Memoirs of the rebellion in 1745 and 1746

13 September 1759

Battle of the Plains of Abraham

THE REBELLION OF 1745,

Frene, who had also obtained employment at Quebec. Intimacies are soon formed amongst military men, and the same destina¬ tion inspired us with sentiments of mutual friendship : I con¬ tracted this friendship the more readily, as they were all three of an excellent disposition and most agreeable companions. We were ordered to embark on board the Iphigenie, a mer¬ chant vessel, freighted for the king, and belonging to M. Michel Roderique, a ship-owner of Rochelle. We accordingly left Rochefort, and on our arrival at Rochelle, we found the crew of the Iphigenie in a state of mutiny, with the carpenter at their head, who insisted on making a declaration to the admiralty, that the ship was entirely rotten, and nowise in a condition to perform the voyage.

THE REBELLION OF 1745,

As to Fremont, who had never ceased annoying us with his impertinence during the whole voyage, as soon as he landed I made him submit to a very different sort of procession, along the quay, under the blows of a cudgel, to the great amusement of all the officers of the island of Quebec; but, above all, to the great satisfaction of my companions during the voyage, who had been daily exposed with myself to his stupidity and insolence. It was a truly laughable scene. He at first drew his sword, but either fearing that I should break the blade with my cudgel, which was both stout and heavy, or fearing that he might receive the blows on his face; every time I lifted my arm, he presented his shoulders with the best possible grace, to receive the blows, the effects of which he must certainly have felt for a long time. I have always found cowardice and impertinence inseparably united in the same person ; for the truly brave man is inoffensive, and never insults any one, however violent he may be, when personally injured. M. l’Oppinot, assistant major of Louisbourg, who witnessed the beginning of this scene, withdrew,

THE REBELLION OF 1745,

* We were not long at Louisbourg, before we learned the powerful protection of the Iphigenie. Roderique was in partnership with M. Prevot, the principal com¬ missary at the island of Quebec, and M. Prevot again was in partnership with M. de la Porte, the principal clerk in the Bureau de la Marine. It was not therefore as¬ tonishing, that the inspectors at Rochefort shut their eyes as to the state of the vessels taken up for the King; and the unfortunate sailors would have been obliged to return to France, in this rotten ship, if the officers of the admiralty had not had more probity and humanity than the proprietors ; who, if the Iphigenie had gone to the bottom of the sea, would have lost nothing, as the ship and cargo were insured at their full value, and perhaps for more. What monsters the love of gain creates !

THE REBELLION OF 1745,

The death of M. de Montcalm, who was killed at the battle of Quebec, on the 13th of September, 1759, where my usual destiny precipitated me fruitlessly into a tremendous fire, to extricate me afterwards when on the point of sharing his fate, having put an end to the campaign of 1759 sooner than we had rea¬ son to expect, I resolved to return to France, with Mr. Cannon, in the latter end of the season. This voyage was absolutely essen¬ tial to me, particularly as I was the oldest lieutenant of the corps of Canada, which enjoyed a rotation with that of the island of Cape Breton, by my commission of 1754; and as there were three companies vacant in the troops of that colony, I was justly entitled, from my services, to expect one of them. But the Mar¬ quis de Vaudreuil absolutely refused to give me leave of absence, notwithstanding the urgent application of M. de Levis for that purpose; dreading, probably, that I should give a true account to the court of the particulars of that campaign, which irrevocably decided the fate of Canada. However, he gave me his word of honour that he would do me justice, and that I should have a