In a letter to a friend he says—“The Congress having done me the honor of electing me a brigadier-general in their service, is an event which must put an end for a while, perhaps forever, to the quiet scheme of life I had prescribed for myself; for, though entirely unexpected and undesired by me, the will of an oppressed people, compelled to choose between liberty and slavery, must be obeyed.” Under these noble and self-sacrificing views and feelings, Montgomery accepted the commission tendered to him, and from that hour to the moment of his death, the whole force of his mind and body was devoted to the honor and interest of his adopted country. His principles of loyalty remained unshaken. Love to our brethren whom we must oppose, the interchange of good offices, which had so intimately knit the bands of friendship between the two members, the memory of those days in which we fought under the same banners; the vast fabric of mutual happiness raised by our union, and ready to be dissolved by our dissensions; the annihilation of those plans of improvement in which we were engaged for the glory of the empire—all these considerations conspired to render this conflict peculiarly abhorrent to him and every virtuous American, and could have been outweighed by nothing earthly but the unquenchable love of liberty, and that sacred duty which we owe to ourselves and our posterity. The necessity of resistance was manifest, and no sophistry could question our right. “In cases of national oppression,” says Blackstone, “the nation hath very justifiably risen as one man to vindicate the original contract subsisting between the king and the people.”—“If the sovereign power threaten desolation to a state, mankind will not be reasoned out of the feelings of humanity, nor sacrifice liberty to a scrupulous adherence to political maxims.” Montgomery did not hesitate to accept the commission, praying at the same time that “Heaven might speedily reunite us in every bond of affection and interest; and that the British empire might again become the envy and admiration of the universe.” He was entrusted, jointly with General Schuyler, with the expedition against Canada, but, in consequence of the illness of that gentleman, the whole duty devolved upon him. There was benevolence in the whole plan of this expedition. It was to be executed not so much by force as by persuasion, and it was exactly suited to the genius of Montgomery. He understood the blessings of a free government, and could display them with captivating eloquence.