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. It is the commercial emporium
of this district; and, though it has suffered from the equalization of
duties, it is now recovering. The facilities for communication with the
United States, by the systems of railroad made and making, which may
bring it within twelve hours of Boston and New York, will doubtless
urge forward its prosperity.
* * * * *
"Montreal has considerable general commerce, commanding, as it does,
the St. Lawrence, now connected by railway directly with the United
States, and being at the outlet of the Ottawa river district. The
island upon which it stands is some thirty miles long, and contains
much fine and valuable land, mostly under cultivation, and abounding in
good farms and gardens, and fine orchards. From the 'Mountain' above
Montreal, a splendid view is obtained of the St. Lawrence and its
wooded shores; the dark forests of the Ottawa valley; the fine bright
lands of the islands; the city, and its villaed suburbs. In the
distances, north and south, the 'green mountains' of Vermont, and the
distant summits which separate the cultivated parts of Lower Canada
from those far-off and savage regions, in which the trappers of the
Hudson's Bay Company and some scattered Indians are the sole monarchs
of the woods - are visible. There can be no view more beautiful, few
more extensive. It gives all the peculiarities of this North American
scenery in its largest and finest features. And seen again from the
high towers of the Catholic Cathedral (the cathedral will hold several
thousand people, and is the largest church in Canada), to which I
mounted, up 268 steps, it again delights the eye with its extent and
beauty. From this latter point, too, the St. Lawrence is seen just
below, and you may watch the rushing of the nearest rapids, and the
struggles and windings of the boats and steamers, in passing on their
upward voyages.
"Montreal and Quebec (more especially) have the distinctive features of
French towns with many of the peculiarities of English ones. Here is
the well-known countenance of the northern parts of France. Carts such
as might have been seen, no doubt, hundreds of years ago in France. The
Norman breed of horses: small, round, strong, and enduring. Every other
signboard presents a French name; the blacksmith styling himself
'forgeron;' the baker, 'boulanger;' the ladies' attendant, 'sage-
femme;' - and so on. The professional man generally has two plates upon
his door: - one telling you that he is 'M. Charles Robert,' 'avocat;'
and the other, that he is 'Mr. C. Robert,' 'attorney at law.' In the
'Cote des Neiges,' behind the mountain, at Montreal, and in the suburb
or quarter 'St. Henry,' this French appearance is universal. 'Notre
Dame des Neiges,' in the former, with its gaudily painted inside and
unpretending outside, its wooden roof and tin-covered steeple, would
recall to you the wooded districts of France; and the houses in both
quarters, the people with their 'bonnets rouges' (as distinguished from
the 'bonnets bleus' and 'bonnets gris' of the Quebec district), and
innocence of English and English ways of living, working, farming, and
thinking, are even more French than the French themselves.
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