TRANSCIBERS NOTE: Original spelling has been retained

THE

CONQUEST OF CANADA.

BY

THE AUTHOR OF "HOCHELAGA."

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
82 CLIFF STREET.
1850.

CHAPTER I

In the year 1750, commissioners met at Paris to adjust the various boundaries of the North American territories, M. de Galissonière and M. de Silhouette on the part of France, and Messrs. Shirley and Mildmay on the part of Great Britain. The English commissioners, however, soon perceived that there was little chance of arriving at a friendly arrangement. The more they advanced in their offers, the more the French demanded; futile objections were started, and unnecessary delays continued; at length Mr. Shirley[1] and his colleague broke up the conference, and returned to England. [1752.] It now became evident that a decisive struggle was at hand.

Under the rule of M. de la Jonquière, a great and growing evil cankered the spirit of Canada. The scanty salaries[2] allowed to the government officers afforded a great inducement to peculation, especially as the remoteness of the colony rendered retribution distant and uncertain. The Indian trade opened a field for enormous dishonesty: M. Bigot, the intendant, discontented with his inadequate stipend, ventured to farm out trade licenses for his own profit and that of his creatures, and speedily accumulated considerable wealth; he, the governor, and a few others, formed themselves into a company, and monopolized nearly all the commerce of the country, to the great indignation of the colonists. M. de la Jonquière and his secretary, St. Sauveur, also kept exclusively to themselves the nefarious privilege of supplying brandy to the Indians: by this they realized immense profits.

At length a storm of complaints arose against the unworthy governor, and even reached the dull ears of his patrons at the court of France. Aware that his case would not bear investigation, he demanded his recall; but, before a successor could be appointed, he died at Quebec on the 17th of May, 1752,[3] aged sixty-seven years. Though not possessed of brilliant gifts, M. de la Jonquière was a man of considerable ability, and had displayed notable courage and conduct in many engagements; but a miserable avarice stained his character, and he died enormously wealthy, while denying himself the ordinary necessaries of his rank and situation.[4] Charles Le Moine, Baron de Longueuil, then governor of Montreal, being next in seniority, assumed the reins of power until the arrival of a successor.

The Marquis du Quesne de Menneville was appointed governor of Canada, Louisiana, Cape Breton, &c., on the recall of M. de la Jonquière in 1752. He was reputed a man of ability, but was of haughty and austere disposition. Galissonière, who had recommended the appointment, furnished him with every information respecting the colony and the territorial claims of France: thus instructed, he landed at Quebec in August, where he was received with the usual ceremonies.

The orders given to the new governor with regard to the disputed boundaries were such as to leave little doubt on his mind that the sword alone could enable him to secure their execution, and the character of his stubborn though unwarlike rivals promised a determined resistance to his views.[5] His first attention was therefore directed to the military resources of his command. He forthwith organized the militia[6] of Quebec and Montreal under efficient officers, and attached bodies of artillery to the garrison of each city; the militia of the country parishes next underwent a careful inspection, and nothing was neglected to strengthen the efficiency of his army.

In 1753, several French detachments were sent to the banks of the Ohio,[7] with orders to establish forts, and to secure the alliance of the Indians by liberal presents and splendid promises. The wily savages, however, quickly perceived that the rival efforts of the two great European powers would soon lead to a war of which their country must be the scene, and they endeavored, to the utmost of their ability, to rid themselves of both their dangerous visitors. Disregarding these efforts and entreaties, both the English and French advanced nearer to each other, and the latter fortified several posts upon the Allegany and the Ohio. When the hostile designs of France became thus apparent, Mr. Dinwiddie, governor of Virginia,[8] which was the most exposed of the British provinces, undertook to check these aggressions, upon his own responsibility, and formed a regiment of militia for the purpose. A small detachment, raised by the Ohio Company, was immediately sent to protect the traders, and take possession of the Forks of the Ohio and Monongahela, the precise spot where the first efforts of the French would probably be made. They had scarcely begun the erection of a fort, when M. de Contrecœur, with 1200 men, arrived from Venango in 300 canoes, drove them from the ground,[9] and completed and occupied their fortification: to this since well-known spot he gave the name of Fort du Quesne.[10] In the mean time the Virginia militia marched to the aid of the English, and met them on their retreat at Will's Creek; the colonel of this body had died soon after it took the field, and the command devolved upon the officer next in seniority—George Washington, the father of the Great Republic.

