Temper of the Canadians

We left the little army of republicans in Canada, bereaved of their brave leader, shattered in strength and shivering with cold outside the walls of Quebec. The time of the enlistment of many of the soldiers expired with the year, and they went home; and the besieging army was reduced to about four hundred Americans, and as many uncertain Canadian volunteers. Arnold, on whom the command devolved, though disabled by his wound, retired with them to Sillery, above Quebec, where he formed a camp and passed a rigorous winter. He was full of pluck. From that suffering camp he wrote: "I have no thought of leaving this proud town until I enter it in triumph." But he needed ten thousand well-provided troops to do that and effect the conquest of Canada. The army needed not only men, but hard money and everything necessary for a siege and conquest. General Wooster, on whom the chief command of the army in Canada devolved, on the death of Montgomery, wrote to Schuyler from Montreal, that with hard money supplies might be procured in that province. "Money we must have," he wrote, "or give up everything. If we are not immediately supplied with hard cash we must starve, quit the country, or lay it under contribution." He wrote in every direction for aid, but it did not appear. Schuyler, when he heard of the disaster, was anxious to fly to the relief of the imperiled army. Like all true patriots he was grieved at the loss of Montgomery. He could not take his place, for he was then tortured with gout and confined to his house. He was also watching the suspicious movements of Sir John Johnson and the Tories and Indians of the Mohawk region. He sent urgent appeals to the Continental Congress and that of New York for men, money, and munitions. How could they be furnished? With difficulty the army of Washington on the sea-coast, in the midst of a populous region, could be supplied with these; how then could they be furnished for service on the St. Lawrence, more than three hundred miles from the sea, with a desolate wilderness between, and the broad forests and few open fields and lakes covered with snow and ice? It was impossible. The Canadians were restrained from enlisting by the priests, whom Wooster had offended by his injudicious exhibition of his hatred of "popery." His prejudices were so strong, that he could hardly be civil to the Roman Catholics by whom he was surrounded, and whose friendship it was important to cultivate. The petty tyranny of Arnold offended and disgusted the nobility, who were taught by circumstances to regard his troops as intruders and a scourge, rather than deliverers, as they were considered when Montgomery was in command. The priests and nobles led all the rest, and the people held back. Had Montgomery lived, no doubt Canada would have been standing side by side with the other British-American colonies in the strife for freedom.

That Wooster, on account of his age and temperament, was unfit to command the army in Canada, all contemporary writers agree. He took personal charge of the troops at Quebec, on the first of April. They lay scattered around the town, in groups, some distance from each other, about two thousand in number, only one-half of whom were fit for duty, for the small-pox and other diseases had filled the hospitals with sick men. To dislodge the British garrison required several thousand men and a good train of artillery. These were wanting. Reinforcements from the colonies went forward tardily. The Canadians had changed from lukewarm friends into active enemies, and were gathering around the standard of Carleton. It seemed as if the little army of republicans must be captured or destroyed very speedily, when Washington, who was then at New York with a little more than eight thousand troops, sent three thousand of his best men, under General Sullivan, for service in Canada. Thomas of Massachusetts had already been commissioned a major-general and sent to take command of the troops near Quebec; for the health of Schuyler, and his important duties in relation to the Tories and Indians in the Mohawk region, would not permit him to go to the head of the troops in Canada.

Meanwhile Congress had appointed Dr. Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll a board of commissioners invested with full authority to proceed to Canada and direct military affairs there; to promise a guaranty of the estates to the clergy; to establish a free press; to offer the Canadians free trade with all nations; to invite them to form a free and independent government for themselves, and to join the confederated colonies. The commissioners arrived at Montreal, where Arnold was in command, at the close of April. They were too late. A general impression prevailed there that the American army would soon be driven out of the province, for reinforcements for Carleton were on their way. Without an army, without hard money, and without credit, the commissioners could not ask the Canadians to join them. They perceived that the main objects of their mission could not be obtained, and it was determined to withdraw the troops to St. Johns, and there to fortify and reinforce them, so that they might be an impassable barrier to an army that might attempt to penetrate the country below.