Admiral Saunders put off his departure longer than he
had once thought possible; and it was past the middle of
October when he fired a parting salute, and sailed down the
river with his fleet. In it was the ship "Royal William," carrying
the embalmed remains of Wolfe.
Montcalm lay in his soldier's grave before the humble
altar of the Ursulines, never more to see the home for which
he yearned, the wife, mother, and children whom he loved,
the olive-trees and chestnut-groves of his beloved Candiac.
He slept in peace among triumphant enemies, who respected
his memory, though they hardly knew his resting-place. It
was left for a fellow-countryman--a colleague and a brother-in-arms--to
belittle his achievements and blacken his name. The jealous spite
of Vaudreuil pursued him even in death. Leaving Levis to command
at Jacques-Cartier, whither the army had again withdrawn, the
Governor retired to Montreal, whence he wrote a series of despatches
to justify himself at the expense of others, and above all of the
slain general, against whom his accusations were never so bitter as now,
when the lips were cold that could have answered them. First,
he threw on Ramesay all the blame of the surrender of Quebec. Then
he addressed himself to his chief task, the defamation of his unconscious
rival. "The letter that you wrote in cipher, on the tenth of February,
to Monsieur the Marquis of Montcalm and me, in common,[808] flattered his
self-love to such a degree that, far from seeking conciliation,
he did nothing but try to persuade the public that his authority
surpassed mine.
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