To gain intelligence of the movements of the Virginians, frequent expeditions were dispatched from Fort du Quesne. [1754.] One of these, forty-five in number, commanded by M. Jumonville,[11] was surprised by Colonel Washington, and destroyed or captured with the exception of one man.[12] The victors immediately proceeded to intrench themselves on the scene of action, a place called Little Meadows, with the view of holding their ground till re-enforcements should arrive: they gave to their little stronghold the name of Fort Necessity. They were soon after joined by the remainder of the Virginia militia and a company from South Carolina, which raised their strength to about 400 men. When M. de Contrecœur received intelligence of Jumonville's disaster, he sent M. de Villiers, with 1000 regular troops and 100 Indians, to obtain satisfaction. Colonel Washington resolved to await the attack in the fort, and trust to the arrival of some troops promised by the state of New York for his relief. He was, however, so warmly assailed by the French on the 3d of July, that he found it necessary to surrender the same evening, stipulating to march out with all the honors of war, and every thing in his possession except the artillery. The capitulation[13] was scarcely signed when it was most shamefully broken, the baggage was plundered, the horses and cattle destroyed, and the officers detained for some time as prisoners. At length Colonel Washington retired as he best might, and met at Winchester the re-enforcements that but a day before would have enabled him to stem the tide of French usurpation: he was then, however, fain to content himself with erecting Fort Cumberland[14] at Will's Creek, where he held his ground.

Meanwhile the governor of the British colonies transmitted reports of these events to London, and the embassador[15] at Paris was instructed to remonstrate firmly against the French aggressions in America; but that court disregarded these communications, and took no further pains to conceal their hostile intentions. They publicly gave orders for the speedy re-enforcement of their colonies, especially Quebec, with men and military stores, and prepared to follow up with vigor the success at Fort Necessity.

The English government only noticed these formidable preparations by letters of instruction to their colonial authorities, ordering them to unite for their common defense, and encouraging them to resist every aggression, without, however, furnishing any assistance. Commissioners were also appointed to meet the Indian chiefs in congress at Albany, and to endeavor to secure those important allies to the British power. The red warriors did not display much enthusiasm in the cause, but finally they accepted the presents offered them, and expressed a desire to receive vigorous assistance from the English to drive the French from their invaded hunting grounds. At this congress a general union of the funds and forces of the colonies was proposed, but clashing interests in comparatively unimportant matters defeated these salutary designs.

While this congress continued its almost useless deliberations, Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, marched upon the Kennebec River with about 1000 men, and erected forts at the most exposed points to secure the northeastern frontier; he also accomplished the important object of gaining the confidence of the Indians, and their consent to his military occupation of the country. During the remainder of the year he repeatedly represented to the English ministry[16] the dangerous condition of the colonies, and the urgent need of powerful assistance to defeat the hostility of France. Shirley's appeal was successful; two regiments—Halket's, the 44th, and Dunbar's, the 48th, were ordered from Ireland to America,[17] and Major-general Braddock was appointed to the command of all the British forces on the Western continent; the governor of Massachusetts was at the same time thanked by the king, and empowered to concert measures for attacking the French settlements in the Bay of Fundy. The disbanded colonial regiments, Shirley's and Pepperel's, were also re-established, and recruits were rapidly raised through the several provinces to form an army for the approaching war.

General Braddock arrived by the end of February, 1755, and immediately convened the governors of the different British colonies to meet him in council at Alexandria, in Virginia, on the 14th of April. It appeared his orders from home[18] were positive that he should at once move upon Fort du Quesne, notwithstanding the danger, difficulty, and expense of carrying the war across the rugged barrier of the Allegany Mountains, instead of assailing the Canadian settlements, where the facility of transport by water, and their proximity to his resources, offered him every advantage. However, no alternative remained, and he obeyed. At the same time, Shirley's and Pepperel's newly-raised regiments[19] were directed upon Niagara, and a strong body of provincial troops, commanded by General Johnson, was commissioned to attack the French position of Fort Frederic, called by the English Crown Point.

While these plans were being carried out, Colonel Monckton,[20] with Colonel Winslow, marched against the French settlements in the Bay of Fundy; their force of nearly 3000 men was aided by the presence on the coast of Captain Rous, with three frigates and a sloop. The Acadian peasants,[21] and some regular troops with a few cannon, endeavored to oppose his passage at the River Massaquash, but were speedily overpowered. Thence he moved upon Fort Beau-sejour, and forced the garrison to capitulate after a bombardment[22] of four days. He left some troops to defend this position, which he now called Fort Cumberland, and proceeded the next day to a small intrenchment on the River Gaspereau, where the French had established their principal dépôt for the Indian trade, and the stores of arms, ammunition, and provisions; he then disarmed the peasantry to the number of 15,000 men. At the same time Captain Rous destroyed all the works erected by the French on the River St. John. By this expedition the possession of the extensive province of Nova Scotia was secured to the British crown almost without the loss of a man.

