Struck by a musket ball, as he fought opposite
Monckton, he continued in the engagement, till, in attempting to rally
a body of fugitive Canadians in a copse near St. John's gate, he was
mortally wounded.
On hearing from the surgeon that death was certain, "I am glad of it,"
he cried; "how long shall I survive?" "Ten or twelve hours, perhaps
less." "So much the better; I shall not live to see the surrender of
Quebec." To the council of war he showed that in twelve hours all the
troops near at hand might be concentrated and renew the attack before
the English were intrenched. When De Ramsay, who commanded the garrison,
asked his advice about defending the city, "To your keeping," he
replied, "I commend the honor of France. As for me, I shall pass the
night with God, and prepare myself for death," Having written a letter
recommending the French prisoners to the generosity of the English, his
last hours were given to the hope of endless life, and at five the next
morning he expired.
* * * * *
From "The History of the United States."
=_132._= CHARACTER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
From the fullness of his own mind, without consulting one single book,
Jefferson drafted the declaration, he submitted it separately to
Franklin and to John Adams, accepted from each of them one or two
unimportant verbal corrections, and on the twenty-eighth of June
reported it to Congress, which now on the second of July immediately
after the resolution of independence entered upon its consideration.
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