Augustin, till, on the
fifteenth, they found rest on the impregnable hill of Jacques-Cartier,
by the brink of the St. Lawrence, thirty miles from danger.
[Footnote 791: _Livre d'Ordres, Ordre du 13 Sept_. 1759.]
[Footnote 792: Foligny, _Journal memoratif._]
In the night of humiliation when Vaudreuil abandoned
Quebec, Montcalm was breathing his last within its walls.
When he was brought wounded from the field, he was placed
in the house of the Surgeon Arnoux, who was then with Bourlamaque
at Isle-aux-Noix, but whose younger brother, also a surgeon,
examined the wound and pronounced it mortal. "I am glad of it,"
Montcalm said quietly; and then asked how long he had to live.
"Twelve hours, more or less," was the reply. "So much the better,"
he returned. "I am happy that I shall not live to see the surrender
of Quebec." He is reported to have said that since he had lost the battle
it consoled him to have been defeated by so brave an enemy;
and some of his last words were in praise of his successor,
Levis, for whose talents and fitness for command he expressed
high esteem. When Vaudreuil sent to ask his opinion, he gave
it; but when Ramesay, commandant of the garrison, came to
receive his orders, he replied: "I will neither give orders nor
interfere any further. I have much business that must be
attended to, of greater moment than your ruined garrison
and this wretched country. My time is very short; therefore
pray leave me.
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