The court of France in the mean time hastened the equipment of a considerable fleet at Brest, under the orders of Admiral Bois de la Mothe. On board were several veteran regiments, commanded by the Baron Dieskau, who had distinguished himself under the celebrated Marshal Saxe.

The Marquis du Quesne had demanded his recall from the government of Canada, with the view of re-entering the naval service of France. His departure caused little regret, for though his management of public affairs was skillful and judicious, a haughty and domineering temper had made him generally unpopular in the colony. The Marquis de Vaudreuil de Cavagnac was appointed his successor, at the request of the Canadian people, who fondly hoped to enjoy, under the rule of the son of their favorite, the same prosperity and peace which had characterized his father's administration. The new governor, who arrived in M. de la Mothe's fleet, was received with great demonstrations of joy by the inhabitants of Quebec.

Hearing of these hostile preparations, the English ministry, in the month of April, 1755, dispatched Admiral Boscawen, with eleven sail of the line, to watch the French squadron, although at the time no formal declaration of war had been made. The rival armaments reached the Banks of Newfoundland almost at the same time: the friendly fogs of those dreary latitudes saved De la Mothe's fleet; two of his vessels, indeed, fell into the hands of his enemies,[23] but the remainder entered the Canadian ports in safety. On the news of this attack reaching Paris, M. de Mirepoix, the embassador, was recalled from London, and loud complaints were made by the French against Boscawen's conduct. On the part of Great Britain it was answered, that the aggressions of the Canadians in Virginia justified the act of hostility.[24]

On the 8th of May General Braddock joined the head-quarters of the army at a village on the Potomac; on the 10th he marched to Will's Creek, and encamped on a hill near Fort Cumberland. Here he remained till the 28th, passing the time in horse-races, reviews, and conferences with the Indians. These red warriors were astonished at the number of the British, their uniform dress, and their arms, the regularity of their march, the tremendous effect of their artillery, and the strange noises of their drums and fifes; but, unfortunately, the haughty general was not wise enough to conciliate his important allies, or to avail himself of their experience in forest warfare; he, however, with disdainful generosity, gave them numerous presents, and provided the warriors with arms and clothing.

The force now assembled in camp at Fort Cumberland consisted of the 44th (Sir Peter Halket's) and the 48th (Colonel Dunbar's) regiments, each of 700 men, with three New York and Carolina companies of 100, and ten of Virginia and Maryland (fifty strong), a troop of Provincial light horse, thirty seamen, and twelve pieces of field artillery: in all, 2300 men.[25] The Delawares and other friendly Indians, whose services were unfortunately so lightly valued, added considerably to the numbers of this formidable body.

Braddock was aware that the French garrison of Fort du Quesne only numbered 200 men, and earnestly desired to advance in early spring with his overwhelming force, but by an unfortunate exercise of corrupt influence at home his troops had been ordered to land in Virginia, where the inhabitants, altogether engrossed with the culture of tobacco, were unable to supply the necessary provisions and means of transport. Had they been landed in the agricultural state of Pennsylvania, all demands could have been readily supplied, their march shortened, and a large outlay saved to the British government. When the general found that the Virginians could not meet his views, he made a requisition on the neighboring state for 150 wagons, 300 horses, and a large quantity of forage and provisions: these were readily promised, but not a tenth part arrived at the appointed time. His disappointment was, however, somewhat mitigated by a small supply which Mr. Franklin sent shortly after from Philadelphia. By the exertions of this energetic man, Braddock was at length furnished with all his requisitions,[26] and then prepared to advance.

The unfortunate selection of the chief of this expedition was, however, more fatal than difficulty[27] or delay; his character was unsuited for such a command in every point except that of personal courage: haughty, self-sufficient, and overbearing, he estranged the good-will, and rejected the counsel of his Indian and Provincial allies.[28] His troops were harassed by the endeavor to enforce a formal and rigid discipline, which the nature of the service rendered impracticable. Through the tangled and trackless passes of the Alleganies, he adhered with stubborn bigotry to a system of operations only suited to the open plains of civilized Europe. But his greatest and worst error was to despise his foe: in spite of the warnings of the Duke of Cumberland, his patron and friend, he scorned to take precautions against the dangerous ambush of the American savage.

