378 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



house. On page 43, I find these words: "In effect, a movement your 

 "army made in that moment towards the windmill and Borgia's house, 

 " upon the edge of the hciglit, seemed to favour this conjecture. But 

 " an instant afterwards, the Canadians having set fire to that house and 

 " chased you from it, yt)u retook your former position." I am inclined 

 to think that Johnstone did not refer to the property near Maple 

 Avenue, because on another plan made in 1790, I find that a Borgia 

 owned a property near Claire Fontaine, and close to this property, on 

 the edge of the bank, there is a windmill clearly marked. The Eng- 

 lish, according to Johnstone, did not occupy this property near Claire 

 Fontaine or capture the windmill. Before they could do so the Cana- 

 dians had set firo to it. Knox, however, states that the houses were 

 towards the rear of the left of the English line, and therefore, it seems 

 clear that the Borgia property he refers to was the one near Maple 

 Avenue, which agrees exactly with the position of the army as described 

 on the plan. From a careful search among deeds relating to property 

 in this direction, about the time of the battle, I find that there were 

 several properties between Claire Fontaine Street and Maple Avenue, 

 but so far, I have been unable to discover any consecutive row or "chain 

 of houses'' west of Maple Avenue. 



Colonel Eraser's evidence affords another means of ascertaining the 

 distance of the English line from the city. He states that when the 

 line was first formed, Quebec was about a mile distant. A mile from 

 the city walls is quite near the present toll gate. (See toll gate on 

 Grande Allée, jjlan A.) Colonel Eraser does not give this as the 

 place where the battle was fought. He adds, that for the space of half 

 an hour after the line was formed, the army marched on slowly and 

 halted several times. " The army was ordered to march on slowly in 

 " line of battle, and halt several times, till about half an hour after ten, 

 '"' when the French began to appear in great numbers on the rising 

 " ground between us and the town." By referring to Plan A, it will be 

 seen that a very short march would be necessary to bring the army 

 to the line indicated on the plan. Captain Knox also gives some de- 

 finite information on this point. At ten o'clock, when the final dis- 

 position of the army was made, the Thirty-fifth regiment on the right 

 of the English, was disposed in a circular form on the slope of the hill, 

 and from that time " our situation with that of the enemy, and scene 

 " of action, could not vary." It will be seen from the profile on plan 

 No. 1, that the only elevations of any importance on the right of the 

 English, between the city walls and March mont, are the points marked 

 A and B. The right of the English line was not formed on the highest 



