The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-05-26
TlIE carY or auEnEc.
An old European Town on AMERICAN
Soil.


An old European Town on American
Soil.
The city is builtupona rockypromontory,
formed by the junction of the st. Charles and
st. Lawrence rivers. The highest point on
the southerly side, facing the st. Lawrence;
this side is also the most precipitous and
was originally about three hundred feet
above the water. 1t slopes gradually toward
the north till the elevation is perhaps not
more than one hundred feet above the
lower town. The general form of the upper
town resembles q triangle, with each side
about half mile in extent, the base resting
on the land side. Around the edge of this
rock the wall of the city is built, which is
about twenty-five feet thick and twenty-five
high, though in many places, owing to the
irregularity of the foundation, it varies con-
siderably from these proportions. The
wall, having been built for defence, was
constructed, of course, upon scientific mill
tary principles, hence the ramparts are
wanting in that architectural beauty one
would see in a castle, for they are so placed
that when guns are mounted upon them
they may command the most advantageous
positions, so that the fortifcation contains
numerous angles, equal to almost any num-
Der of degrees.
Originally they were three gates through
the wall leading to the lower town eastward
and northward, aud three leading westward
out into the country. The three former
have within a few years been RACED, leaving
nothing to obstruct a passage from the lower
town, the three latter still remain arched
yateways, much the same doubtless in point
of strength as when they were first con-
structed, but in point of beauty 1 think
they have been recently very much improv-
ed. They are named st. John, st. Louis
and Kent gates respectively, the latter in
honor of the Duke of Kent the father of
Queen Victoria. Through st. Louis gate
''grand allee," which is French for Broad
way, the broadcast street in the city, leads
out into the country direct to the historic
Plains of Abraham, which are about mile
distant. Nothing remains upon this plain
to-day to tell the visitor of the scenes TINT
were once enacted here except plain,
round, granite shaft, surmounted by a he'll
met, on the base of which is the following
inscription g Here died Wolfe victorious
September 10, $780, Returning through
the wall by the route we came to the Plains
we will attempt a description of this quaint
old city Travellers inform us that 1t has
no resemblance in the world, save in two or
three castled cities in the North of Europe,
he "a A..
Rhine.
The streets of this city are narrow, angu-
lar, circuitous and precipitous The COWS
that laid them out originally evidently pos
sessed far greater knowledge of civil en-
cheering than did the COWS that laid out
the older part of Boston. No Boston COWS
could have overcome the difficulties these
cows overcnme Probably one reason for
the superior knowledge possessed by the
Quebec cows lies in the fact that the Boston
COWS Ind no such nice places to jump. On
the southern side of the city the top of the
Z wall Is 900 feet above the water.
Along this side stretches Dufferin Ter
race, q grand promenade 400 feet in
length, averaging more than 100 feet in
width. Lord Duiferin, while Governor
General of the Dominion, extended and i'm.
proved and adorned this delightful promen.
ade. From it the spectator has the a lest
view imaginable.
Benea- u is the beautiful harbor, directly
opposite, southwark the town of Lewis, on
the heights beyond the town are three ex-
tensiye batteries, erected by the British
government at an expense of $500, 900; to
the east the island of Orleans mud the broad
st. Lawrence flowing around it, to the
north picturesque landscape, eight or ten
miles in width and many miles in extent,
dotted here and there with villages, Catho-
lie institutions, few fine residences, farm
buildings and hundreds of highly cultivated
fields, while the background of this charm-
ing picture Is composed of the Lorentian
range of mountains, whose SUBMITS extend
far to the north and west. The citadel oc-
cupies the southwest angle of the upper
town, the highest point in the city. The
extreme height from the water to the top of
the parapet is 365 feet This fortress in
point Of strength il said to be the second
On the globe, Gibraltar being first. It con-
sists Of three walls of solid masonry, with
spaces of perhaps forty or fifty feet wide
between either two, each wall twenty feet
high and twenty feet thick, constructed OF
hewn stone laid in cement after the most
approved plan of military engineering. 1t
was natural fortress, upon which the
French during their long occupancy ex~
pended vast sums to strengthen and 80 fer
succeeded that its bombardment by the
British from the heights of Lewis, during
three months in the summer Of 1853, was
comparatively fruitless, and General Wolfe
was obliged to abandon the siege and resort
10 stratagena, through which his surviving
comrades were enabled to enter its walls in
triumnh.