On the 29th, Major Chapman, with 600 men and two guns, marched from the camp: Sir John St. Clair, quarter-master general, some engineers, and seamen, accompanied this detachment to clear the roads and reconnoiter the country. From that time till the 10th of June an incredible amount of useless and harassing toil was wasted in widening and leveling the forest paths, and erecting unnecessarily elaborate bridges. At length, on the 10th, Braddock followed with the rest of his army, and reached the Little Meadows that night, a distance of twenty-two miles. In spite of the facilities afforded by the labors of the pioneers, great difficulty was experienced in the conveyance of the heavy stores. During the route still to be pursued, where no preparations had been made, greater delays were to be expected. At the same time the general was stimulated to activity by information that the French soon expected a re-enforcement at Fort du Quesne of 500 regular troops; with more of energy than he had yet displayed,[29] he selected 1200 men, and taking also ten guns, the seamen, and some indispensable supplies of provisions and ammunition, he pushed boldly on into the pathless and almost unknown solitudes of the Alleganies. Colonel Dunbar, with the rest of the army and the heavy luggage, followed as they best might.

To trace the unfortunate Braddock through his tedious march of 130 miles would be wearisome and unnecessary. His progress was retarded by useless labors in making roads, or rather tracks, and yet no prudent caution was observed; he persisted in refusing or neglecting the offers of the Provincials and Indians to scour the woods and explore the passes in his front.[30] Sir Peter Halket and other British officers ventured to remonstrate in strong terms against the dangerous carelessness of the march, but their instances seemed only to confirm the obstinate determination of the general. Washington, who acted as his aid-de-camp, also urged an alteration of arrangement, and with such vehement pertinacity that the irritated chief ordered his Virginian companies to undertake the inglorious duties of the rear-guard.

M. de Contrecœur, commandant of Fort du Quesne, had received information of all Braddock's movements from the Indians. With the view of embarrassing the English advance rather than of offering any serious resistance, he dispatched M. de Beaujeu, with 250 of the marine, or colony troops, toward the line of march which Braddock was expected to take; this detachment was afterward strengthened by about 600 Indians, principally Outamacs, and the united force took up a favorable position, where the underwood and long grass concealed them from the approaching enemy.

Intelligence of a contradictory nature as to the strength and movements of the French had been every day carried to the unfortunate Braddock by Indians professing to be his friends, and by doubly traitorous deserters. Still, under a fatal conviction of security, he had pursued his march, meeting with no interruption, except in taking "eight or nine scalps, a number much inferior to expectation." On the 8th of July, following the winding course which the difficulty of the country rendered necessary, he crossed the Monongahela River, encamped upon the bank at the opposite side from Fort du Quesne, and sent Sir John St. Clair forward to reconnoiter the enemy's fort. The quarter-master general was successful in attaining the desired information: he reported that the defenses were of timber, and that a small eminence lay close by, from whence red-hot shot could easily be thrown upon the wooden parapets.

At seven in the morning of the 9th of July, an advance guard of 400 men, under Colonel Gage, pushed on and took possession of the fords of the river, where it was necessary to recross, unopposed, but somewhat alarmed by the ominous appearance of a few Indians among the neighboring thickets. A little before mid-day the main body began to cross the broad stream with "colors flying, drums beating, and fifes playing the Grenadiers' March:" they formed rapidly on the opposite side, and, not having been interrupted in the difficult passage, recommenced their march in presumptuous security.

Three guides and six light horsemen led the way toward Fort du Quesne, through an open space in the forest, followed by the grenadiers of the 44th and 48th: flanking parties skirted the edge of the woods on both sides. The 44th regiment succeeded with two guns; behind them were the 48th, with the rest of the artillery and the general: the Virginian companies, in unwilling obedience, sullenly brought up the rear. In this order they advanced with as much regularity as the rough road permitted. When within seven miles of the fort, they left a steep conical hill to the right, and directed their march upon the extremity of the open space, where the path disappeared between the thickly-wooded banks of a small brook: so far all went well.

At length the guides and the light horse entered the "bush" in front and descended the slope toward the stream, while a number of axmen set vigorously to work felling the trees and clearing the underwood for the advance of the army, the grenadiers acting as a covering party. Suddenly from the dark ravine in front flashed out a deadly volley, and before the rattle of the musketry had ceased to echo, three fourths of the British advance lay dead and dying on the ground. The French had coolly taken aim from their unseen position, and singled out the officers with fatal effect, for every one was killed or wounded in that first discharge; only two-and-twenty of the grenadiers remained untouched; they hastily fired upon the copse containing their still invisible foes, then turned and fled. One of these random shots struck down the French chief, De Beaujeu, and for a short time checked the enemy's triumph. He was dressed like an Indian, but wore a large gorgiton to denote his rank. At the moment of his death he was waving his hat and cheering his men on at a running pace.

