WOLFE AND MONTCALM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 13

WOLFE AND MONTCALM.

'■'THE FIGHT WITH FRANCE FOR

NORTH AMERICA."

HL— THE TAKING OF LOUISBOURG.

In "tHe Witness of May 27 there is a iSeries of eight portraits of men whose lives

(•were more or less oonneoted with the fcfcruggle for North, America, and two of jfchese men are Wolfe and Amberst. And ■what a host of historical associations spring up with the mention of their names. We are accustomed to associate Wolfe with the Heights of Abraham, as *Jf he descended from heaven to fight that battle aione, and it is a matter for regret that 60 muon history teaching is connected with isolated facts. Let us, then, assist to a more comprehensive view of the fighfc with France for supremacy, by reference to another event in which Wolfe was engaged, though as one of three brigadiers junde,r General Amhersfc. # ' 1 In 1758, Great Britain was sunk m despondency. Chesterfield . declared she was 110 longer a nation. But at this time Pitt obtained a free hand, and, flinging the sordid part of the Government to ISe*y : castle, who revelled in it. devoted lumsek ■ *'not merely to reduce Prance to her - legitimate sphere in America, and make ' ier harmless- against Great Britain in ■Europe, but to drive her wholly from the iwestern hemisphere, to wrest from jier " 'every possession she had outsid© her own fcoxders, to leave her crushed, humiliated, 4nd powerless fqr aggression." ,Wiln tills Purpose; in view* there were to be three expeditions in America,' with Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, Fort Duquesne and aLouisboiirg as their objectives; and of ifchese the last is the only one we wish, to {refer to at present. .. • 'But how many know where Louisbourg as? It has disappeared from most maps, Jor to-day it is little more than a collection 'of fishermen's huts by the sea shore; but jfche author of " The Fight with France for " $forth America" (A. G. Bradley) says ot 'at: f 'lt has not been given in modern 1 jfcimes to many centres of note and power to enjoy* within- the short space- of a cenjfcury fund a-hajf at once euch. World-wide ianfe and. such profound oblivion. And again: "With her fine harbour, her natural defenses, her commanding situation in the northern seas, Louisbourg only existed as a menace to the enemies of those iwho held her/£ refuge to the hunted, a rallying point for the hunters. of the ocean! te scourge pf Nova Scotia, the curse of o Newfoundland and the New England coasts, and $ name as familiar then m •SEurojfe 'as it is now forgotten. Since kts restoration to France [it had been taken Jby the 3STew Enjrknders, and restored by treaty] "a million sterling had been spent £n its fortifications. Frajftuet, theengjaient engineer, assisted by skilled artificers, i^iad dono the work and from behind vtjS ifwo-miie clrole of etone bastions and masfeive curtains of •well-mortalred. {masonry aiearly 400 cannon frowned defiance upon fctt new comers." . ■ 1 It was against .this JLouisbourg, tne of the North," situated just im-[ttnedia-tely eoufeh-weet of the extreme east tjpoinfc of Cape Breton Island, that Pitt tUreoWd 5 ' <>ne of hfs expeditions. Pitts SntentioijS es regards Canada were generally Scno/ws, ano fleets were preparing at Roche- \ Sort and) Toulon to go west with men, armaments, and provisions. Hawke, however, drove the French fleet at Rochefort, Qjelter-skelter on to their own jrocks and j&ndbanlra, while Osborn guarded the Straits jpf Gibraltar, and the Toulon squadron did ajofc try to bust h.im from his position. } The of the North American t fleet w<js given to Admiral Boscawen, a ' Igrandson of Arabella Churchill, and therefore of Marlborough blood. " Old Dreadnought," or " Wryn-neeked Dick," as he " jjras indifferently called, was a bluff old, sea dog' with a large outlook, and therefore alioveJ the petty ill-feeling and jealousy .•ivjjich so often exists when the two arms " (have to combine in a. common cause. On 3Tebruary 19, 1758, Boscawen sailed from the Sojent with Wolfe and the British contingent, whioh T "was to be reinforced by jfche troops already at Halifax, and awaiting European co-operation. Amherst followed a fter, hut it was not until June 2 mat the fleet of 200 ships of all Kinds, and - twith an. army of 12,000 on board, arrived ,- jfrff Louisbourg Harbour, on the shores of - .which the fortified town was garrisoned iyvith 4000, and prepared to stand a 6iege of 12 njonths. In the harbour, too, were seven Une-of-battleships and five frigates, ferrying 550 guns and 3000 sailors ready to •'iassist m -the defence. The fleet, however. ' . maay be dismissed at once, for after the ■ British troops landed, the French admiral, , •*£Pesgoutfces, rather than lcee all his ships, prudently euuk four of them by night in *he ohannel, to protect the rest" ; another, j&he frigate Aretmwi, "bravely manned and com?Baaded," with ehot holes plugged, rah Jbhe gauntlet of the British fleet in a fog, iand oore safely away to France to carry '-/.the news" of the sore plight of Louisbourg; ,'BOO sailors, seeing their opportunity, seized -J'wo more, burning' one to tho water's edge - • t%nd renaoving-the other to a safe situation ; . at another time bombs set fire to one and .•■> it ignated two others, the- three being also --purftt to the water's edge; and tho rest *>f the ships were either taken or otherwise disposed of." French sea power upon the UNorth Atlantic coast ceased to exist. „ , But to return to the land force. After ffeoonnoitemng in a heavy sea it was seen ♦ chAt only frfes lajiding places were" avail.^able, and then only when the sea moderated, tha^ outlook, however, wa6 not too ■ .promising. On the morning of June 8, • - jWolfe tried to effect a landing, but on * wearing the shore he was met with such a hail of ball and 1 ' round shot that his "ardent soul shrank from landing hie men further into such a murderous fire. He 4 was just on the point of signalling to his _.. .,. flotilla to sheer off, when three boats on "•'-, . the flank; either unaware of or refusing to see the- signal, were observed dashing for .:,;, a rocky ledge "at the corner of the cove." ■> •^•Disciplinarian thouph he was, Wolfe' fol- ;-' lowed suit and effected a landing though ' -,9bcats were smashed and men drowned in • "dojng so; .indeed, in the landing of the '. . ,froopp required, fully 100 boats were -•' destroyed. Gradually the French retired ' .withili iher fortifications, spiking the guns &nd burning everything as they fell back. '. It might" pc mentioned here that Wolfe *'haa witK him a large corps of light in- _ janfcry, picked for their marksmanship from . various regiments, ',' and this corps' Ji^ ; trained in tactics V\noe ig^rg fatnjljar, " buji vegsvded. at $h* time ag quite t, straiigd

