It would even be wished that they might meet
a reverse, if the consequences to the colony would not be too
disastrous."
[Footnote 602: _Levis au Ministre, 17 Juin, 1758. Doreil au Ministre, 16
Juin, 1758. Montcalm a sa Femme, 18 Avril, 1758._]
[Footnote 603: _Correspondance de Vaudreuil, 1758. Livre d'Ordres, Juin,
1758._]
The proposed movement promised, no doubt, great advantages; but it was
not destined to take effect. Some rangers taken on Lake George by a
partisan officer named Langy declared with pardonable exaggeration that
twenty-five or thirty thousand men would attack Ticonderoga in less than
a fortnight. Vaudreuil saw himself forced to abandon his Mohawk
expedition, and to order Levis and his followers, who had not yet left
Montreal, to reinforce Montcalm.[604] Why they did not go at once is not
clear. The Governor declares that there were not boats enough. From
whatever cause, there was a long delay, and Montcalm was left to defend
himself as he could.
[Footnote 604: _Bigot au Ministre, 21 Juillet, 1758._]
He hesitated whether he should not fall back to Crown Point. The
engineer, Lotbiniere, opposed the plan, as did also Le Mercier.[605] It
was but a choice of difficulties, and he stayed at Ticonderoga. His
troops were disposed as they had been in the summer before; one
battalion, that of Berry, being left near the fort, while the main body,
under Montcalm himself, was encamped by the saw-mill at the Falls, and
the rest, under Bourlamaque, occupied the head of the portage, with a
small advanced force at the landing-place on Lake George.
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