Braddock instantly advanced the 44th regiment to succor the front, and endeavored to deploy upon the open space, but simultaneously on all sides from the thick covert burst the war-whoop of the Indians, and a deadly fire swept away the head of every formation. The 44th staggered and hesitated. Sir Peter Halket and his son,[31] a lieutenant in the regiment, while cheering; them on, were shot dead side by side; Braddock's horse was killed, and two of his aids-de-camp wounded; the artillery, although without orders,[32] pressed to the front, and their leading guns plied the thickets with grape and canister, but in a few minutes all the officers and most of the gunners were stretched bleeding on the field. The broken remnant of the grenadiers who had formed the advance now fell back upon the disordered line, and threw it into utter confusion.

With stubborn purpose and useless courage the general strove to re-form his ruined ranks; most of the officers nobly stood by him, but the soldiers were seized with uncontrollable terror. Assailed on every side by foes, unseen save when a savage rushed out from his woody stronghold to tear the scalp from some fallen Englishman, they lost all order, and fell back upon the 48th, which was now rapidly advancing to their aid under Colonel Burton. Braddock, with these fresh troops, made several desperate efforts to gain possession of the conical hill, from whence a strong body of the French galled him intolerably, but his well-drilled ranks were broken by the close trees and rocks, and shattered by the flanking fire of the Indians. Again and again he endeavored to rally the now panic-stricken soldiers, without, however, any effectual movement of advance or retreat. His ill-judged valor was vain; the carnage increased, and with it his confusion. At length, after having had four horses shot under him, while still encouraging his men, a bullet shattered his arm and passed through his lungs. The luckless but gallant chief was placed in a wagon by Colonel Gage and hurried to the rear, although he was "very solicitous to be left on the field."[33]

The remains of the two British regiments now broke into utter disorder and fled, leaving all the artillery and baggage[34] in the hands of the enemy, and, worst of all, many of their wounded comrades, who were scalped by the Indians without mercy. This horrible occupation, and the plunder of the wagons, for a time interrupted the pursuers, and enabled Colonel Washington, the only mounted officer still unwounded, to rally the Virginian companies, who had as yet borne little share in the action. He succeeded in holding the banks of the Monongahela River[35] till the fugitives had passed, and then himself retired in tolerable order. One of his captains was Horatio Gates, afterward Burgoyne's conqueror in the Revolutionary war. This young officer distinguished himself by courage and conduct in the retreat, and was carried from the field severely wounded.

The routed army fled all through the night, and joined Colonel Dunbar the following evening at a distance of nearly fifty miles from the scene of their defeat.[36] Braddock ordered that the retreat should be immediately continued, which his lieutenant readily obeyed, as his troops were infected with the terror of the fugitives. A great quantity of stores were hurriedly destroyed, that the wounded officers and soldiers might have transport, and the remaining artillery was spiked and abandoned. The unfortunate general's sufferings increased hourly, aggravated by the most intense mental anguish. On the 12th of July, conscious of the approach of death, he dictated a dispatch acquitting his officers of all blame, and recommending them to the favor of his country: that night his proud and gallant heart ceased to beat. His dying words expressed that astonishment at his defeat which had continued to the last: "Who would have thought it! we shall know better how to deal with them another time."[37]

May he sleep in peace! With sorrow and censure, but not with shame, let his name be registered in the crowded roll of those who have fought and fallen for the rights and honor of England.

The number of killed, wounded, and missing, out of this small army, amounted to 896 men, and sixty-four officers, as appeared by the returns of the different companies after the battle. Some few, indeed, of these ultimately reappeared, but most of the wounded and missing met with a fate far more terrible from their savage enemies than a soldier's death upon the field. Of fifty-four women who had accompanied the troops, only four escaped alive from the dangers and hardships of the campaign. The French, on the other hand, only report the loss of their commander, De Beaujeu, and sixty men in this astonishing victory.

On Braddock's death, Colonel Dunbar fell back with disgraceful haste upon Fort Cumberland; nor did he even there consider himself safe. Despite the entreaties of the governors of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, that he would remain to protect the frontier, he continued his march to Philadelphia, leaving only a small garrison of two Provincial companies at the fort. From Philadelphia the remains of the army, 1600 strong, was shipped for Albany by the order of General Shirley, who had succeeded to the command of the British American forces.

