Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/139

 Rh rooms in them, and are very clean. The inhabitants are very polite and obliging, and I do not believe that our peasants would behave so well under similar circumstances.”

So slowly did news travel at that time, that the defeat of Montgomery and Arnold before Quebec, on the 31st of December, 1775, was not known in England when the fleet sailed thence. It was first learned by Riedesel and his companions on their way up the St. Lawrence River. Shortly after their arrival Canada was cleared of “rebel” troops as far as the northern end of Lake Champlain, on which lake the Americans had improvised a fleet, consisting of four sloops, eight “gondolas,” and three row-galleys. The summer was spent by the British in building vessels of war and transports for an advance up the lake. The troops were quartered, or encamped, along the St. Lawrence and Richelieu rivers, and but one considerable skirmish occurred to break the routine of drill, countermarching, and intrenchment while the boat-building was in progress.

On the 23d of June General Riedesel was present at a solemn meeting in the former Jesuits' Church at Montreal, between General Carleton, Governor of Canada, and the chiefs of the Five Nations. All the principal officers of the army were invited, and about three hundred Indians were present. The European officers were provided with chairs in the choir of the church, the governor sitting in the middle with his hat on. The Indians sat on benches in the body of the building, smoking their pipes. After speeches had been made and interpreted, the services of the Indians were accepted by the English general, and posts were