itself, which the adverse fortunes of war had doomed them to wear since the brilliant victory of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham.

* So extreme was the famine for the last three or four days of the march, that dogs were killed and greedily devoured. This fact was stated by General Dearborn, who had been a captain in the expedition, in a letter to President Allen of Bowdoin College. Moose-skin moccasins were boiled to procure from them such nourishment as they afforded.

Meantime Arnold proceeded down the river to conciliate the attachment of the people, and make further preparations for the march of his army. Before leaving Cambridge, he had received ample instructions for the regulation of his conduct, drawn up with care and forethought by the Commander-in-chief, and containing express orders to treat the Canadians on all occasions as friends, to avoid every thing that should give offence or excite suspicion, to respect their religious ceremonies and national habits, to pay them liberally and promptly for supplies and assistance, to punish with severity any improper acts of the soldiery; in a word, to convince them that their interests were involved in the results of the expedition, and that its ultimate purpose was to protect their civil liberties and the rights of conscience.

He was also furnished with printed copies of a manifesto, signed by General Washington, intended for distribution among the people, explaining the grounds of the contest between Great Britain and America, and encouraging them to join their neighbors in a common cause by rallying around the standard of liberty. These instructions were strictly observed by the American troops, and had their desired influence. The impression was lasting. To this day the old men recount to their children the story of the "descent of the Bostonians," as the only great public event that has ever occurred to vary the monotonous incidents of the sequestered and beautiful valley of the Chaudière.

Ten days after reaching the upper settlements, Arnold arrived at Point Levy opposite to Quebec. His troops followed, and were all with him at that place on the 13th of November. About forty Indians had joined him at Sertigan and on the march below. He had ascertained that his approach was known in Quebec, and that all the boats had been withdrawn from the eastern side of the St. Lawrence to deprive him of the means of crossing. Eneas, the savage whom he had sent with a letter to General Schuyler, and another to a friend in Quebec, had found his way to the enemy, and given up his despatches to some of the King's officers. He pretended to have been taken prisoner; but treachery and falsehood are so nearly allied, that Eneas had the credit of both.

Between thirty and forty birch canoes having been collected, Arnold resolved to make an immediate attempt to cross the river. The first division left Point Levy at nine o'clock in the evening and landed safely on the other side, having eluded a frigate and sloop stationed in the St. Lawrence on purpose to intercept them. The canoes returned, and by four in the morning five hundred men had passed over at three separate times, and rendezvoused at Wolfe's Cove. Just as the last party landed, they were discovered by one of the enemy's guard-boats, into which they fired and killed three men. It was not safe to return again, and about one hundred and fifty men were left at Point Levy.

No time was now to be lost. Headed by their leader they clambered up the precipice at the same place, where Wolfe sixteen years before had conducted his army to the field of carnage and of victory. When the day dawned, this resolute band of Americans, few in number compared with the hosts of the British hero, but not less determined in purpose or strong in spirit, stood on the Plains of Abraham, with the walls of Quebec full in their view. They were now on the spot, to which their eager wishes had tended from the moment they left the camp of Washington; and, after encountering so many perils and enduring such extremities of toil, cold, and hunger with unparalleled fortitude, it was a mortifying reflection, that scarcely a glimmering hope of success remained. Troops had recently come to Quebec from Sorel and Newfoundland, and such preparations for defence had been made, that it would have been madness to attempt a serious assault of the town with so small a force.

The strength of the garrison, including regulars and militia within the walls, and the mariners and sailors on board the ships, was little short of eighteen hundred men. But two thirds of these were militia, many of whom were Canadians supposed to be friendly to the Americans, and ready to join with them whenever they should enter the town. This expectation, indeed, had been one of the chief encouragements for undertaking the enterprise against Quebec. To make an experiment upon the temper of the inhabitants, Arnold drew up his men within eight hundred yards of the walls, and gave three cheers, hoping by this display to bring out the regulars to an open action on the plain. The gates would thus be unclosed, and, if the people in the town were as favorably disposed as had been represented, there might thus be an opportunity of forming a junction and acting in concert, as circumstances should dictate. This has been considered as a ridiculous and unmeaning parade on the part of the American commander, but he doubtless had some good grounds for the manouvre from the intelligence brought to him by persons, whose wishes corresponded with his own. At any rate, the garrison chose not to accept the challenge in any other manner, than by discharges of cannon through the embrasures on the walls.

A specimen of military etiquette, which was next resorted to, may be looked upon in a more questionable light. By the rules of war it is customary, when a town is about to be stormed, for the assailing party to send in a summons demanding a surrender and proffering conditions. That every thing might be done in due form, Arnold wrote a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Cramahé, the British commander in Quebec, calling on him in the name of the American Congress to give up the city, and threatening him with disastrous consequences, if the surrender should be delayed. This idle piece of formality might have been spared; it could only excite the derision of the enemy, who knew the precise strength of the assailants.

The Canadians, however, and particularly the people in the surrounding country, were much alarmed. The phenomenon of an army descending from a wilderness, which had hitherto been considered impassable, except by very small parties with light birch canoes, easily transported over the portages, filled them with wonder and apprehension. Report had magnified the number of the invaders, and the imagination gave ready credence to the tales that were told of the prowess and valor of men, who had performed a feat so daring in its attempt, and extraordinary in its success. It was even said, that these men were cased in iron, and that their power of body was equal to their courage and fortitude. *

* This idea gained currency from the curious circumstance of mistaking the sound of a word. Morgan's riflemen were clothed in linen frocks, the common uniform of that description of troops. When they first appeared emerging from the woods, the Canadians said they were vêtus en toile; but, as the intelligence spread, the word toile, linen, was changed into tôle, sheet-iron.

These fears were of short duration. The reality was soon made manifest, and Arnold himself was the first to discover his weakness and danger. Three days after his formidable summons, he had leisure to examine into the state of the arms and ammunition of his troops, and to his surprise he found almost all the cartridges spoiled, there being not more than five rounds to a man, and nearly one hundred muskets unfit for use. Some of the men were invalids, and many deficient in clothing and other necessaries. At the same time he received advice from his friends in town, that a sortie was