In consequence of this lamentable defeat and the injudicious withdrawal of the remaining British troops, the western borders of Pennsylvania and Virginia were exposed during the ensuing winter to the ruthless cruelties of the victorious savages, and the scarcely less ferocious hostilities of their European allies. The French not only incited the Indians to these aggressions, but rewarded them by purchasing their hapless captives at a high price, and in turn exacted large ransoms for the prisoners' release. Their pretense was to rescue the English from the torture, their real motive gain, and the rendering it more profitable for the savages to hunt their enemies than the wild animals of the forest.

From the presumptuous rashness of Braddock and the misconduct of the 44th and 48th regiments,[38] followed results of a far deeper importance than the loss of a battle and the injury of a remote province. The conviction formerly held by the colonists of the superior prowess of English regulars was seriously shaken, if not destroyed, and the licentious and violent conduct of Dunbar's army to the inhabitants during the retreat excited a wide-spread feeling of hostility. "They are more terrible, to us than to the enemy," said the discontented: "they slighted our officers and scorned our counsel, and yet to our Virginians they owe their escape from utter destruction." Some far-sighted and ambitious men there were, who, through this cloud upon the British arms, with hope espied the first faint rays of young America's ascending star.

The second expedition, set on foot by the council at Alexandria, was that under General Shirley: two Provincial regiments[39] and a detachment of the royal artillery were assembled by his order at Albany, to march against Niagara.[40] All the young men who had been, during more peaceful times, occupied by the fur trade in the neighboring country, were engaged to man the numerous bateaux for the transport of the troops and stores to Oswego. Part of the force commenced their westward journey in the beginning of July, and the remainder were preparing to follow, when the disastrous news of Braddock's ruin reached the camp. This struck a damp upon the undisciplined Provincial troops, and numbers deserted their colors, while the indispensable bateaux-men[41] nearly all fled to their homes, and resisted alike threats and entreaties for their return. The general, however, still vigorously pushed on, with all the force he could keep together. Great hopes had been formed of the assistance likely to be rendered to the expedition by the powerful confederacy of the Five Nations, but these politic savages showed no inclination to trust to the then doubtful fortunes of the British colonies, and even remonstrated against the transit of their territories by the army, alleging that the Oswego fort was established and tolerated by them as a trading-post,[42] but not as a place of arms for hostile purposes. After having undergone considerable hardships and overcome great difficulties, Shirley reached Oswego by the 18th of August:[43] his whole force, however, had not arrived till the end of the month. Want of supplies and the lateness of the season defeated his intention of attacking Niagara that year. On the 24th of October he withdrew from the shores of Lake Ontario, without having accomplished any thing of the slightest importance. Leaving 700 men under Colonel Mercer to complete and occupy the defenses of Oswego, and those of a new fort to be called Fort Ontario, he retraced the difficult route to his old quarters at Albany.[44]

The expedition against Crown Point was the last in commencement of those planned by the council at Albany, but the first in success. By the advice of Shirley, the command was intrusted to William Johnson,[45] an Irishman by birth. This remarkable man had emigrated to New York at an early age, and by uncommon gifts of mind and body, united to ardent ambition, had risen from the condition of a private soldier, to wealth, consideration, and a seat at the council-board of his adopted country. For some years he had been settled on the fertile banks of the Mohawk River, where he had built two handsome residences and acquired a large estate. He associated himself intimately with the Indians of the Five Nations, learned their language, habits, and feelings, and gained their affection and respect. In war, he was their chief and leader; in peace, the persevering advocate of their rights and interests. Accordingly, when called to the command of the army, Hendrick, a Mohawk sachem, and 300 warriors of that tribe, followed him to the camp.

General Johnson had never seen a campaign, his troops had never seen an enemy, with the exception of a few companies that had shared the glories of Louisburg, but his ability and courage, and their zeal and spirit, served instead of experience. To this force was intrusted the most difficult undertaking in the checkered campaign, and it alone gained a share of honor and success.

By the end of June, 6000 men, the hardy militia of the Northern States,[46] had mustered at Albany under Johnson's command. He soon after sent them forward, with Major-general Lyman, to the carrying-place between Lake George and the Hudson River, sixty miles in advance. Here they established a post called Fort Edward, in a strong position, while the artillery, provisions, and boats for the campaign were being prepared under the general's eye. Toward the end of August, Johnson joined his army at the carrying-place, and proceeded to the southern extremity of Lake George, leaving Colonel Blanchard with 300 men to garrison the newly-erected fort.

Here all the Indian scouts brought the news that the French had intrenched themselves at Ticonderoga, on the promontory between the Lakes George and Champlain, but that the works were still incomplete. Johnson promptly prepared for the offensive; soon, however, his plans were changed by the news of Baron Dieskau's arrival on the lake with a considerable force of regular troops from Old France. The well-known ability and courage of the enemy, together with his formidable force, alarmed Johnson for the safety of the British settlements; he therefore immediately dispatched an earnest entreaty for re-enforcements to the provincial governments, who loyally responded to the appeal, but the danger had passed before their aid reached the scene of action.

