Note M — A DIALOGUE IN HADES.
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The place where Montcalm died appears yet shrouded in doubt. It is stated, in Knox’s Journal, that, on being wounded, Montcalm was conveyed to the General Hospital, towards which the French squadrons in retreat had to pass to regain, over the bridge of boats, their camp at Beauport. The General Hospital was also the head-quarters of the wounded—both English and French. It has been supposed that Arnoux’s house, where Montcalm was conveyed, stood in St. Louis street. No where does it appear that Montcalm was conveyed to his own residence on the ramparts (on which now stands the residence of R. H. Wurtele, Esquire). As the city surrendered five days after the great battle, it was likely to be bombarded—and, moreover, one-third of the houses in it had been burnt and destroyed—we do not see why the wounded General should have been conveyed from the battle-field to the Château St. Louis—certainly an exposed situation in the event of a new bombardment; and, moreover, the city itself, after and during the battle, was considered so insecure that the French army, instead of retreating to it for shelter, hurried past the General Hospital, over the bridge, to their camp at Beauport. There is a passage in Lieutenant-Colonel Beatson’s Notes on the Plains of Abraham, which we give:—“The valiant Frenchman (Montcalm), regardless of pain, relaxed not his efforts to rally his broken battalions in their hurried retreat towards the city until he was shot through the loins, when within a few hundred yards of St. Louis Gate.N And so invincible was his fortitude that not even the severity of this mortal stroke could abate his gallant spirit or alter his intrepid bearing. Supported by two grenadiers—one at each side of his horse—he re-entered the city; and in reply to some women who, on seeing blood flow from his wounds as he rode down St. Louis street, on his way to the Château, exclaimed: Oh, mon Dieu! mon Dieu! le Marquis est tuê!!! he courteously assured them that he was not seriously hurt, and begged of them not to distress themselves on his account.—Ce n’est rien! ce n’est rien! Ne vous affligez pas pour moi, mes bonnes amies.”O