In the ongoing conflict between Great Britain and France, the British prepared to attack Quebec City in October 1690. The British delivered an ultimatum to the French, demanding that they surrender, to which the French commander Frontenac answered, “I have no reply to make to your general other than from the mouths of my cannons and muskets” -- a phrase better remembered than the event itself. After a few tentative forays, the British boarded their ships and sailed away.