Baron Dieskau had been ordered to reduce the Fort of Oswego, on Lake Ontario, as the primary object of his campaign; but, on hearing that a British force was in motion upon Lake George, he determined first to check or destroy them, and pressed on rapidly against Johnson with 2000 men, chiefly Canadians and Indians. The English chief was apprized of this movement, but could form no estimate of the enemy's strength, his savage informants being altogether ignorant of the science of numbers: he nevertheless made every possible preparation for defense, and warned Colonel Blanchard to concentrate all his little force within the fort: that officer was, however, slain in the mean time by an advance party of the French.

Johnson now summoned a council of war, which recommended the rash step of dispatching a force of 1000 men and the Mohawk Indians to check the enemy: Colonel Ephraim Williams was placed in command of the detachment. Hardly had they advanced three miles from the camp, when suddenly they were almost surrounded by the French, and, after a gallant but hopeless combat, utterly routed, with the loss of their leader, Hendrick, the Indian chief, and many of the men. The victors, although they had also suffered in the sharp encounter, pursued with spirit, till checked near the camp by Colonel Cole and 300 men, sent by Johnson in the direction of the firing. By this delay the British were enabled to strengthen their defenses, and to recover, in some measure, from the confusion of their disaster. The most vigorous efforts of the officers were needed to overcome the panic caused by Williams's defeat and death, and by their ignorance of the advancing enemy's force.

After a brief pause, Dieskau made a spirited attack upon the British intrenchments, but his Canadians and Indians were suddenly checked by Johnson's guns;[47] they at once gave way, and, inclining to the right and left, contented themselves with keeping up a harmless fire on the flanks of the works. The French regulars, however, bravely maintained their ground, although surprised by the strength of Johnson's position, and damped by finding it armed with artillery. But they could not long bear the brunt alone; after several gallant attacks, the few remaining still unhurt also dispersed in the forest, leaving their leader mortally wounded on the field.[48] Early in the action General Johnson had received a painful wound, and was obliged unwillingly to retire to his tent; the command then devolved upon Lyman, who pursued the routed enemy for a short distance with great slaughter. The French loss in this disastrous action was little short of 800 men, and their regular troops were nearly destroyed.

The Canadians and Indians, who had fled almost unharmed, halted that evening at the scene of Williams's defeat to scalp the dead and dying. Finding they were not molested, they prepared for rest and refreshment, and even debated upon the renewal of the attack. The heavy loss already sustained by the English (upward of 200 men), and the consequent disorganization, prevented them from following up their victory: this forced inaction had well-nigh proved the destruction of 120 men sent from Fort Edward to their aid under Captain Macginnis. This gallant officer, however, had secured his march by every proper precaution, and was warned by his scouts that he was close upon the spot where the still formidable enemy was bivouacked. He promptly formed his little band, and sustained a sharp engagement for nearly two hours, extricating his detachment at length with little loss, and much honor to himself. The brave young man was, however, mortally wounded, and died three days afterward in Johnson's camp. The remnant of the French army then dispersed, and sought shelter at Ticonderoga.[49]

Though the brilliance of this success was obscured by the somewhat timid inaction that followed,[50] the consequences were of great importance. The English troops, it must be owned, were become so accustomed to defeat and disaster, that they went into action spiritless and distrustful. Now that a formidable force of the enemy had yielded to their prowess, confidence began to revive, and gradually strengthened into boldness. Had the French been successful in their attack, the results would have been most disastrous for the British colonies: nothing would have remained to arrest their progress into the heart of the country, or stem the tide of ruin that had followed on their track. The value of this unusual triumph on the Western continent was duly felt in England: a baronetcy by royal favor, and a grant of £5000 by a grateful Parliament, rewarded the successful general.

General Johnson turned his attention immediately after the battle to strengthen the position he had successfully held, with the view of securing the frontiers from hostile incursion when he should retire into winter quarters. The fort called William Henry[51] was forthwith constructed by his orders; guns were mounted, and a regiment of Provincial troops, with a company of rangers, left to garrison it and Fort Edward. On the 24th of December Johnson fell back to Albany, and from thence dispersed the remainder of his army to their respective provinces. In the mean time, Captain Rogers, a daring and active officer, made repeated demonstrations against the French in the neighborhood of Crown Point,[52] cut off many of their detached parties, and obtained constant intelligence of their proceedings. By these means it was known that the French had assembled a force of no less than 2000 men, with a proportion of artillery, and a considerable body of Indians, at Ticonderoga; the British were therefore obliged to use every vigilance to secure themselves against sudden attack from their formidable enemies, and to hasten, by all means in their power, the preparations for defense.

