—mem= JAMES WOLFE ■■•-•--
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1727-1759
FROM his boyhood Wolfe,who was educated at private schools in • Westerham and Greenwich, determined to be a soldier. He distinguished hims'elf during the war of the Austrian Suciession and after later service at home attracted the attention of Pitt—the great Earl of Chatham— who had become Prime Minister in 1756 when England's fortunes were in a most disastrous condition. Inept leadership had led to shameful losses on the continent of Europe, and it seemed inevitable that the.Americas should fall into French hands.
Pitt felt that in Wolfe he had a leader of Original and vigorous mind and appointed him to virtual command of an expedition to renew the attempt to take Quebec, the key point of -Canada. The enemy were powerfully forti be4 and had apparently every strategic and tactical advantage.
A straightforward attack would have been suicidal, but Wolfe determined on a brilliant and daring plan, and led his • army up the precipitous heights of Abraharn,which the French had thought to be effectually impassable. Indeed, Montcalm, the French geneial, exclaimed, `I see them where they should not be,' and, forced to give battle away from his fortified position, lost the battle of the • Heights of Abrahamunder the withering fire of British muskets in the open.
Both Wolfe and lvfontcalm were killed in this battle, one of the most important in history. Quebec fell a few clays later, Canada became British instead -of French and the development of the New ' World as it is to-day was-determined.