JAMES WOLFE
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FROM his boyhood Wolfe,who was educated at private schools in Westerham and Greenwich, determined to be a soldier. He distinguished himself during the war of the• Austrian Succession 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 fortified 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 Abraham,which the French had thought to be effectually impassable. Indeed, Mont calm, the French general, 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 Abraham under the witheri ng fire of British muskets in the open.
Both Wolfe and Montcalm were killed in this battle, one of the most important in history. Quebec fell a few days later, Canada became British instead of French and the development of the New World as it is to-day was determined.