MONTOALM MONTCALM, a S.W. county of Quebec, Canada, N. of the St. Lawrence river; area, 4,027" sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 12,742, of whom 10,794 were of French and 1,557 of Irish origin and descent. It is watered by the Gatineau, Du Lievre, Kouge, North, and Lac Ouareau rivers, and other streams. Capital, Ste. Julienne. MONTCALM DE CANDIAC. See CANDIAC. MONTCALM DE SAINT-VERM, Louis Joseph, mar- quis de, a French soldier, born at the chateau of Candiac, near Nimes, Feb. 28, 1712, died in Quebec, Sept. 14, 1759. He entered the army when 14 years old, served in Italy in 1734, distinguished himself in Germany under Belle- Isle during the war for the Austrian succession, and fought in Italy again, where he gained the rank of colonel in the disastrous battle of t Pia- cenza (1746). In 1756 he was appointed to command the French troops in Canada, where he arrived about the middle of May. He cap- tured Fort Ontario at Oswego on Aug. 14 and the next year forced Fort William Henry, at the head of Lake George, with a garrison of 2,500 men, to surrender at discretion, and thus became possessed of 42 guns and large stores of ammunition and provisions. Montcalm had suffered from scarcity of provisions, and was opposed to an enemy far superior in numbers and discipline to his own troops, which con- sisted mostly of Canadian volunteers; yet he held his ground firmly, when, in the campaign of 1758, the English under Abercrombie marched from the south toward the French dominions. Montcalm occupied the strong position of Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga), made it still stronger by intrenchments, and at the head of about 3,600 men awaited the attack of 15,000. After a fierce battle which lasted four hours (July 8, 1758), the British retreated in disorder. The personal bravery of Montcalm increased his popularity among his soldiers; and if he had received timely reinforcements, he could have maintained the supremacy of the French in North America. But the want of energy on the part of the home government, the scarcity of food all over New France, and personal dissensions between the governor and the military commander, forbade him to look for much assistance; and in the midst of vic- tory he expressed his conviction that in a few months the English would be masters of the French colonies in America. Resolved, as he said, "to find his grave under the ruins of the colony," he actively prepared for the campaign of 1759. The English spared no exertions to make their conquest sure; troops were sent from Europe; the colonial regiments were thor- oughly reorganized; and a strong fleet coop- erated with the land forces. While Amherst and Prideaux were manoeuvring to dislodge the French from the vicinity of Lake George and Lake Ontario, Gen. Wolfe, at the head of 8,000 chosen troops, supported by the fleet in the St. Lawrence, appeared before Quebec. The con- quest of Canada depended upon the taking of that city; and to protect it Montcalm had con- MONT DE PIETti 777 centrated his principal forces on the banks of the Montmorency. Being attacked in front by Wolfe, July 31, he repelled him with consider- able loss. Wolfe then changed his plans; he secretly landed his troops by night on the left bank of the St. Lawrence, above Quebec, climbed the table land that overhangs the city, and on the morning of Sept. 13 appeared with his whole force on the heights of Abraham, in the rear of the French army. By 10 o'clock the two armies, about equal in numbers, each having fewer than 5,000 men, were drawn up before each other. Montcalm led the attack in person, but his troops soon hjoke before the deadly fire of the British; and when Wolfe, at the head of the 28th and the Louisburg grena- diers, gave the order to charge with bayonets, they fled in every direction. Wolfe fell in the moment of triumph; Montcalm had received a j musket ball earlier in the action, and was mor- j tally wounded while attempting to rally a body I of fugitive Canadians a few moments after Wolfe was borne from the field. On being told that his death was near: 4 iSo much the better," he said; " I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." He died the next morn- ing, and the French lost all Canada. MONT DE MARSAN, a town of Gascony, France, capital of the department of Landes, 62 m. S. of Bordeaux, at the junction of the Douze and Midou, which here form the navigable Mi- douze; pop. in 1866, 8,455. It has a commu- nal college, warm mineral springs, and manu- factories of coarse woollen cloths, blankets, and sail cloth v MONT DE PIETE, a public institution in con- tinental Europe, the original object of which was to deliver the needy from the charges of Jewish and Lombard money lenders. One is said to have been founded at Freising in Bavaria about the year 1200 by a charitable association and with the sanction of Pope In- nocent III.; but it is more generally believed that the first mont de piet was established in Perugia in the latter half of the 15th century, and derived its name (monte di pietd) from the hill upon which it was situated. The earliest one in France was probably that of Rheims. Marseilles, Montpellier, and other French cities possessed monts de piete in the 17th century; as in Italy, they were supported by charitable endowments, but they charged interest at the rate of 15 per cent, upon all loans exceeding five francs, whereas the Italian institutions < only charged a small rate, rarely exceeding 5
- per cent., to cover the indispensable expenses.
The mont de piete of Paris was opened Jan. 1, i 1778, and was authorized in 1779 to make a I loan guaranteed by the income of the Jiopital
general. During the revolution it was closed;
i and the usurious rates of interest charged by I the money lenders during the reign of terror 1 caused its reopening in 1803 to be hailed with I delight by the poor. In 1831 it was placed under the charge of an administrative council; and in 1851 the monts de piete were placed
