1775] ALLEN'S ATTACK OF MONTREAL. 441 and arrest the leading disaffected persons in Montreal who were well known. Among the most active of this class was Thomas Walker, whose name has appeared in the second book of this volume. No one had been more active in stirring up disaffection with the habitants. He lived at L'Assumption and had unceasingly exercised his influence against the government. But Carleton was entirely without any imperial force to sustain him, and the Canadian militia had declined to enrol themselves. Moreover, a great number of the English speaking inhabitants of that city, and who they really were was a matter of doubt and suspicion, were favourable to the cause of congress. The Quebec act establishing the legislative council, and not selecting the house of assembly out of the slender protestant population, had so long been represented as a grievance, that many had brought themselves to regard the act as an individual injury. There are few instances on record, where the governor of a province has been placed in more trying circumstances than Carleton in the autumn of 1775. In Quebec Cramahé issued a proclamation on the 16th of September, by which all persons who had arrived in the city after the 31st of August were called upon to declare before the proper authorities within two hours, their names, residence, and the business which brought them there, or be regarded as spies. All keepers of hotels and public houses were ordered to give notice of the arrival of any strangers, within two hours after their appearance. On the night of the 24th of September, Ethan Allen with about one hundred and fifty men from the camp at point Olivier, crossed over from Longueuil on the south shore at the foot of the current, and reached the suburb of Saint Mary about ten o'clock, quartering his men in the houses in the neighbourhood. Canoes for the passage had been readily furnished him. Their purpose in some form must have been known, for it was suspected that some such attempt would be made. Carleton tells us that, on the 24th, he sent out a party with orders to bring all ladders in the suburbs within the town. The order was resisted with insolence and threats. Nevertheless, the secret of Allen's movements was well kept, and no one in the city had any idea of his presence. It was by accident that the fact was known. A loyalist, Desautel, who had a farm about a league below Montreal, on the morning of the 25th, was returning to his place, when he observed several of the congress troops loitering about the houses. He took to the fields and reached Montreal to give the alarm. The gates were closed; there was a meeting in the Champ de Mars of the enrolled men with their arms. The greater number were French Canadians, the majority of the English speaking population holding back; although those representing loyalist opinions were present. They proceeded to the barracks to obtain ammunition. About sixty of the troops marched in the van, the remaining few score, which constituted the garrison, were posted in the barrack yard, drawn up as a reserve. There were about three hundred French Canadians and thirty English speaking inhabitants† devoted to the British cause. From what followed, it is plain that Allen and his followers were exceedingly surprised that any resistance should have been made. He was a vain, uneducated man, without even a shadow of suspicion of the difficulty of the task he had undertaken. He had neither the judgment nor the ability to carry out his purpose, and the folly of attacking a city of from twelve to fourteen thousand inhabitants, with one hundred and fifty men picked up at hap-hazard, without artillery or a day's provision, shews the shallowness of his character. On the arrival of the force from Montreal, Allen's force placed themselves in the houses and barns, from which they commenced a fire of musketry. They were soon driven out, Can. Arch., Q., 11., p. 267. + I may be called to account for using this phrase: I know no other to represent this population, many of whom came from New England, and had there formed the extreme opinions they professed. There had been no regular emigration to Canada from the mother country; for as Carleton stated, the southern provinces had obtained the preference. It would be without warrant to describe this population generally as British. 1775] ALLEN'S NARRATIVE. 443 but not before they had wounded major Carden, who afterwards died from his wounds, Mr. Alexander Paterson, a British merchant of distinction, and a Canadian gentleman, Mr. Beaubassin. Thirty-five prisoners were taken with Allen himself. Those who escaped made their way to the woods plundering the houses as they passed, especially the places of those who had joined the king's force. * United States writers blame Carleton for placing these men in irons. The fact is true, but it has been distorted and exaggerated. As to Allen's statements, no one places reliance on them. The explanation is to be accepted in Carleton's words, that the rebels had been put in irons, not from choice, but necessity, and placed on board the vessels lying before the city. There were no prisons where they could be confined, or troops to put on guard over them; the prisoners were, however, treated with as much humanity as safety permitted. Montgomery wrote to Carleton threatening reprisals. Carleton