The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1908. THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2256, 30 July 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1908. THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

It (is evident l-rom the cablegrams received during the past few days that our Canadian friends aro celebrating -with the utmost enthusiasm •the fact -that Samuel Cham-plain founded Quebec three hundred yours ago. The famous Englishman established Quebec -as a trading station tin 1(508, but long before tills French explorers had set up similar depots. From the outsot there was continual friction between rbho representatives of tho two nations. Tho French, with tireless energy, spread nil over 'tho country and, after Charles I. had sold Quebec -to .them for £50,000, it seemed that the Englishmen were to ho crushed out of (the now territory. Tho despatches of colonial governors from IGSO to 1760 told of tho unwearied aggression of the French during two whole generations. New York merchants protested in vain, until at length, in 1755, n direct appeal to England by Governor Dinwiddie, resulted in two regiments being sent over. Little headway was made, however, until- 1756, when William Pitt succeeded tho Duko of Newcastle, whoso feeble hand had been very illfitted to guide a groat war. Where Newcastle hod sent companies to (tlio colonies Pitt sent battalions. .In 1759 a largo Hoot transported 8500 men to the St. Lawronco River, and with tlieso James Wolfe, described as “a. tall, thin, singularly ugly man, with a shock of red hair, and a profile like tho llap of an envelope,” was ordered to besiege Quebec, which was held by Mont-oahu and 14,000 French troops. After cannonading the town and making .an unsuccessful attack on 'Montcalm’s entrenchments, Wolfe shifted -his operation to tho ground above the town, and was able to sever communications with Quebec, and cut off (its supplies below and above. It became a question whether Quebec could be starved out before tho winter drove the (British fleet- from the river, and both commanders suffered -agonies of anxiety. The fleet daily patrolled tho river, .threatening at one point or another 15 miles of shore, and keeping the French officers in torturing suspense as they marched their troops to and fro. On the night of tho sixth day the Jinc-of-battle ships made feigned preparations for an attack on the intrenched camp below the city, while "Wolfe, with 4500 anon in boats, dropped down the .river to a spot whence a little path climbed tho cliffs to the city above. On the morrow (September 13) Montcalm saw an ominous line of scarlet on the heights to the west of the city. And then, it must sorrowfully be confessed, tlio poor man, worn out with long anxiety and strain, completely lost his hold. .Closer examination of Wolfe’s forces -would have betrayed to him its numbers, and tlie fact that tho -British had but one very lliiglit field gun. In a few hours lie could have .assembled twice the number of men and 30 guns; -and, if-he did not wish for a pitched battle, ho could manoeuvre Wolfe’s army away from the path, play with it for a few days, till it Qiad consumed the supply of provisions which each -man carried, and then worry (it in earnest. -But it was not to be. He hurried into action with 5000 men of inferior quality to tho British, and with only throe gnus, and was lost. The British waited till the enemy was within 35 yards of them 'before they -fired .a shot, and then two perfect volloys crumpled the French line, and soon .Quebec was won. Both Wolfo .and Montcalm received mortal wounds in tho engagement. ISO ended thismemorable campaign, and though tihero was still to be another siego of Quebec, with the actors and the failure reversed, the world has conspired .to allow tho curtain of the drama to fall on tho deaths of Montcalm and Wolfe. It is therefore a. happy 'inspiration which has suggested the purchase of the battlefield for a national monument, to be preserved as a field of reconciliation, where, together with the bones of hundreds of brave men, the animosities of -many centuries are buried .for evor.