The Passing of New France

The Passing of New France (A
Chronicle of Montcalm)

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Chronicles of Canada
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Title: The Passing of New France A Chronicle of Montcalm
Author: William Wood
Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6863] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 2,

2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
PASSING OF NEW FRANCE ***

This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan.

CHRONICLES OF CANADA Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H.
Langton In thirty-two volumes
Volume 10
THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE A Chronicle of Montcalm
By WILLIAM WOOD
TORONTO, 1915

CHAPTER I
MONTCALM IN FRANCE 1712-1756
'War is the grave of the Montcalms.' No one can tell how old this
famous saying is. Perhaps it is as old as France herself. Certainly there
never was a time when the men of the great family of Montcalm-Gozon
were not ready to fight for their king and country; and so Montcalm,
like Wolfe, was a soldier born.
Even in the Crusades his ancestors were famous all over Europe. When
the Christians of those brave days were trying to drive the unbelievers
out of Palestine they gladly followed leaders whom they thought saintly
and heroic enough to be their champions against the dragons of sultan,
satan, and hell; for people then believed that dragons fought on the
devil's side, and that only Christian knights, like St George, fighting on

God's side, could kill them. The Christians banded themselves together
in many ways, among others in the Order of the Knights of St John of
Jerusalem, taking an oath to be faithful unto death. They chose the best
man among them to be their Grand Master; and so it could have been
only after much devoted service that Deodat de Gozon became Grand
Master, more than five hundred years ago, and was granted the right of
bearing the conquered Dragon of Rhodes on the family coat of arms,
where it is still to be seen. How often this glorious badge of victory
reminded our own Montcalm of noble deeds and noble men! How often
it nerved him to uphold the family tradition!
There are centuries of change between Crusaders and Canadians. Yet
the Montcalms can bridge them with their honour. And, among all the
Montcalms who made their name mean soldier's honour in Eastern or
European war, none have given it so high a place in the world's history
as the hero whose life and death in Canada made it immortal. He won
the supreme glory for his name, a glory so bright that it shone even
through the dust of death which shrouded the France of the Revolution.
In 1790, when the National Assembly was suppressing pensions
granted by the Crown, it made a special exception in favour of
Montcalm's children. As kings, marquises, heirs, and pensions were
among the things the Revolution hated most, it is a notable tribute to
our Marquis of Montcalm that the revolutionary parliament should
have paid to his heirs the pension granted by a king. Nor has another
century of change in France blotted out his name and fame. The
Montcalm was the French flagship at the naval review held in honour
of the coronation of King Edward VII. The Montcalm took the
President of France to greet his ally the Czar of Russia. And, but for a
call of duty elsewhere at the time, the Montcalm would have flown the
French admiral's flag in 1908, at the celebration of the Tercentenary of
the founding of Quebec, when King George V led the French- and
English-speaking peoples of the world in doing honour to the twin
renown of Wolfe and Montcalm on the field where they won equal
glory,