[Footnote 476:  Vaudreuil au Ministre de la Marine, 23 Oct. 1756.  The above extracts are somewhat condensed in the translation.  See the letter in Dussieux, 279.]

To the subject of his complaints Vaudreuil used a different language; for Montcalm says, after mentioning that he had had occasion to punish some of the Canadians at Oswego:  “I must do Monsieur de Vaudreuil the justice to say that he approved my proceedings.”  He treated the General with the blandest politeness.  “He is a good-natured man,” continues Montcalm, “mild, with no character of his own, surrounded by people who try to destroy all his confidence in the general of the troops from France.  I am praised excessively, in order to make him jealous, excite his Canadian prejudices, and prevent him from dealing with me frankly, or adopting my views when he can help it."[477] He elsewhere complains that Vaudreuil gave to both him and Levis orders couched in such equivocal terms that he could throw the blame on them in case of reverse.[478] Montcalm liked the militia no better than the Governor liked the regulars.  “I have used them with good effect, though not in places exposed to the enemy’s fire.  They know neither discipline nor subordination, and think themselves in all respects the first nation on earth.”  He is sure, however, that they like him:  “I have gained the utmost confidence of the Canadians and Indians; and in the eyes of the former, when I travel or visit their camps, I have the air of a tribune of the people."[479] “The affection of the Indians for me is so strong that there are moments when it astonishes the Governor."[480] “The Indians are delighted with me,” he says in another letter; “the Canadians are pleased with me; their officers esteem and fear me, and would be glad if the French troops and their general could be dispensed with; and so should I."[481] And he writes to his mother:  “The part I have to play is unique:  I am a general-in-chief subordinated; sometimes with everything to do, and sometimes nothing; I am esteemed, respected, beloved, envied, hated; I pass for proud, supple, stiff, yielding, polite, devout, gallant, etc.; and I long for peace."[482]

[Footnote 477:  Montcalm au Ministre de la Guerre, 11 Juillet, 1757.]

[Footnote 478:  Montcalm au Ministre de la Guerre, 1 Nov. 1756.]

[Footnote 479:  Ibid., 18 Sept. 1757.]

[Footnote 480:  Ibid., 4 Nov. 1757.]

[Footnote 481:  Ibid., 28 Aout, 1756.]

[Footnote 482:  Montcalm a Madame de Saint-Veran, 23 Sept. 1757.]