Roubaud's
Deplorable Case_).
The allusion here is evidently to a pamphlet printed in London,
in 1777, in French and English, and entitled, _Lettres de Monsieur
le Marquis de Montcalm, Gouverneur-General en Canada, a
Messieurs de Berryer et de la Mole, ecrites dans les Annees 1757,
1758, et 1759, avec une Version Angloise_. They profess to be
observations by Montcalm on the English colonies, their political
character, their trade, and their tendency to independence. They
bear the strongest marks of being fabricated to suit the times,
the colonies being then in revolt. The principal letter is one
addressed to Mole, and bearing date Quebec, Aug. 24, 1759. It
foretells the loss of her colonies as a consequence to England
of her probable conquest of Canada. I laid before the Massachusetts
Historical Society my reasons for believing this letter, like
the rest, an imposture (see the _Proceedings_ of that Society for
1869-1870, pp. 112-128). To these reasons it may be added that
at the date assigned to the letter all correspondence was stopped
between Canada and France. From the arrival of the English fleet,
at the end of spring, till its departure, late in autumn, communication
was completely cut off. It was not till towards the end of
November, when the river was clear of English ships, that the
naval commander Kanon ran by the batteries of Quebec and
carried to France the first news from Canada.
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