forts, invasion of the colonies by England, by way of the St. Lawrence, was effectually blocked. The Aristopian fleet had brought abundant stores. The French habitans were friendly to the Americans, and rejoiced to escape from British dominion. No trouble whatever in holding the country was expected.
The force under Montgomery was sent back, in the transports and the vessels captured from the British, by way of the Sorel and Lake Champlain, to New York, carrying to the colonies the first news of the complete conquest of Canada.
Toward the middle of November, the expedition under Arnold, in a desperate plight from the hardships they had endured in journeying through the wilderness, half the time without food, exposed to the storms of early winter, arrived at Quebec. Arnold's force was reduced to seven hundred and fifty men, without artillery and with damaged muskets. What would have been the fate of this desperate commander and his few but brave men, if the expedition from Aristopia had not come to the rescue, can hardly be told. They would certainly have done all that human beings in their circumstances could have done to capture Quebec, but
