[Footnote 790: _Memoires sur le Canada,_ 1749-1760.]
At least he might have taken a night for reflection. He was
safe behind the St. Charles. The English, spent by fighting,
toil, and want of sleep, were in no condition to disturb him.
A part of his own men were in deadly need of rest; the night
would have brought refreshment, and the morning might have brought
wise counsel. Vaudreuil would not wait, and orders were given at
once for retreat.[791] It began at nine o'clock that evening. Quebec
was abandoned to its fate. The cannon were left in the lines of
Beauport, the tents in the encampments, and provisions enough in
the storehouses to supply the army for a week. "The loss of the
Marquis de Montcalm," says a French officer then on the spot, "robbed
his successors of their senses, and they thought of nothing but flight;
such was their fear that the enemy would attack the intrenchments
the next day. The army abandoned the camp in such disorder
that the like was never known."[792] "It was not a retreat," says
Johnstone, who himself a part of it, "but an abominable
flight, with such disorder and confusion that, had the English
known it, three hundred men sent after us would have been
sufficient to cut all our army to pieces. The soldiers were all
mixed, and scattered, dispersed, and running as hard as they
could, as if the English army were at their heels." They
passed Charlesbourg, Lorette, and St.
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