Major Barre kept it from the invalid till the fever had abated. Wolfe
then wrote a long answer, which reveals his mixed dejection and resolve.
He owns the justice of what Saunders had said, but adds: "I cannot leave
out that part of my letter to Mr. Pitt which you object to. I am
sensible of my own errors in the course of the campaign, see clearly
wherein I have been deficient, and think a little more or less blame to
a man that must necessarily be ruined, of little or no consequences. I
take the blame of that unlucky day entirely upon my own shoulders, and I
expect to suffer for it." Then, speaking of the new project of an attack
above Quebec, he says despondingly: "My ill state of health prevents me
from executing my own plan; it is of too desperate a nature to order
others to execute." He proceeds, however, to give directions for it. "It
will be necessary to run as many small craft as possible above the town,
with provisions for six weeks, for about five thousand, which is all I
intend to take. My letters, I hope, will be ready to-morrow, and I hope
I shall have strength to lead these men to wherever we can find the
enemy."
On the next day, the last of August, he was able for the first time to
leave the house. It was on this same day that he wrote his last letter
to his mother: "My writing to you will convince you that no personal
evils worse than defeats and disappointments have fallen upon me.
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