Although the English fleet carried _twenty times_ as many guns as the forts, their inability to reduce these works was acknowledged.

The siege had continued for two months, and still the fortifications were uninjured.

General Wolfe himself distinctly stated, that, in any further attempt to carry the place, the "guns of the shipping could not be of much use;" and the chief engineer of the expedition gave it as his opinion, that "the ships would receive great damage from the shot and bombs of the upper batteries, without making the least impression upon them." Under these circumstances it was finally determined to endeavor to decoy Montcalm from his works, and make him risk a battle in the open field.

In an evil hour, the French consented to forego the advantages of their fortifications, and the contest was finally decided on the plains of Abraham, with forces nearly equal in number.

Both Wolfe and Montcalm fell in this battle, but the former on the field of victory; and five days afterwards the inhabitants of Quebec, weakened and dispirited by their losses, surrendered the town, although its fortifications were still unharmed.
The French, in this campaign, had relinquished all idea of opposing the enemy in the open field, and confined their efforts to retard the advance of the English till France could send troops to their relief; but no such relief came, and when the campaign of 1760 opened, the little French army was concentrated at Montreal.