deliberately refused to make any reply, but sent the letter to England. There could have been no very great hardship endured, for, on the 9th of November Cramahé reported that the men had been sent to England from Quebec, whither they had been transferred from Montreal. Allen's statement, given in the narrative published by Walpole in 1807, is to the effect that on the commencement of the operations, he was sent out with a major Brown and some interpreters through the woods to the settled parts of Canada, to distribute letters to the Canadians, informing them that the attack was against the garrisons, and not designed to interfere with them, their liberty, or their religion. On his return, he was again sent out by Montgomery; and reading between the lines of Allen's narrative, it looks as if the mission had been made to get rid of him. Allen tells us how he wished to be present in the operations before Saint John's, and we may conceive the nuisance of his continual selfassertion. Whatever the cause, he was directed to descend the Richelieu to Sorel, to visit the parishes on the river, and * Cramahé to Dartmouth, 30th of September, Can. Arch., Q., 11., p. 256. return by the south of the Saint Lawrence, performing the same duties in this direction. He was accompanied by eighty French Canadians. He had reached Longueuil, and was on the march to Laprairie, whence it was his duty to return to Saint John's; when about two miles west of Longueuil, he met Brown, promoted to colonel, who proposed, with the 200 men under his command, that they should cross the river, and make themselves masters of Montreal. Allen accepted the proposition, and being joined by "thirty English Americans," he obtained canoes and passed over to the north shore, three trips being taken to convey the whole party. He immediately despatched two men to Walker under the pilotage of a Canadian named Deschamps. Walker then lived at L'Assomption, some twenty-two miles to the northwest, where he had been active in fomenting bad feeling. Allen expected to be joined by Walker and a considerable force, but there was no response to his appeal. The population would make no movement, and the attempt entirely failed. The two men hurried back with the news, but at point aux-Trembles they heard of Allen's failure, and recrossed the river. Brown never appeared. Allen tells us he sent messages to Laprairie, calling upon him to join in the attempt, but without any result. The attack commenced between two and three in the day. Allen fired upon the advancing column, and for a short time acted as if he would resolutely defend himself. Threatened with being surrounded, and being assailed at all points, he detached Duggan and Young with a few men to occupy a position, by which movement he hoped to distract the attention of his enemy from himself, and to inflict loss on them. He never saw them again; they both abandoned him. Finding his position becoming desperate, Allen made an attempt to retreat, in the hope of obtaining canoes, so that he would be able to recross the river. In this form he fell back for about a mile; but his situation being now perfectly hopeless, he surrendered. He was placed a prisoner in the "Gaspé" schooner, and 1775] SIEGE OF SAINT JOHN'S. 445 taken to Quebec, where he was transferred to another vessel. Finally, he was sent to England, and confined in Pendennis Castle, near Falmouth. The failure of this attempt, and the ridicule attending it, led many French Canadians on the north shore to proceed to Montreal and offer their services to the government. But the entire Richelieu district to Sorel, and many parishes on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence, remained disaffected. As the militia arrived in the city, Carleton determined to arrest Walker, and sent a party of forty men, part regular troops, part Canadians, to L'Assomption. They arrived at early morning, and surrounded the house. Walker, his wife, and three servants attempted to beat back the detachment, and, firing from the windows, wounded an officer of the Royal Emigrants, McDonnel. The house was set on fire, and the inmates taken from a window and brought prisoners to Montreal. Mrs. Walker was released, but Walker was kept in confinement. Efforts were made in all directions to induce the Canadians to join the force; de Lanaudière gathered a small party, and was on the march to Montreal through Berthier, the men being without arms, when they were attacked by the habitants; he himself was seized and his men prevented from proceeding further. He however managed to escape. The same result was experienced at Verchères: de Rigauville had induced some men to join him, and was on his way to Montreal when he was stopped and made prisoner, upon which his men went back to their homes. Montgomery, in the meantime, had actively commenced. the siege of Saint John's. He had taken up his position before the fort on the 18th of September. The defence was vigorously persevered in until the 12th of November, and only for the cowardice and misconduct of the commandant at Chambly, major Stopford,* son of the earl of Courtown, * In anticipation of the narrative of Stopford's cowardice, I will give an extract from the journal of lieutenant Haddon of the royal artillery, who served on Burgoyne's expedition. It places on record the opinion entertained among |