Relying,
Doubtless, On The Prestige Of His Victories During The Campaign Of The
Proceeding Year (1758) In Which He Had
Been uniformly successful, and
in which at Ticonderoga, with four thousand men he had defeated
General Abercromby at the head
Of nearly four times that number - he
endeavoured by a confident bearing and encouraging expressions [206]
to animate his troops with hopes which he himself could scarcely
entertain; and though almost despairing of success, boldly resolved to
attempt, by a sudden and vigorous onset, to dislodge his rival before
the latter could intrench himself in his commanding position, and it
is surely no blot on his fame that the superior discipline and
unflinching steadiness of his opponents, the close and destructive
volley [207] by which the spirited but disorderly advance of his
battalions was checked, and the irresistible [208] charge which
completed their confusion, rendered unavailing his gallant effort to
save the colony; for (to borrow the words of the eloquent historian of
the Peninsular War), "the vicissitudes of war are so many that
disappointment will sometimes attend the wisest combinations; and a
ruinous defeat, the work of chance close the career of the boldest and
most sagacious of Generals, so that to judge a commander's conduct by
the event alone is equally unjust and unphilosophical."
In the remarkable letter said to have been addressed to his cousin, M.
de Mole, President au Parlement de Paris, and dated from the camp
before Quebec, 22nd August, 1759," - a fortnight before the battle -
MONTCALM thus pathetically describes how hopeless would be the
situation in the event of WOLFE effecting a landing near the city;
and, with a firm heart, foretold his own fate,
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