Articles of Capitulation

The Articles of Capitulation, signed on September 8, 1760, marked the surrender of the French colonial settlement of Montréal, Canada, and the unofficial collapse of the wider New France colony during the French and Indian War (part of the global conflict known as the Seven Years War). This document, signed by conquering British general Jeffery Amherst and the defeated French governor Pierre-Rigaud de Vaudreuil, includes fifty-five articles outlining political, military, religious, social, and ethnic/racial matters in the ceded French possessions.

Background

Throughout the first half of the 1700s, British and French colonial forces vied for control over much of North America. Most of the British influence was concentrated along the East Coast, while France held a strong power base in and near Canada. The French and Indian War, in which Britain fought France, began in 1754. Each side was supported by its respective colonial forces and Native American allies. In 1756, this conflict in North America became part of a wider, worldwide conflict called the Seven Years War (1756–1763).

In the North American theater, French forces and their allies won many victories in the first years of the conflict. However, as the British side intensified its efforts, and French attention was drawn away to conflicts in other lands, the tide of the war began to shift. By 1758, British forces were moving toward Québec, which was France’s most important settlement on the continent. The British navy was reducing shipments to the French settlements, and some of France’s Native American allies shifted allegiance to the British.

In 1759, about five thousand British soldiers led by Major-General James Wolfe prepared to attack a much larger French army, numbering about thirteen thousand troops under the command of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, Marquis de Saint-Veran, stationed near Québec. The two armies fought bloodily for months before Wolfe launched a plan to bring his forces to the so-called Plains (or Heights) of Abraham just outside Québec.

Montcalm’s forces marched to meet them, but their imperfect positioning and discipline put them at a disadvantage over the seasoned British troops. In a vicious battle, both commanders lost their lives, and the armies each lost about 650 men. French forces ultimately fled. After a few days of continued defense of Québec, the settlement surrendered on September 18, 1759.

Overview

Although French forces in North America continued to resist, the loss of Québec proved a major and irreversible step in their downfall. British forces continued to make slow but steady progress through Canada, with their next target being the French colonial settlement of Montréal. From July to September of 1760, British forces closed in on Montréal, applying increasing, overwhelming pressure to French defenders there.

A three-pronged British attack involving more than eighteen thousand soldiers arrived from three waterways, converging near Montréal. French forces nearby, although hopelessly outnumbered and outmatched, marched to battle outside Montréal to protect the settlement and its civilian population. Chevalier François-Gaston de Lévis, the French commander, wanted to continue resisting the British for the sake of honor. However, French governor Pierre-Rigaud de Vaudreuil began to pursue terms of surrender from the British commander, Major-General Jeffery Amherst.

De Vaudreuil hoped the British would be as lenient toward him and the people and soldiers of Montréal as they had been the previous year at Québec. However, he found that Amherst demanded far more than previous British commanders, including the surrender of not only the city of Montréal but also the entire New France colony. Amherst also insisted that French forces would be denied typical honors of war, such as parading away with their flags and banners intact. French forces responded by burning their regalia to keep them from being confiscated and turned into victory trophies by the British.

On September 8, 1760, de Vaudreuil, believing he had no reasonable alternative, met with Amherst and his officials. After some negotiations, in which French leaders gained increased protections of soldiers, civilians, social structures, and religious freedoms, de Vaudreuil and Amherst reached an agreement. Montréal and the rest of the New France settlement fell to the British.

The document outlining their agreement, remembered in history as the Articles of Capitulation, is extensive in both length and scope. The capitulation contains fifty-five articles covering matters relating to military, political, legal, and social affairs, and references the main groups of people living in and around the French settlements.

Articles one through twenty-six relate to military and political matters. The first articles ensure that the French soldiers would be allowed to peacefully leave the city without fear of being ambushed, after having given up all their weapons and equipment and swearing not to participate any longer in the conflict. Later articles outline how French officials and military were to be respectfully escorted out of the settlement, with their families and possessions, and returned to France.

Articles twenty-seven and beyond deal mainly with the rules to be established in the formerly French colony, now under British control. Civilians in the colony are given permission to stay if they desire, rather than relocating or returning to France. Notably, the articles protect the religious freedom of the colonists, mainly in their exercise of non-Protestant forms of Christianity, including Roman Catholicism. The articles also outline, in detail, the protection of both large and small property of French leaders, civilians, military, and religious officials.

Several of the articles beginning with thirty-eight deal with ethnic and racial groups within the span of the capitulated lands. Article forty guarantees the protection of Native Americans in the area, including those who had previously sided with French interests. Article forty-seven addresses the colonial French practice of holding enslaved Black people and allows for that practice to continue under British control.

Special attention was applied to the Acadians, an ethnic group within the French population, mainly concentrated in Nova Scotia, which had a long history of opposition to British influences. British forces ultimately pushed for the Acadians to be forced out of Canada; many of them would return to France or move into former French possessions in Louisiana, where they would become known as Cajuns.

The fall of Montréal in 1760 effectively marked the end of French military power in Canada, and most of its colonial settlements there subsequently fell into British control. Although the fighting in North America faded at that time, the broader conflict of the Seven Years War continued until 1763. That year, defeated on many fronts and badly hurt, French forces formally surrendered to Britain and officially ceded their colonial possessions in the Treaty of Paris.

Bibliography

“Articles of Capitulation.” Solon Law Archive, www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/PreConfederation/cap‗montreal.html. Accessed 7 June 2023.

Borneman, Walter R. The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America. Harper Collins, 2007.

Cave, Alfred A. The French and Indian War. Greenwood Press, 2004.

Jaenen, Cornelius J. and Clayton Ma. “Capitulation of Montreal 1760.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 13 Apr. 2021, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/capitulation-of-montreal-1760. Accessed 7 June 2023.

Kingsford, William. The History of Canada. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009.

“Seven Years War: Battle of Quebec.” National Army Museum, www.nam.ac.uk/explore/battle-quebec. Accessed 7 June 2023.

“The Surrender of Montreal.” Government of Canada, bataille.ccbn-nbc.gc.ca/en/bataille-de-sainte-foy/reddition-de-montreal.php. Accessed 7 June 2023.