CHAPTER XIX.

ANNEXATION OF CANADA.

AUGUST-DECEMBER 1775.

THE Continental congress had, on the first of June 1775, disclaimed the purpose of invading Canada; and a French version of their resolution was distributed among its inhabitants. But on the ninth of that month the governor of the province proclaimed the American borderers to be rebellious. traitors, established martial law, summoned the French peasuntry to serve under the old colonial nobility, and instigated alike the converted Indian tribes and the savages of the Northwest to take up the hatchet against New York and New England. These movements made the occupation of Canada by America an act of self-defence; it received the unflinching approval of Dickinson and occupied in a special manner the attention of New York.

The French nobility and the Catholic clergy acquiesced in the new form of government; but a large part of the British residents detested their subjection to arbitrary power; and the Canadian peasantry denied the authority of their seigniors as magistrates, resisted their claim of a right to command their military services, and were willing to welcome an invasion.

At the instance of Carleton, the Catholic bishop sent a mandate to the several parishes, to be read by the clergy after divine service; but the peasantry persisted in refusing to turn

out.

Schuyler, on taking command of the northern army, despatched Major John Brown to learn the state of Canada. On the twenty-seventh of July the regiment of Green Moun

tain Boys elected its officers; and Seth Warner, a man of courage and good judgment, was chosen its lieutenant-colonel. Preparations were made for crossing the boundary; but Schuyler had only twelve hundred men, and, judging them insufficient for the enterprise, he waited for the orders which, on the sixth of August, he solicited from congress. Before the middle of the month Brown returned from a perilous march of observation, and reported that now was the time to acquire Canada, where there were only about four hundred regulars, beside the garrison of three hundred at St. John's; that the inhabitants were friends; that the militia refused to serve under the French officers lately appointed. At the same time, a new arrival at Ticonderoga changed the spirit of the camp.

We have seen Richard Montgomery, who had served in the army from the age of fifteen, gain distinction in the seven years' war. Failing after the peace in his pursuit of the promotion to which his good service gave him a right to aspire, he sold his commission and emigrated to New York. Here, in 1773, he renewed his acquaintance with the family of Robert R. Livingston, and married his eldest daughter. Never intending to draw his sword again, studious in his habits, he wished for a country life at Rhinebeck; and his wife, whose affections he entirely possessed, willingly conformed to his tastes. The father of his wife used to say that, "if American liberty should not be maintained, he would carry his family to Switzerland, as the only free country in the world." Her grandfather, the aged Robert Livingston, was the stanchest patriot of them all. In 1773, in his eighty-fourth year, he foretold the conflict with England; at the news of the retreat of the British from Concord, he confidently announced American independence. After the battle of Bunker Hill, as he lay calmly on his death-bed, his last words were: "What news from Boston?"

The county of Dutchess, in April 1775, selected Montgomery as a delegate to the first provincial convention in New York, where he distinguished himself by modesty, decision, and sound judgment. Accepting his appointment as brigadier-general, he reluctantly bade adieu to his "quiet scheme of life," "perhaps," he said, "forever; but the will of an op

pressed people, compelled to choose between liberty and slavery, must be obeyed."

On the sixth of August, from Albany, he advised that Tryon should be conducted out of the way of mischief to Hartford. He reasoned in favor of the occupation of Canada, as the means of guarding against Indian hostilities, and displaying to the world the strength of the confederated colonies; it was enlarging the sphere of operations, but a failure would not impair the means of keeping the command of Lake Champlain. Summoned by Schuyler to Ticonderoga, he was attended as far as Saratoga by his wife, whose gloomy forebodings he soothed by cheerfulness and good humor. His last words to her at parting were: "You will never have cause to blush for your Montgomery."

not come.

When, on the seventeenth of August, he arrived at Ticonderoga, Schuyler departed for Saratoga, promising to return on the twentieth. That day passed, and others; and still he did On the twenty-fifth, Montgomery wrote to him entreatingly to join the army with all expedition, as the way to give it confidence in his spirit and activity. On the evening of the twenty-sixth, Schuyler, at Albany, received an express from Washington, urging the acquisition of Canada, and promising an auxiliary enterprise by way of the Kennebec. "I am sure," wrote the chief, "you will not let any difficulties, not insuperable, damp your ardor; perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages. You will therefore, by the return of this messenger, inform me of your ultimate resolution; not a moment's time is to be lost." In obedience to this letter, Schuyler set off for his army.

