The most vulnerable, and, at the same time, the most vital part of Canada was the spot where the Richelieu River pours into the St. Lawrence. Thence to the magnificent harbor of New York, a scarcely interrupted chain of navigable water, by the Lakes Champlain and George and the Hudson River, offered a practicable route to the invading force. Looking back upon the past with that wisdom which is the humble disciple of experience, it would appear that the whole British power should have been thrown at once upon that single point. By uniting the veteran corps embarked in the fleet from England and Nova Scotia, with the formidable force destined against Niagara, to the main army, nearly 25,000 British troops could have been brought to bear against the feeble defenses of the lakes, and poured down with irresistible strength on the Valley of the St. Lawrence. Thence to Quebec the watery path lay free and unembarrassed, and no hostile power existed strong enough to dare a battle against such a host. In the mean time, the English fleet should have anchored in the broad basin above the island of Orleans, intercepted all European aid, and, by vigorous demonstrations, kept in play as much as possible of the enemy's strength. Had this scheme been adopted, the decisive battle might probably have still been fought on the Plains of Abraham, but with far greater chances in favor of British triumph than in the fight which was subsequently bravely won. The whole disposable force of Canada would naturally have opposed the invading army, and would have been either forced down upon the defense of Quebec, or driven to an unequal combat. The French army overpowered and their great stronghold taken, Montreal, with Niagara and the Western country, must have lain an easy prey. To find out the weakest point of the enemy's position, and to assail it with his greatest power, was the constant aim of the first of modern captains, and the talisman of his matchless success. The British minister's scheme for the conquest of Canada presents exactly the reverse of this system; the several strongholds of the French were selected for simultaneous attack by separate and insufficient forces. By an overruling Providence, however, the skill and daring of a British general, and the valor of his troops, together with the incomprehensible error of their chivalrous opponent, gave to the arms of England victory and glory, and to the ruler of her councils complete ultimate success.