LEAVES THEY HATE TOUCHED. 79 



circumstance in liis Preface, alludes to the tragical fate of his relative. 

 It would appear that both uncle and nephew had been warned of 

 their danger if they remained in France; but of his uncle, the nephew 

 says : " His virtue was so exalted as to render him unsuspicious of so 

 nefarious a course, and his internal consciousness induced him to 

 slight the advice which his friends gave both to him and to me, at 

 the time when an order was given to arrest us, and which in all pro- 

 bability was not the only mandate concerning us from the same 

 quarter. He would not quit France ; but I," exclaims the author of 

 the Travels, — " I, who was less confident and less virtuous, fled from 

 the poignard, while he fell by its stroke ! " 



But it is time to proceed to another autograph. 



The Lord Dorchester of whom the Duke de Liancourt has occa- 

 sion to speak so often in the first volume of his Travels was 

 better known as General Carleton, and General Sir Guy Carleton. 

 As General Carleton he won in his day laurels from Quebec 

 almost as glorious as Wolfe's. Furnished with very inadequate 

 means, he endured a close siege of six months within its walls, 

 defending it against two determined assaults, in one of which the 

 commander of the invading force, Montgomery, -was slain. This 

 was in 1775-6. The war of the American Revolution was in 

 progress. The Congress, aware of the weakened coiidition of the 

 royal armies in Canada, determined to attempt the conquest of 

 that covmtry. On the 3rd of November, 1775, Monti-eal surrendered 

 to a United States force sent against it by way of Lake Champlain 

 and the Richelieu. Not many days later in the same month, a force 

 appeared before Quebec, having pushed north by a new and most 

 difiicult route — the valleys of the Kennebec and Chaudiere. Quebec 

 was almost destitute of competent defenders. The bulk of the troops 

 had been drawn off to posts more exposed. Happily Carleton, 

 Governor-General at the time, and Commander-in-Chief, had escaped 

 capture at Montreal, and by the memoi'able aid of Com. Bouchette, 

 had descended the river in safety to Quebec. Here he instantly 

 organized a garrison out of such material as was at hand : the 

 French and English iiahLibitants acting as militia ; some men of a 

 discharged Highland regiment (Eraser's); the sailors from the ships; 

 a few regulars (70) ; a few Royal Artillery (22), and 35 marines. 

 All caught the spirit which animated Carleton himself, and the result 

 was that the city and fortress were saved to England. A consider- 



