In The American War Of
Independence It Was Taken From Us By Surprise By One Colonel Ethen
Allen.
It is reported that Allen awakened the commandant, who was in
bed, and told him to surrender.
'By what authority?' said the half-
awakened officer. 'By the authority of the Lord Jehovah and the
Continental Congress,' replied Allen.
"About the middle of the lake is the thriving town of Burlington, the
chief town of Vermont. Here we stopped to take in passengers, and were
pleased with the bustle and activity of the place. The wharf was
crowded; and, as the day was hot, straw hats and shirt-sleeves, also
the mitigated form of comfort - viz., coat and trousers without
waistcoat - were abundant.
"It was dusk when we arrived at Rouse's Point, and we had not so good a
view as I could have wished of the extensive wharves and landings; the
boat, 300 feet long, built to carry over whole trains; and the
extensive station works of the Northern or Ogdensburgh Railroad, which
is just opened. 'I had been introduced, at Saratoga, to the
superintendent of this line, Colonel Schlatter, by Mr. Van Ransellaer,
of the Saratoga and Washington line. Both these gentlemen were very
polite, and gave me orders to pass over their railways when I pleased.
The Ogdensburgh line extends from Rouse's Point to Ogdensburgh, near
the head of Lake Ontario. It forms, with other lines, a complete system
from Boston and New York to Lake Ontario, and has many difficult and
extensive works in its course.
"From Rouse's Point we took the Champlain and St. Lawrence line, opened
two days ago, and at Isle aux Noix passed into British-American
territory, and heard the old French patois of the 'habitans' of that
locality, from the mouths of a crowd of curious people awaiting the
arrival of the train. At La Prairie we joined the ferry boat, an
immense vessel as usual, and dropped down the St. Lawrence for nine
miles, to Montreal, where I got to bed at Donnegana's hotel, at one
o'clock on Tuesday morning, desperately tired.
"Montreal is a flourishing town of 50,000 inhabitants. It is built upon
an island formed by the confluence of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa.
The 'island' belonged to the Catholic priesthood of the place, who
still exercise rights over it similar to those of the 'lords' in cases
of English copyholds, and who obtain an annual revenue of some
30,000l. or 40,000l. from it. The city was founded about
250 years ago, and has still many of the features of a French town,
though the improvements of the last twenty years, by obliterating
single story and wooden houses from the best quarters, have altered its
character. In old times it was the depot for the great fur trades. Now,
however, it receives its furs almost entirely back from England, to
which country the Hudson's Bay Company send their whole supply, to be
dressed and prepared for re-exportation.
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