of homage was offered, of hearty admiration by his enemies, of deepest mourning by his adopted country. His monument, the first voted by Congress, attests the estimation in which they held his eminent services, his purity, and his genius. But, perhaps, the most solid testimony to his worth and valour was, the cheer which echoed through the British senate when the baffled minister "cursed his virtues for having undone his country."

Let us not pass to other subjects without doing justice to the humanity and clemency of Sir Guy Carleton, and the garrison of Quebec. The prisoners who fell into their hands, and the wounded who were left to their mercy, were treated with the kindest solicitude, and most delicate respect. Whether in the hour of danger or of triumph, the garrison never lost sight of the honourable duties which brave men ever discharge towards those whom the chances of war deliver into their power.

The fate of the northern army claimed the early and anxious care of the commander-in-chief, and of Congress. The largest supplies that could be afforded were generously voted to its command. Nor was the hope abandoned, even yet, of arousing in the breasts of Canadians the love of liberty, and a community of purpose with the other states. Franklin, then the literary star of the continent, arrived on this mission with two able coadjutors, having means and authority to establish a free press. But the task of thoroughly conciliating a province with different habits, tastes, and religion, and a priesthood averse to the union, was then hopeless;

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or the spirit that could accomplish it was hushed for ever. tune's current was turned backwards. The army, though greatly reinforced, was unable to maintain itself against the still more numerous army now hotly pressing it, and commanded by the accomplished soldier who saved Quebec. Advantages of a trifling character were occasionally gained by the continental troops; but a series of reverses, thickening upon their scattered forces, and increasing their difficulties at every step, with a victorious army hovering in their rear, compelled them, early in the summer, to evacuate the province, and abandon an expedition from which so much was hoped, and which, at one time, was justly regarded as nearly crowned with success.

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HEN General Washington arrived at Cambridge, on the 2d of July, he found a mixed multitude of people there, under very little discipline, order, or government; the enemy in possession of Bunker Hill, on Charlestown Neck, strongly intrenched, and fortifying themselves. He found part of the Continental Army on Winter and Prospect Hills, about a mile and a quarter from the enemy on Bunker Hill, in a very insecure state; another part at the village of Cambridge, which he made his head-quarters; and a third part at Roxbury, guarding the passage in and out of Boston. He immediately began to throw up lines of defence at these places, for the double purpose of securing his troops from any attempts of the enemy, and

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