Consternation was
general. M. de Vaudreuil listened to everybody, and was always
of the opinion of him who spoke last. On the appearance
of the English troops on the plain by the bakehouse,
Montguet and La Motte, two old captains in the regiment of
Bearn, cried out with vehemence to M. de Vaudreuil 'that
the hornwork would be taken in an instant by assault, sword
in hand; that we all should be cut to pieces without quarter;
and that nothing would save us but an immediate and general
capitulation of Canada, giving it up to the English.'"[786] Yet
the river was wide and deep, and the hornwork was protected
on the water side by strong palisades, with cannon. Nevertheless
there rose a general cry to cut the bridge of boats. By
doing so more than half the army, who had not yet crossed,
would have been sacrificed. The axemen were already at work,
when they were stopped by some officers who had not lost
their wits.
[Footnote 786: Confirmed by _Journal tenu a l'Armee,_ etc. "Divers
officiers des troupes de terre n'hesiterent point a dire, tout haut
en presence du soldat, qu'il ne nous restoit d'autre ressource que
celle de capituler promptement pour toute la colonie," etc.]
"M. de Vaudreuil," pursues Johnstone, "was closeted in a
house in the inside of the hornwork with the Intendant and
some other persons. I suspected they were busy drafting the
articles for a general capitulation, and I entered the house,
where I had only time to see the Intendant, with a pen in his
hand, writing upon a sheet of paper, when M.
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