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Home Foreign Affairs and the Empire, 1714-1763 Empire, 1714-1763; Part 11 |
Empire, 1714-1763; Part 11The news of this exploit was, of course, conveyed to Mont-calm and Bougainville. The latter waited for the news to be confirmed, and was any way too far off to be of service; but Montcalm, after some hesitation, through being uncertain of Saunders's intentions, hurried up and marshalled his men on the Heights of Abraham. Towards ten o'clock the French advanced. The British waited till they came within thirty-five yards, gave two murderous volleys, and then charged, the newly-enlisted Highlanders especially distinguishing themselves. In twenty minutes the battle was over, and was followed by the capture of Quebec. The heroes of each side, Montcalm and Wolfe, were mortally wounded (Wolfe, at the age of sixteen, fought in the battle of Dettingen, and had to act as adjutant of his battalion. At the age of twenty-two he was given command of a regiment, and proved himself an admirable commander. He was a person of literary tastes. As his boat was going down the St. Lawrence on the night of the attack, he is said to have quoted some lines of Gray's Elegy, exclaiming: "Now, gentlemen, I would rather have written that poem than take Quebec!" George II had a high opinion of Wolfe's capacity. On one occasion someone said to him that Wolfe was mad. "Mad, is he?" was the king's answer; "then I wish be would bite some of my other generals".Elsewhere almost as great successes occurred. An expedition sent to the West Indies failed, indeed, to take Martinique, but took Guadeloupe instead. In Germany, Ferdinand, with an army composed of various nationalities, had to retire before two other armies and leave Hanover unprotected. By a brilliant counterstroke he suddenly attacked one French army at Minden. Nine battalions of British infantry, though exposed to a cross fire of artillery, charged through three successive lines of hostile cavalry and tumbled them to ruin; and but for the failure of Lord George Sackville to follow up so magnificent a charge with the cavalry, the victory might have been an overwhelming one. Meanwhile the French had been planning the invasion of England. The fleets at Toulon and at Brest were to unite and to convoy the troops across. The Toulon fleet left harbour; but it was discovered going through the Straits of Gibraltar, and Boscawen, the British admiral, started in pursuit in under three hours-a wonderful performance. By the end of the next day the greater number of the French ships had been dispersed or destroyed off Lagos, and the remnant had retired to Cadiz (August 18). The Brest fleet took advantage of the absence of Hawke's blockading fleet, which had been driven away by a fierce storm, to escape, and sailed south (Hawke had entered the navy in 1720 at the age of fourteen. To Hawke is due what has been called a veritable revolution in naval strategy, for he instituted in 1759 the system of a blockade over the French port of Brest. He did this effectually for a period of six months from May to November 1759. The French fleet only finally escaped because a very bad storm forced Hawke to take refuge at Torbay). But Hawke pursued it to Quiberon Bay, and on a lee shore during a November gale, in a bay full of reefs and shoals, fought it, captured two of its number, and destroyed two others. The remainder of the French fleet was dispersed, seven ships taking refuge up a river, from which they only escaped some fifteen months later. The French plan of invasion therefore absolutely failed. The fight in Quiberon Bay makes a wonderful ending to a wonderful year. |
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