eccentric brigadier. It was merely a matter of advancing in loose formation, and usiner all the inequalities of the ground for protection, coupled with a light and ea6y costume for the' men, namely a short jacket, small round hat, and a kind of % light woollen trousers, cut moderately tight." It is said that one of the officers, more educated than the rest, said to Wolfe that hia corps reminded him of what Xenophon had written. "That is exactly where I got the idea," replied Wolfe, "only these people never Tead anything, and consequently believe the idea to be a novel one. ' For a fortnight or more engineering or other difficulties prevented Amherst, Wolfe, and others assisting, from coming to close grips, and at first some friendly amenities were exchanged between besiegers and besieged. Amherst, in a courtly way, sent Madame Drucour, the governor s wife, some West Indian pine apples, ajid she, not to be outdone, retrned the compliment by sending him a basket of wine, and her husband offered to wounded British officers the services of an exceptionally skiitul physician. But the fighting soon became so desperate as to leave no time for little courtesies. " Two hundred big guns tyid mortare, plied upon bofch sides by skilled gunners, shook that desolate coast witn euch an uproar as no part of .North America since its Recovery had ever felt. Twenty thousand disciplined troops, soldiers and sailors, led by skilful and energetic commander?, mado a warlike tableau the like of which had never yet been seen, with all the blood that had been spilled be-tween the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, while infinite valour animated both sides." By the there -were but half a dozen guns able to reply "to the 107 heavy pieces fired at close range from the British batteries." Further resistance was useless, and the white flag was hoisted for a parley ; but when Amherst's terms — "unconditional surrender tvithin an hour" — w-aro announced, the French officers were for fighting to the last gun, but the 4000 citizens persuaded the military to accept Amherst's proposal. On July 27 " the JFrench troops were drawn up on parade >before Whitmoro, and, with gestures of rage and mortification, laid down their arms and filed gloomily off to the ships that were to take them to Englajid. Five thousand six hundred and thirty-sevon prisoners, soldiers and sailors, were included in the surrender, and about 240 pieces of capnon and mortars, with a large amount of ammunition and stores, fell into the hands of the victors." As the British held Halifax, it was decided that there was no need for a Louisbourg, so " in 1760 a great crowd of workmen, navvies and soldiers, toiled continuously for six months at the task of demolition, and the busy, famous, warlike town was in this strange fashion wiped out of existence."