CXVI ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



" 1902 — ^nothing had been done to mark the spot where Canada stood 

 "at bay against the combined assault of Montgomery and Arnold on 

 " Quebec. Yet this assault was the turning point in the most moment- 

 " ous crisis which our country has ever been called upon to face. The 

 " American invaders had overrun the whole colony. They had taken 

 "every post along the frontier. ]\rontreal, Sorel, Three Eivers, and 

 "the long line of the St. Lawrence were all at their mercy. Quebec 

 "alone was left — the last hope of British arms, the last stronghold of 

 "British power in those troublous times, and the one sure promise of 

 " any British Dominion remaining in the AVestern World. On Quebec 

 " hung the fate of half a continent, as well as the distinctively Canadian 

 " name and fame of many million people in the future. One false 

 " move by Carleton, one successful act of treachery in the beleagured 

 "town, one moment of weakness among the little garrison, one battle 

 " lost against Montgomery, and all would have been over. But Quebec 

 " stood fast, and Canada was saved. 



" Four generations after this field of honour had been fought an 1 

 " won, the first practical proposal was made to commemorate our vic- 

 "torious defenders. At a meeting of the Literary and Historical 

 " Society of Quebec, on the 19th of March, 1903, it was resolved — ' That 

 " ' the time had come for the erection of historic tablets at Près-de-Ville 

 " ' and the Sault-au-Matelot, in the Lower Town of Quebec, relating to 

 "'events of 31st December, 1775, which were so important to the 

 "'destiny of Canada; and, as it is within the province of the Literary 

 '' ' and Historical Society of Quebec to erect such memorials, a com- 

 " ' mittee is hereby appointed, who shall have full power to raise the 

 " ' necessary funds, and to do everything required to bring the project 

 " ' to a successful issue.' 



" As such memorials would' be battlefield monuments, the Federal 

 "Government was petitioned by the Society for means to erect suitable 

 " historic tablets at these places. The request was graciously responded 

 " to, and splendid memorials in statuary bronze have been erected, one 

 " on the rock where Montgomery was defeated and killed, and the other 

 " on the St. James Street gable of the Molsons Bank, as "near as possible 

 " to the site of the Sault-au-^Matelot barricade, where Arnold was de- 

 " feated, and over 400 of his men made prisoners. Both tablets were 

 "placed in position on the 29th of December, 1904, just two days 

 •"• before the 129th anniversary of the assault. 



" Both inscriptions were composed by Major William Wood, Prosi- 

 " dent of the Society in 1904. and wore approved by the Historical 

 " Tablets Committee and by the Society's Patron, the then Governor 

 " General, the Earl of Minto, who took the keenest personal interest 

 " in the whole undertaking, from first to last. 



