797 



WOLFE, JAMES. 



WOLFE, JAMES. 



793 



been persisted in; and any doubts which they may have raised were 

 entirely dissipated by Archdeacon Russell's volume above referred to. 

 A letter from Mr. Wolfe to a friend (Mr. J. Taylor) containing the 

 ode is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, and the history of it ia 

 given in the ' Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy' for 1844. 

 There are some lines of Wolfe's written to the popular Irish air 

 ' Qramachree/ which in their kind are little inferior in merit to those 

 on the burial of Moore. 



WOLFE, JAMES, was born at Westerham in Kent, on the 2nd of 

 January 1726, the younger of two sons, the elder of whom died in his 

 infancy. His father, Edward Wolfe, an officer in the British army, 

 who had served with distinction under Maryborough, was made a 

 major-general in 1745, and lieutenant-general in 1747; he died in 

 1759. 



A commission was obtained for James at an early age. He was 

 made a second lieutenant in the regiment of Marine?, of which his 

 father was colonel, in November 1741 ; ensign in Colonel Duroure's 

 regiment in March 1742, and lieutenant and adjutant of the same 

 regiment in July 1743 ; and captain in Barrcll's regiment in June 1744. 

 He was present at the battle of Dettiugcn in 1742, nnd of Fontenoy in 



1745, He also appears to have served in the affair of Falkirk, Jan. 17, 



1746, when the royal troops under Hawley were defeated by the 

 Pretender's forces ; and he served as Hawley 's aide-de-camp in the 

 battle of Culloden. He was also present at the battle of Lafeldt, in 



1747, where he had the good fortune to distinguish himself by his 

 presence of mind at a critical juncture, and where he was wounded. 

 The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle restored peace to Europe in the course 

 of the next year; but Wolfe (who was appointed major in Lord George 

 Sackvillo's regiment in January 1748-49, lieutenant-colonel in March 

 1749-50, and colonel in October 1757, and transferred to the colonelcy 

 of the 67th regiment in April 1758) had found means to keep alive the 

 favourable impression he had made on the minds of his superior 

 officers in action by the skill and attention which he evinced in the 

 irksome routine duties of training and preserving discipline. The 

 precision with which the six British battalions of infantry performed 

 their evolutions on the field of Minden (1759), and the firmness with 

 which they kept their ground when exposed in consequence of Lord 

 George Sackville's clilatoriness in bringing up the cavalry, were in a 

 great measure attributed to the exertions of Wolfe during the peace. 



Hostilities re commenced between France and Great Britain in 1755, 

 and in 1757 Wolfe was appointed quarter-master-general to the forces, 

 under Sir John Mordaunt, intended to attack Rochefort. While the 

 military and naval commanders of that mismanaged expedition were 

 wasting time in idle controversy, Wolfe landed one night and advanced 

 two miles into the country. His report of the absence of any obstacles 

 to a descent, and his urgent recommendations that it should be made, 

 as well as his offer to take the place himself if three ships and 500 

 men were placed at his disposal, were disregarded ; but they became 

 known to Pitt, and were the main reason of his afterwards selecting 

 Wolfe to command in Canada. 



In 1758 Wolfe was sent, with the rank of brigadier-general, on the 

 expedition against Cape Breton, in which Boscawen commanded the 

 sea and Amherst the land forces. The brunt of the French fire in 

 landing before Louisbourg was borne by the left division under Wolfe; 

 the attacks by the centre and right divisions being mere feints to dis- 

 tract the enemy. The after-operations of the siege were also in a great 

 measure conducted by Wolfe; and it was an honourable* trait in the 

 character of Amherst that in his despatches he allowed his brigadier 

 the full credit of his actions. The landing was effected on the 8th of 

 June : Louisbourg surrendered on the 26th of July. Wolfe soon after- 

 wards, by Pitt's desire, returned to England. 



In 1759 an expedition was fitted out against Quebec by Pitt, who 

 had resolved to deprive the French crown of its most important settle- 

 ments in America. The command of the sea-forces was intrusted to 

 Saunters ; the command of the land foi-ces (8000 men, including pro- 

 vincials) to Wolfe, who was created major-general. Wolfe was one of 

 the youngest generals who had ever been appointed to so important a 

 command. But Pitt, who regarded the successful issue of the American 

 expedition as a matter of the utmost importance, boldly set aside the 

 claims of seniority, and selected for the command the officer whom he 

 believed to be of all the most fitted. Lord Mahon relates a curious anec- 

 dote connected with his appointment which, as he observes, "affords 

 a striking proof how much a fault of manner may obscure and dis- 

 parage high excellence of mind." . . . . " After Wolfe's appointment, 

 and on the day preceding his embarkation to America, Pitt, desirous 

 of giving his last verbal instructions, invited him to dinner, Lord 

 Temple being the only other guest. As the evening advanced, Wolfe, 

 heated perhaps by his own aspiring thoughts and the unwonted 

 society of statesmen, broke forth into a strain of gasconade and 

 bravado. He drew his sword he rapped the table with it he 

 flourished it round the room he talked of the mighty things which 

 that sword was to achieve. The two ministers sat aghast at an 

 exhibition so unusual from any man of real sense and real spirit ; and 

 when at last Wolfe had taken his leave, and his carriage was heard to 

 roll from the door, Pitt seemed for the moment shaken in tho high 

 opinion which his deliberate judgment had formed of Wolfe : he lifted 

 up his eyes and arms, and exclaimed to Lord Temple, ' Good God ! 

