"I have been
compelled," he writes to the Minister, "to decree the pain of
death to the Canadians who are so dastardly as to desert or give
up their arms to the enemy, and to order that the houses of those
who do not join our army shall be burned."[841] Execution was to be
summary, without court-martial.[842] Yet desertion increased daily.
The Canadians felt themselves doubly ruined, for it became known that
the Court had refused to redeem the paper that formed the whole
currency of the colony; and, in their desperation, they preferred
to trust the tried clemency of the enemy rather than exasperate him
by persisting in a vain defence. Vaudreuil writes in his usual strain:
"I am taking the most just measures to unite our forces, and, if our
situation permits, fight a battle, or several battles. It is to be
feared that we shall go down before an enemy so numerous and strong;
but, whatever may be the event, we will save the honor of the King's
arms. I have the honor to repeat to you, Monseigneur, that
if any resource were left me, whatever the progress the English
might make, I would maintain myself in some part of the colony with my
remaining troops, after having fought with the greatest obstinacy; but
I am absolutely without the least remnant of the necessary means. In
these unhappy circumstances I shall continue to use every manoeuvre and
device to keep the enemy in check; but if we succumb in the
battles we shall fight, I shall apply myself to obtaining a capitulation
which may avert the total ruin of a people who will remain forever French,
and who could not survive their misfortunes but for the hope of being
restored by the treaty of peace to the rule of His Most Christian
Majesty.
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