HISTORY.OF VERMONT. 43 



%}rould probably soon have the command of it. 

 To prevent every thing of this kind, Mont- 

 gomery with the forces that had arrived, on 

 September the fourth, made a movement down 

 the lake. Schuyler, though in an ill state of 

 health, pushed forward from Albany, and joined 

 Montgomery at the Isle la Mottc ; and they 

 both moved on to the Isle aux Noix, and took 

 proper measures to prevent the passage of the 

 British vessels into the lake. Here they pub- 

 lished a declaration addressed to the Canadians^ 

 assuring them that the American army was not 

 designed against their country, their liberties, 

 religion, or property ; but was directed only a- 

 gainst the British garrisons and troops; and it con- 

 tained an animating invitation to the Canadians, 

 to join with them in asserting their liberty and 

 freedom. These Proclamations were sent into 

 ail the adjacent parts of the country by colonel 

 Allen and major Brown, and had a very consid^ 

 arable effect on the feelings of the Canadians ; 

 for though they could not comprehend what 

 was meant by the rights and liberties of /^^en, 

 they concluded it must mean something better 

 than any thing which they had ever enjoyed. 



On September the sixth, the American army 

 did not exceed one thousand men, but proceed-, 

 ed towards St. Johns without meeting with 

 any obstruction. The fire from the fort, and 

 the strong appearances of force and resistance 

 which they observed, occasioned their landing 

 at the distance of a mile and a half from the 

 fort ; and on ground covered with thick woods, 

 and intersected with creeks and waters. In ad- 

 vancing to. reconnoitre the works, their left waa 