Montgomery, wherever he came, looked to see what could be done, and to devise the means of doing it; he had informed Schuyler that he should probably reach St. John's on the first day of September. Schuyler sent back no reply. "Moving without your orders," pursued Montgomery, "I do not like; but the prevention of the enemy is of the utmost consequence; for, if he gets his vessels into the lake, it is over with us for the present summer;" and he went forward with a thousand or twelve hundred men. On the fourth of September he was joined at Isle La Motte by Schuyler, and they proceeded to

Isle-aux-Noix. The next day a declaration of friendship was dispersed among the inhabitants. On the sixth, Schuyler, with forces not exceeding a thousand, marched toward St. John's. In crossing a creek, the left of the advanced line was attacked by a party of Indians; but, being promptly supported by Montgomery, it beat off the assailants, yet with a loss of nine subalterns and privates. The next day, acting on false information, Schuyler led back the troops unmolested to the Isle-aux-Noix. From that station he wrote to congress that he should retire, unless he should "receive their orders to the contrary." He further announced to them that in health he was so low as not to be able to hold the pen;" and, being put to bed in a covered boat, he withdrew from the conduct of the campaign.

His letter was the occasion of "a large controversy" in congress; the proposal to abandon Isle-aux-Noix was severely disapproved, and it was resolved to spare neither men nor money for his army. If the Canadians would remain neuter, no doubt was entertained of the acquisition of Canada. Schuyler was encouraged to attend to his health, and thus the command of the invading army fell to Montgomery.

The gallant Irishman, on the day after Schuyler left Isleaux-Noix, began the investment of the well-provisioned citadel of St. John's. The Indians kept quiet, and the zealous efforts of the governor, the clergy, and the French nobility had hardly added a hundred men to the garrison. Carleton thought himself abandoned by all the earth, and wrote to the British commander-in-chief at Boston: "I had hopes of holding out for this year, had the savages remained firm; but now we are on the eve of being overrun and subdued."

On the morning after Montgomery's arrival near St. John's he marched five hundred men to the north of the fortress, where he stationed them to cut off its connections. A sally from the fortress was beaten off, and the American detachment was successfully established at the divergence of the roads to Chambly and Montreal. Additions to his force and supplies of food were continually arriving through the indefatigable at tention of Schuyler; and, though the siege flagged for the want of powder, the investment was soon made so close that the retreat of the garrison was impossible.

Ethan Allen had been sent to Chambly to raise a corps of Canadians. They gathered round him with spirit, and his officers advised him to lead them without delay to the army; but, with boundless rashness, he indulged himself in a vision of surprising Montreal as he had surprised Ticonderoga. In the night preceding the twenty-fifth of September he passed over from Longueil to Long Point with about eighty Canadians and thirty Americans, though he had so few canoes that but a third of his party could embark at once. About two hours after sunrise he was attacked by a mixed party of regulars, English residents of Montreal, Canadians, and Indians, in all about five hundred men, and, after a defence of an hour and three quarters, he surrendered himself and thirty-eight men; the rest fled to the woods. The wounded prisoners, seven in number, entered the hospital; the rest were shackled together in pairs, and distributed among different transports in the river. Allen, the captor of Ticonderoga, was chained with heavy leg-irons and shipped to England, where he was imprisoned in Pendennis castle.

The issue of this adventure daunted the Canadians for a moment; but difficulties only brought out the resources of Montgomery. Of the field officers, he esteemed Brown above others for his ability; Macpherson, his aide-de-camp, a very young man, of good sense and rare endowments, was universally beloved; in John Lamb, captain of a New York company of artillery, he found "a restless genius, brave, active, and intelligent, but very turbulent and troublesome." "The troops carried the spirit of freedom into the field, and thought for themselves." He wrote home: "The master of Hindostan could not recompense me for this summer's work, where no credit can be obtained. O fortunate husbandmen, would I were at my plough again!" Yet, amid all his vexations, he so won the affection of his army that every sick soldier, officer, or deserter, that passed home, agreed in praising him wherever they stopped, so that his reputation rose throughout the country.

Anxious to relieve St. John's, Carleton, after the capture of Allen, succeeded in assembling about nine hundred Canadians at Montreal; but the inhabitants generally favored the