THE WAR OF 1759-60 a> 



In a previous article mention wa& made of the light 

 shed by the recent publication of the de Montcalm and 

 de Levis correspondence on a momentous and imper- 

 fectly understood period in Canadian annals : the era 

 of public plunder and riotous living which immediately 

 preceded the loss of the colony to France. I promised, 

 with the aid of these documents, to exhibit the two 

 illustrious French Generals under novel aspects. Before 

 setting to work to fulfil this promise, it may not be 

 amiss to relate how the correspondence — perfect literary 

 treasures — have been opened out to the reading public. 

 It took Abbe Casgrain, the compiler — or rather the 

 discoverer — nearly four years to complete this arduous 

 task, involving annual voyages to Europe. Here are his 

 own words rendered in English : " The discovery of 

 MSS. of the highest importance, and which had escaped 

 the researches of historians, induced me to write this 

 history. When, in 1888, 1 was superintending in Paris 

 the transcribing of the letters exchanged by General de 

 Montcalm with his family during his Canadian cam- 

 paigns, I learned from his great grandson, the Marquis 

 Victor de Montcalm, that his relative, Count Eaimond 

 de N"icolai, had in his possession some of Montcalm's 

 writings. I called on the Count with a letter of intro- 

 duction from the Marquis. It would be hard to depict 

 my surprise when, instead of a few letters only, Count 

 de Nicolai spread out before me eleven volumes in 



(1) " Guerre du Canada, 1756-1760." By L'Abbe H. JR. Gas- 

 grain. 



