among the British, the Americans in general were not so
well off for bayonets and not so well able to use those
they had; while the artillery odds were still more against
them. Carleton's artillery was not of the best. But it
was better than that of the Americans. He decidedly
overmatched them in the combined strength of all kinds
of ordnance--cannons, carronades, howitzers, mortars,
and swivels. Cannons and howitzers fired shot and shell
at any range up to the limit then reached, between two
and three miles. Carronades were on the principle of a
gigantic shotgun, firing masses of bullets with great
effect at very short ranges--less than that of a long
musket-shot, then reckoned at two hundred yards. The
biggest mortars threw 13-inch 224-lb shells to a great
distance. But their main use was for high-angle fire,
such as that from the suburb of St Roch under the walls
of Quebec. Swivels were the smallest kind of ordnance,
firing one-, two-, or three-pound balls at short or medium
ranges. They were used at convenient points to stop
rushes, much like modern machine-guns.

Thanks chiefly to Cramahe, the defences were not nearly
so 'ruinous' as Arnold at first had thought them. The
walls, however useless against the best siege artillery,
were formidable enough against irregular troops and
makeshift batteries; while the warehouses and shipping
in the Lower Town were protected by two stockades, one
straight under Cape Diamond, the other at the corner
where the Lower Town turns into the valley of the St
Charles. The first was called the Pres-de-Ville, the