In a word, the possession of Canada depended upon sea power.
Montcalm, therefore, in view of the certain attack upon Quebec by the river, was compelled to weaken his resistance on the Champlain route; nevertheless, the English did not get farther than the foot of the lake that year, and their operations, though creditable, had no effect upon the result at Quebec.
In 1760, the English, holding the course of the St.Lawrence, with Louisburg at one end and Quebec at the other, seemed firmly seated.
Nevertheless, the French governor, De Vaudreuil, still held out at Montreal, and the colonists still hoped for help from France.

The English garrison at Quebec, though inferior in numbers to the forces of the Canadians, was imprudent enough to leave the city and meet them in the open field.

Defeated there, and pursued by the enemy, the latter nearly entered Quebec pell-mell with the English troops, and trenches were opened against the city.

A few days later an English squadron came in sight, and the place was relieved.

"Thus," says the old English chronicler of the navy, "the enemy saw what it was to be inferior at sea; for, had a French squadron got the start of the English in sailing up the river, Quebec must have fallen." Wholly cut off now, the little body of Frenchmen that remained in Montreal was surrounded by three English armies, which had come, one by way of Lake Champlain, the others from Oswego and from Quebec.