the gate of Lachine, on the 7th of September, about three in the
afternoon. General Murray with his army, from Quebec, appeared two
hours after at the opposite side of the town: thus a dark crisis was
at hand for the fate of Canada. Montreal was nowise susceptible of
defence. It was surrounded with stone walls, built in the beginning of
that colony, merely to preserve the inhabitants from the incursions of
the Indians, few imagining at that time it would become the theatre of
a regular war, and that one day they would see formidable armies of
regular, well-disciplined troops before its walls.

We were, however, all pent up in that miserable, bad place--without
provisions, a thousand times worse off than an advantageous position
in open fields--whose pitiful walls could not resist two hours'
cannonade without being level with the ground, and where we would have
been forced to surrender at discretion, if the English had insisted
upon it.

The night between the 7th and 8th September was passed in negotiating
for the articles of capitulation. But in the morning all the
difficulties were removed, and General Amherst granted conditions
infinitely more favourable than could be expected in our
circumstances.

Thus the Canadians, as brave as they are docile, and easy to be
governed, became subjects of Great Britain; and if they can think
themselves happy under that Government, by remembering their past
vexations, they will do so.

M. (Col.) Poularies and M. (Col.) Dalquier, who were generally
distinguished in the French army by their high sense of honor,