his good graces, busy themselves with destroying his confidence in me.  I told him that he would always find me disposed to aid in measures tending to our success, even should his views, which always ought to prevail, be different from mine; but that I dared flatter myself that he would henceforward communicate his plans to me sooner; for, though his knowledge of the country gave greater weight to his opinions, he might rest satisfied that I should second him in methods and details.  This explanation passed off becomingly enough, and ended with a proposal to dine on a moose’s nose [an estimed morsel] the day after to-morrow.  I burn your letters, Monsieur, and I beg you to do the same with mine, after making a note of anything you may want to keep.”  But Bourlamaque kept all the letters, and bound them in a volume, which still exists.[472]

[Footnote 472:  The preceding extracts are from Lettres de Montcalm a Madame de Saint-Veran, sa Mere, et a Madame de Montcalm, sa Femme, 1756, 1757 (Papiers de Famille); and Lettres de Montcalm a Bourlamaque, 1757.  See Appendix E.]

Montcalm was not at this time fully aware of the feeling of Vaudreuil towards him.  The touchy egotism of the Governor and his jealous attachment to the colony led him to claim for himself and the Canadians the merit of every achievement and to deny it to the French troops and their general.  Before the capture of Oswego was known, he wrote to the naval minister that Montcalm would never have dared attack that place if he had not encouraged him and answered his timid objections.[473] “I am confident that I shall reduce it,” he adds; “my expedition is sure to succeed if Monsieur de Montcalm follows the directions I have given him.”  When the good news came he immediately wrote again, declaring that the victory was due to his brother Rigaud and the Canadians, who, he says, had been ill-used by the General, and not allowed either to enter the fort or share the plunder, any more than the Indians, who were so angry at the treatment they had met that he had great difficulty in appeasing them.  He hints that the success was generally ascribed to him.  “There has been a great deal of talk here; but I will not do myself the honor of repeating it to you, especially as it relates to myself.  I know how to do violence to my self-love.  The measures I took assured our victory, in spite of opposition.  If I had been less vigilant and firm, Oswego would still be in the hands of the English.  I cannot sufficiently congratulate myself on the zeal which my brother and the Canadians and Indians showed on this occasion; for without them my orders would have been given in vain.  The hopes of His Britannic Majesty have vanished, and will hardly revive again; for I shall take care to crush them in the bud."[474]

[Footnote 473:  Vaudreuil au Ministre de la Marine, 13 Aout, 1756.]

[Footnote 474:  Vaudreuil au Ministre de la Marine, 1 Sept. 1756.]