refused others.  That which the French officers thought more important than all the rest was the provision that the troops should march out with arms, cannon, and the honors of war; to which it was replied:  “The whole garrison of Montreal and all other French troops in Canada must lay down their arms, and shall not serve during the present war.”  This demand was felt to be intolerable.  The Governor sent Bougainville back to remonstrate; but Amherst was inflexible.  Then Levis tried to shake his resolution, and sent him an officer with the following note:  “I send your Excellency M. de la Pause, Assistant Quartermaster-General of the Army, on the subject of the too rigorous article which you dictate to the troops by the capitulation, to which it would not be possible for us to subscribe.”  Amherst answered the envoy:  “I am fully resolved, for the infamous part the troops of France have acted in exciting the savages to perpetrate the most horrid and unheard of barbarities in the whole progress of the war, and for other open treacheries and flagrant breaches of faith, to manifest to all the world by this capitulation my detestation of such practices;” and he dismissed La Pause with a short note, refusing to change the conditions.

[Footnote 851:  Vaudreuil au Ministre, 10 Sept. 1760.]

[Footnote 852:  Proces-verbal de la Deliberation du Conseil de Guerre tenu a Montreal, 6 Sept. 1760.]

On the next morning, September eighth, Vaudreuil yielded, and signed the capitulation.  By it Canada and all its dependencies passed to the British Crown.  French officers, civil and military, with French troops and sailors, were to be sent to France in British ships.  Free exercise of religion was assured to the people of the colony, and the religious communities were to retain their possessions, rights, and privileges.  All persons who might wish to retire to France were allowed to do so, and the Canadians were to remain in full enjoyment of feudal and other property, including negro and Indian slaves.[853]

[Footnote 853:  Articles of Capitulation, 8 Sept. 1760.  Amherst to Pitt, same date.]

The greatest alarm had prevailed among the inhabitants lest they should suffer violence from the English Indians, and Vaudreuil had endeavored to provide that these dangerous enemies should be sent back at once to their villages.  This was refused, with the remark:  “There never have been any cruelties committed by the Indians of our army.”  Strict precautions were taken at the same time, not only against the few savages whom the firm conduct of Johnson at Fort Levis had not driven away, but also against the late allies of the French, now become a peril to them.  In consequence, not a man, woman, or child was hurt.  Amherst, in general orders, expressed his confidence “that the troops will not disgrace themselves by the least appearance of inhumanity, or by any unsoldierlike behavior in seeking for plunder; and that as the Canadians are now become British subjects, they will feel the good effects of His Majesty’s protection.”  They were in fact treated with a kindness that seemed to surprise them.