In The Centre Stood A House, Visible On A Plan Of Mr.
Parke's, In Which, About Noon On That Memorable Day, A Pretty Lively
Debate Was Taking Place.
Vaudreuil and some of the French officers were at
that moment and in this spot debating the surrender of
The whole colony.
Let us hear an eye-witness, Chevalier Johnstone, General de Levis' aide-
de-camp, one of the Scotchmen fighting in Canada for the French king,
against some of his own countrymen under Wolfe, after the disaster of
Culloden. It was our good fortune to publish the recently-discovered
journal of this Scotch officer for the first time in 1864. Chevalier
Johnstone's description will strike every one from its singular
accuracy: -
"The French army in flight, scattered and entirely dispersed, rushed
towards the town. Few of them entered Quebec; they went down the
heights of Abraham opposite the Intendant's Palace (past St. John's
gate) directing their course to the hornwork, and following the
borders of the River St. Charles. Seeing the impossibility of rallying
our troops I determined myself to go down the hill at the windmill
near the bake house [290] and from thence across over the meadows to
the hornwork resolved not to approach Quebec from my apprehension of
being shut up there with a part of our army which might have been the
case if the victors had drawn all the advantage they could have reaped
from our defeat. It is true the death of the General-in-chief - an
event which never fails to create the greatest disorder and confusion
in an army - may plead as an excuse for the English neglecting so easy
an operation as to take all our army prisoners.
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