In some respects the temper of the troops was excellent.  In the petty warfare of the past winter they had generally been successful, proving themselves a match for the bushrangers and Indians on their own ground; so that, as Sergeant Johnson remarks, in his odd way, “Very often a small number of our men would put to flight a considerable party of those Cannibals.”  They began to think themselves invincible; yet they had the deepest cause for anxiety.  The effective strength of the garrison was reduced to less than half, and of those that remained fit for duty, hardly a man was entirely free from scurvy.  The rank and file had no fresh provisions; and, in spite of every precaution, this malignant disease, aided by fever and dysentery, made no less havoc among them than among the crews of Jacques Cartier at this same place two centuries before.  Of about seven thousand men left at Quebec in the autumn, scarcely more than three thousand were fit for duty on the twenty-fourth of April.[824] About seven hundred had found temporary burial in the snowdrifts, as the frozen ground was impenetrable as a rock.

[Footnote 824:  Return of the present State of His Majesty’s Forces in Garrison at Quebec, 24 April, 1760 (Public Record Office).]

Meanwhile Vaudreuil was still at Montreal, where he says that he “arrived just in time to take the most judicious measures and prevent General Amherst from penetrating into thecolony."[825] During the winter some of the French regulars were kept in garrison at the outposts, and the rest quartered on the inhabitants; while the Canadians were dismissed to theirhomes, subject to be mustered again at the call of the Governor.  Both he and Levis were full of the hope of retaking Quebec.  He had spies and agents among Murray’s soldiers; and though the citizens had sworn allegiance to King George, some of them were exceedingly useful to his enemies.  Vaudreuil had constant information of the state of the garrison.  He knew that the scurvy was his active and powerful ally, and that the hospitals and houses of Quebec were crowded withthe sick.  At the end of March he was informed that more than half the British were on the sick-list; and it was presentlyrumored that Murray had only two thousand men able to bear arms.[826] With every allowance for exaggeration in these reports, it was plain that the French could attack their invaders in overwhelming force.

[Footnote 825:  Vaudreuil au Ministre, 30 Oct. 1759.]

[Footnote 826:  Vaudreuil au Ministre, 15 Avril, 1760.]

The difficulty was to find means of transportation.  The depth of the snow and the want of draught animals made it necessary to wait till the river should become navigable; but preparation was begun at once.  Levis was the soul of the enterprise.  Provisions were gathered from far and near; cannon, mortars, and munitions of war were brought from the frontier posts, and butcher-knives were fitted to the muzzles of guns