It was the interest of
France to turn her strength against her only dangerous rival; to
continue as she had begun, in building up a naval power that could face
England on the seas and sustain her own rising colonies in America,
India, and the West Indies: for she too might have multiplied herself,
planted her language and her race over all the globe, and grown with the
growth of her children, had she not been at the mercy of an effeminate
profligate, a mistress turned procuress, and the favorites to whom they
delegated power.
Still, something must be done for the American war; at least there must
be a new general to replace Dieskau. None of the Court favorites wanted
a command in the backwoods, and the minister of war was free to choose
whom he would. His choice fell on Louis Joseph, Marquis de
Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Veran.
Montcalm was born in the south of France, at the Chateau of Candiac,
near Nimes, on the twenty-ninth of February, 1712. At the age of six he
was placed in the charge of one Dumas, a natural son of his grandfather.
This man, a conscientious pedant, with many theories of education, ruled
his pupil stiffly; and, before the age of fifteen, gave him a good
knowledge of Latin, Greek, and history. Young Montcalm had a taste for
books, continued his reading in such intervals of leisure as camps and
garrisons afforded, and cherished to the end of his life the ambition of
becoming a member of the Academy.
Pages:
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391