 that I should have entrusted the fate of the country and of the 



administration to such hands !'" This story was told by Lord Temple 

 himself to a near relative, the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville. It 

 confirms, as Lord Mahon very truly remarks, " Wolfe's own avowal 

 that he was not seen to advantage in the common occurrences of life, 

 and shows how shyness may at intervals rush, as it were, for refuge, 

 into the opposite extreme." The embarkation arrived at the Isle of 

 Orleans on the 27th of June, and Wolfe at once set about con- 

 structing batteries at the points of Levis and the Isle of Orleans, 

 whence his artillery could play upon Quebec. In August Wolfe 

 issued a proclamation to the Canadian peasants, informing them that 

 his forces were masters of the river, while a powerful army, under 

 General Amherst, threatened their country from the interior ; calling 

 upon them to observe a strict neutrality during the struggle between 

 the French and English crowns, and promising to protect them in 

 their possessions and the exercise of their religion. Montcalm had 

 concentrated all the forces he could raise in the province in Quebec, 

 which he had fortified in a masterly manner. The months of July 

 and August were spent in repeated unsuccessful attempts to drive the 

 French from their advantageous post at the mouth of the Montmo- 

 renci. On the night between the 12th and 13th of September Wolfe 

 landed his troops reduced by sickness and losses, and by the necessity 

 of leaving behind a force sufficient to defend Point Levis and the Isle 

 of Orleans, to 3600 men immediately above Quebec, and, favoured 

 by the night, ascended the hills which command that city from the 

 west. Montcalm, when he learned that the English were in possession 

 of these heights, saw at once that nothing but a battle could save the 

 town, and took his measures accordingly. The battle was strenuously 

 contested, but the French at length gave way. Montcalm and Wolt'o 

 fell in the action, and their seconds in command were both danger- 

 ously wounded, and obliged to leave the field before the fate of the 

 day was decided. From the spot to which he had been conveyed, 

 Wolfe "from time to time lifted his head to gaze on the field of battle, 

 till he found his eyesight begin to fail. Then for some moments he 

 lay motionless, with no other sign of life than heavy breathing or a 

 stifled groan. All at once an officer who stood by exclaimed, ' See, 

 how they run ! ' ' Who run ?' cried Wolfe, eagerly raising himself on 

 his elbow. ' The enemy,' answered the officer ; ' they give way in all 

 directions.' ' Then God be praised !' said Wolfe, after a short pause; 

 ' I shall die happy.' These were his last words ; he again fell back, 

 and, turning on his side, as if by a sharp convulsion, expired. He was 

 but thirty-three years of age, when thus the Nelson of the army he 

 died amidst the tidings of the victory he had achieved." The Marquis 

 de Montcalm "was struck by a musket-ball while gallantly endeavour- 

 ing to rally his men. He was carried back into the city, where he 

 expired next day. When told that his end was approaching, he 

 answered, in a spirit worthy the antagonist of Wolfe, 'So much the 

 better; I shall not live then to see the surrender of Quebec.'" 

 (Mahon). The French lost in the engagement 1500 men; the Engli.sh 

 600. Five days after the action Quebec surrendered, and Canada was 

 lost to France. 



The feature of Wolfe's character most dwelt upon by his contempo- 

 raries was his ardent and fearless spirit of enterprise. His thorough 

 knowledge of his profession, and skill as a disciplinarian, however, the 

 pains he took to ascertain the real state of affairs at Rochefort, and 

 the arguments by which he supported the proposal of a descent, and, 

 above all, his letter addressed to the prime minister from his head- 

 quarters at Montmorenci, on the 2nd of September, show that this 

 quality was combined with an observant and deliberate mind. Enter- 

 prise was with Wolfe the result of perfect and laboriously-attained 

 knowledge of his position. 



The death of Wolfe made a deep impression in England. The most 

 touching instance ia mentioned by Burke : " A little circumstance 

 was talked of at that time, and it deserves to be recorded, as it shows 

 a fineness of sentiment and a justness of thinking in the lower kind 

 of people that is rarely met with, even among persons of education. 

 The mother of General Wolfe was an object marked out for pity by 

 great and peculiar distress; tho public wound pierced her mind with 

 a peculiar affliction, who had experienced tho dutiful son, the amiable 

 domestic character, whilst the world admired the accomplished officer. 

 Within a few months she had lost her husband ; she now lost his son 

 her only child. The populace of the village where she lived unani- 

 mously agreed to admit no illuminations or fireworks, or any other 

 sign of rejoicing whatsoever near her house, lest they should seem, by 

 an ill-timed triumph, to insult over her grief. There was a justness in 

 this, and whoever knows the people knows that they made no small 

 sacrifice on this occasion." The remains of Wolfo were brought to 

 England and interred at Greenwich. A monument was erected to his 

 memory in 1760 by the gentlemen of his native parish. A public 

 monument in Westminster Abbey was voted by the House of Com- 

 mons in 1759, and opened to tho public in 1773 ; a marble statue was 

 voted by the Assembly of Massachusetts. A column marks the spot 

 where Wolfe received his death wound; and recently an obelisk (50 feet 

 high has been erected in a conspicuous position in the government 

 grounds at Quebec overlooking the site of the battle, having on one of 

 its faces inscribed the name of Wolfe and on the other that of 

 Moutcalm. 



There is still no good life of Wolfe, nor has his Correspondence, 

 which is known to exist, been given to the world. It would 



