The pronouns “I” and “my” recur with monotonous frequency in his correspondence.  “I have laid waste all the British provinces.”  “By promptly uniting my forces at Carillon, I have kept General Loudon in check, though he had at his disposal an army of about twenty thousand men;"[475] and so without end, in all varieties of repetition.  It is no less characteristic that he here assigns to his enemies double their actual force.

[Footnote 475:  Ibid., 6 Nov. 1756.]

He has the faintest of praise for the troops from France.  “They are generally good, but thus far they have not absolutely distinguished themselves.  I do justice to the firmness they showed at Oswego; but it was only the colony troops, Canadians, and Indians who attacked the forts.  Our artillery was directed by the Chevalier Le Mercier and M. Fremont [colony officers], and was served by our colony troops and our militia.  The officers from France are more inclined to defence than attack.  Far from spending the least thing here, they lay by their pay.  They saved the money allowed them for refreshments, and had it in pocket at the end of the campaign.  They get a profit, too, out of their provisions, by having certificates made under borrowed names, so that they can draw cash for them on their return.  It is the same with the soldiers, who also sell their provisions to the King and get paid for them.  In conjunction with M. Bigot, I labor to remedy all these abuses; and the rules we have established have saved the King a considerable expense.  M. de Montcalm has complained very much of these rules.”  The Intendant Bigot, who here appears as a reformer, was the centre of a monstrous system of public fraud and robbery; while the charges against the French officers are unsupported.  Vaudreuil, who never loses an opportunity of disparaging them, proceeds thus:—­

“The troops from France are not on very good terms with our Canadians.  What can the soldiers think of them when they see their officers threaten them with sticks or swords?  The Canadians are obliged to carry these gentry on their shoulders, through the cold water, over rocks that cut their feet; and if they make a false step they are abused.  Can anything be harder?  Finally, Monsieur de Montcalm is so quick-tempered that he goes to the length of striking the Canadians.  How can he restrain his officers when he cannot restrain himself?  Could any example be more contagious?  This is the way our Canadians are treated.  They deserve something better.”  He then enlarges on their zeal, hardihood, and bravery, and adds that nothing but their blind submission to his commands prevents many of them from showing resentment at the usage they had to endure.  The Indians, he goes on to say, are not so gentle and yielding; and but for his brother Rigaud and himself, might have gone off in a rage.  “After the campaign of Oswego they did not hesitate to tell me that they would go wherever I sent them, provided I did not put them under the orders of M. de Montcalm.  They told me positively that they could not bear his quick temper.  I shall always maintain the most perfect union and understanding with M. le Marquis de Montcalm, but I shall be forced to take measures which will assure to our Canadians and Indians treatment such as their zeal and services merit."[476]