Meanwhile, Frontenac had little time to reflect upon the probable attitude of posterity towards his political morals.  The three war-parties had accomplished their purpose and in the spring of 1690 the colony was aglow with fresh hope.  But the English were not slow to retaliate.  That summer New York and Massachusetts decided on an invasion of Canada.  It was planned that a fleet from Boston under Sir William Phips should attack Quebec, while a force of militia from New York in command of John Schuyler should advance through Lake Champlain against Montreal.  Thus by sea and land Canada soon found herself on the defensive.

Of Schuyler’s raid nothing need be said except that he reached Laprairie, opposite Montreal, where he killed a few men and destroyed the crops (August 23, 1690).  It was a small achievement and produced no result save the disappointment of New York that an undertaking upon which much money and effort had been expended should terminate so ingloriously.  But the siege of Quebec by Phips, though it likewise ended in failure, is a much more famous event, and deserves to be described in some detail.

The colony of Massachusetts mustered its forces for a great and unusual exploit.  Earlier in the same year a raid upon the coasts of Acadia had yielded gratifying results.  The surrender of Port Royal without resistance (May 11, 1690) kindled the Puritan hope that a single summer might see the pestiferous Romanists of New France driven from all their strongholds.  Thus encouraged, Boston put forth its best energies and did not shrink from incurring a debt of 50,000 pounds, which in the circumstances of Massachusetts was an enormous sum.  Help was expected from England, but none came, and the fleet sailed without it, in full confidence that Quebec would fall before the assault of the colonists alone.

The fleet, which sailed in August, numbered thirty-four ships, carrying twenty-three hundred men and a considerable equipment.  Sir William Phips, the leader of the expedition, was not an Englishman by birth, but a New Englander of very humble origin who owed his advancement to a robust physique and unlimited assurance.  He was unfitted for his command, both because he lacked experience in fighting such foes as he was about to encounter, and because he was completely ignorant of the technical difficulties involved in conducting a large, miscellaneous fleet through the tortuous channels of the lower St Lawrence.  This ignorance resulted in such loss of time that he arrived before Quebec amid the tokens of approaching winter.  It was the 16th of October when he rounded the island of Orleans and brought his ships to anchor under the citadel.  Victory could only be secured by sudden success.  The state of the season forbade siege operations which contemplated starvation of the garrison.