Litchfield enquirer., 1881-10-13
WHOLE NO. 28SS

be surpassed In the whole world, at least, our imagination cannot picture no scene any more grand. One hundred feet below us lies the upper city, with those mammoth turreted and fortified. walls and gateways enclosing it. Three hundred and fifty feet below us is the lower city, and all the shipping in the harbor lying entirely at the mercy of those immense guns by which we stand. -'....,,
 WHERE MONTGOMERY FELL. s.,,
 As we gaze on the wondrous scene, we try to recall some of the many historical incidents connected with the place, and with the aid of guide book and the explanations of our escort, we are able to intelligently understand and appreciate the situatioh.7 i1f o' t'a"
 Beneath and to the left of us, about one- third of the way up, where the heights are less precipitous, stands, board inscribed, "Here Montgomery fell while leading acharge of the Americans up the heights, Dec. 31st, 1775 To stand where we now do and look down over the scene of MOntgomery's charge, it seems asthough courage, daring, and reck- lessness, must have completely dislodged judgment in his mind before he could have for an instant thought of climbing those heights in the face of an enemy. .......a. .....,..s
 .l ,aiss THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM af .,
 To the right of the citadel, and under pro- lection of it's guns. are pointed out to us the Plains of Abraham, where that memorable battle was fought which resulted in giving Quebec and all it's strongholds oyer to the English. A little beyond is the point where Wolfe climbed the heights and formed his army in line of battle, and a little nearer is the spot where Wolfe tel marked by mon- ument with the words 'Here Wolfe died victorious" Viewing the situation now and seeing the eiimmense value and magnitude of these Notifications and the hundred fold, yes, thousand fold advantage Montcalrn must
 have had over Wolfe one can understand the deep meaning and fitness of Wolfe's dying words, "1hen / die happy' He had accom-. plshed what, at the outset, must have seemed to him next to an utter impossbility, the cap ture of the strongholds of Quebec by storm. To the left of the citadel, in what is called
 
 masked batteries, mortars and cannon, stands singular monument, singular from the fact of It's being erected jointly by the French and English to the memory of their fallen Gen. erals, Wolfe and Montcalm. Since the En- glish have had possession of Quebec the old French walls about the city have been super seded by more substantial structure Thiity- five million dollars have been spent on it since 1872, and they are still approprialing. It stands now (Gibralter excepted) by far the most formidable military stronghold in he world. The new wall, good share of the way, is built inside the old one, the face wall being of hewn granite. Part of our number 1 took a stroll out upon the Plains of Abraham and followed up the line of the old French wall to the eastern side of the city. This wall was built about the years 1635 8, and tue mortar 1t was laid in, the workmen tell us, is harder to cut through now than the very stone
 itself.
 GATEWAY.
 | We enter the city again by the Kent Gate, " formidable structure of solid masonry, built and presented to the city by Queen Victoria. The walls of the gateway are some thirty feet thick and forty in height and the whole sur- mounted by fortified tower some thirty feeC higher. The gates themselves, three in num- Der, are of solid iron. the center gate for car riages, and one on either side for footmen The other city gateways, three in number, are all similar but less elaborate in their sty of architecture with the exception of Cham plain Gate, on the eastern side which remains just as it was built by the French. On the
 ''common," near the Kent gate, stands a small brass cannon with the following inter- esting words engraved thereon, Captured 1 from the Americans at :he Battle of Bunker | our hotel, past the site of the old St. Louis | Castle, we pass little old one story house (not much larger than the little one story house
 that 50 surprised US by its aerial flight when ! we entered the city) where Montcalm and hls officers hastily held that fatal consultation in
 which they decided to meet Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham rather than in their for- | ti1ed walls
 A few steps farther down on the same side | of the street, is another little house which is kept sacred as a relic, and upon which is l board inscribed Montgomery was carried and laid out in this house on the night of his fatal attempt oscale the heights" Quebec is full of old historic places and relics, and great l pains are taken to preserve them all. Every ! body speaks French, and the usual reply to any questions we saw it to ask was Je re part l'GnglGis. All laws and public notices are il-
 legal unless printed in French and English both. It seems singular fact to here find l French city under English rule Out of a
 population of 1000, but g, 900 are Englis l HAoKMEN. -r
 1t would fairly "make horse laugh" to see ! the style of hacks and carriages in use here. I To svold being accused ot telling au untruth
 we omit giving truthful description of them.
 The persistency of au American hackman as compared with Quebecker, is ''as mosquito
 to hen hawk, or "a horsefy to vulture." l From twelve to fifteen of them (we mean the
 hackmen) watch our hotel door, as a cat
 watches mouse hole. Ifa victim pushes his way through, they will follow up his re- l treat, and gather endorsements at each street
 corner until the scene can only be compared to a tired deer followed by pack of hungry,
 snapping,, snarling wolves. a-.l :. s,.., l Saturday morning we hired the only Amer | ~<.ef Al . H
 us to Montnorenci Falls, seven lies dow n
 the river frotn Quebec, and just opposite the
 Isle of Orleans We pass down through the
 burnt district where SIX months ago 1900 houses and two immense cathedras were de-
 stroyed by ire We cross the Charles river at