The Father of British Canada | Page 3

then
used. It was the place Wolfe had chosen for his winter quarters, that is,
in case of failure before Quebec and supposing he was not recalled.
None but a particularly good officer would have been appointed as its
first commandant. Carleton spent many busy days here preparing an
advanced base for the coming siege, while the subsequently famous
Captain Cook was equally busy 'a-sounding of the channell of the
Traverse' which the fleet would have to pass on its way to Quebec.
Some of Durell's ships destroyed the French 'long-shore batteries near
this Traverse, at the lower end of the island of Orleans, while the rest
kept ceaseless watch to seaward, anxiously scanning the offing, day
after day, to make out the colours of the first fleet up. No one knew
what the French West India fleet would do; and there was a very
disconcerting chance that it might run north and slip into the St
Lawrence, ahead of Saunders, in the same way as the French
reinforcements had just slipped in ahead of Durell. Presently, at the
first streak of dawn on the 23rd of June, a strong squadron was seen
advancing rapidly under a press of sail. Instantly the officers of the
watch called all hands up from below. The boatswains' whistles shrilled
across the water as the seamen ran to quarters and cleared the decks for
action. Carleton's camp was equally astir. The guards turned out. The
bugles sounded. The men fell in and waited. Then the flag-ship
signalled ashore that the strangers had just answered correctly in
private code that all was well and that Wolfe and Saunders were
aboard.
Next to Wolfe himself Carleton was the busiest man in the army
throughout the siege of Quebec. In addition to his arduous and very
responsible duties as quartermaster-general, he acted as inspector of
engineers and as a special-service officer for work of an exceptionally
confidential nature. As quartermaster-general he superintended the
supply and transport branches. Considering that the army was operating
in a devastated hostile country, a thousand miles away from its bases at
Halifax and Louisbourg, and that the interaction of the different

services--naval and military, Imperial and Colonial--required
adjustment to a nicety at every turn, it was wonderful that so much was
done so well with means which were far from being adequate. War
prices of course ruled in the British camp. But they compared very
favourably with the famine prices in Quebec, where most 'luxuries'
soon became unobtainable at any price. There were no canteen or
camp-follower scandals under Carleton. Then, as now, every soldier
had a regulation ration of food and a regulation allowance for his
service kit. But 'extras' were always acceptable. The price-list of these
'extras' reads strangely to modern ears. But, under the circumstances, it
was not exorbitant, and it was slightly tempered by being reckoned in
Halifax currency of four dollars to the pound instead of five. The
British Tommy Atkins of that and many a later day thought Canada a
wonderful country for making money go a long way when he could buy
a pot of beer for twopence and get back thirteen pence Halifax currency
as change for his English shilling. Beef and ham ran from ninepence to
a shilling a pound. Mutton was a little dearer. Salt butter was
eightpence to one-and-threepence. Cheese was tenpence; potatoes from
five to ten shillings a bushel. 'A reasonable loaf of good soft Bread' cost
sixpence. Soap was a shilling a pound. Tea was prohibitive for all but
the officers. 'Plain Green Tea and very Badd' was fifteen shillings,
'Couchon' twenty shillings, 'Hyson' thirty. Leaf tobacco was tenpence a
pound, roll one-and-tenpence, snuff two-and-threepence. Sugar was a
shilling to eighteen pence. Lemons were sixpence apiece. The
non-intoxicating 'Bad Sproos Beer' was only twopence a quart and
helped to keep off scurvy. Real beer, like wine and spirits, was more
expensive. 'Bristol Beer' was eighteen shillings a dozen, 'Bad malt
Drink from Hellifax' ninepence a quart. Rum and claret were eight
shillings a gallon each, port and Madeira ten and twelve respectively.
The term 'Bad' did not then mean noxious, but only inferior. It stood
against every low-grade article in the price-list. No goods were
over-classified while Carleton was quartermaster-general.
The engineers were under-staffed, under-manned, and overworked.
There were no Royal Engineers as a permanent and comprehensive
corps till the time of Wellington. Wolfe complained bitterly and often
of the lack of men and materials for scientific siege work. But he 'relied

on Carleton' to good purpose in this respect as well as in many others.
In his celebrated dispatch to Pitt he mentions Carleton twice. It was
Carleton whom he sent to seize the west end of the island of Orleans,
so as to command the basin of Quebec, and