The fatal consequences of the unfortunate Braddock's defeat were rapidly developed in the southwestern frontiers. The French were aroused by success to an unusual spirit of enterprise, and, together with the Indians, they carried destruction into the remote and scattered hamlets of the British settlements. To put an end to these depredations, the government of Virginia marched 500 men to garrison Fort Cumberland, and 160 more to the southern branch of the Potomac, lately the scene of a cruel massacre. But these isolated efforts were of little more than local and temporary advantage; as the marauders were checked or baffled in one district, they poured with increased ferocity upon another. The province of Pennsylvania now became their foray-ground; and the inhabitants, the faithful but fanatic men of peace, actually denied all assistance to their governor for defense, and zealously preached against any warlike preparations, recommending patience and forbearance as the best means of securing their properties and lives.

This fatal delusion was not even dispelled by the intelligence that 1400 Indians and 100 French were already mustered on the banks of the Susquehanna, only eighty miles from Philadelphia, with the object of again dividing and sweeping the whole country in separate parties. Soon after, news arrived that the peaceful and prosperous settlement of Great Cove was utterly destroyed, and all the inhabitants massacred or carried into captivity. Still the men of peace refused to use the arm of flesh. The spirited governor in vain urged the necessity of action upon his unmanageable Assembly, till the sudden arrival of some hundreds of ruined fugitives strengthened his argument. These unfortunates crowded to the State House, dragging a wagon loaded with the dead and mutilated bodies of their friends, who had been scalped by the Indians at a place only sixty miles distant; they threw the bleeding corpses at the door, and threatened violence if their demands for protection and revenge were not instantly complied with. The Assembly, either moved by their distress, or overawed by their menaces, at length gave up its scruples, and passed a bill to call out the militia and appropriate £62,000 to the expenses of the war.

It must be said, at the same time, that the other English colonies, where no such scruples as those of the Quakers existed, were far from being active or united in raising supplies of men and money for their common safety. Those, however, where danger was most imminent, addressed strong and spirited appeals to their rulers for protection and support, and denounced in vigorous language the aggressions and usurpations of the French. These remonstrances had at length the desired effect of disposing the minds of the local authorities to second the views of the court of London for curbing the advances of Canadian power. On the 12th of December, 1755, a grand council of war was assembled at New York, consisting of as many provincial governors and superior officers as could be collected for the purpose. General Shirley presided, and laid before them the instructions which had been given to Braddock, his unfortunate predecessor. He exerted himself with energy and success to create a good understanding among the several governments, and was particularly happy in effecting a union for mutual protection and support between the important states of New England and New York. He also succeeded in regaining to his cause many of the Indians, who had either already gone over to the French or withdrawn to a cold neutrality.

The measures Shirley now proposed to the council were in accordance with the tenor of General Braddock's instructions; they were cheerfully assented to by that body, through his successful negotiations. It was agreed to strengthen the naval force on Lake Ontario, and to form an army of 6000 men upon its shores, while 10,000 more were to be directed against the French intrenchments at Ticonderoga. Another attempt was also proposed upon Fort du Quesne, and a movement against the Canadian settlements on the Chaudière, provided that these schemes should not interfere with the main objects of the war. The council then unanimously gave their opinion that a re-enforcement of regular soldiers was indispensable for the assertion and security of the British sovereign's rights on the American continent.

The English government,[53] though sensible of General Shirley's abilities as a negotiator, had not sufficient confidence in his military capacity to intrust him with the execution of extensive warlike operations. The command in chief of all the forces in America was therefore conferred upon the Earl of Loudon, a nobleman of amiable character, who had already distinguished himself in the service of his country.[54]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mr. Shirley was born in England, and brought up to the law. In that profession he afterward practiced for many years in the Massachusetts Bay, and in 1741 was advanced to the supreme command of that colony. Upon the conclusion of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle he was chosen as one of the British commissioners at Paris, and when the conference there broke up, he resumed his government in New England (in 1753).

[2] "The salaries allotted to the officers of the civil departments in the French colonial governments were extremely moderate, and inadequate to support their respective situations. In 1758, that of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor and lieutenant general of Canada, amounted to no more than £272 1s. 8d. sterling, out of which he was to clothe, maintain, and pay a guard for himself, consisting of two sergeants and twenty-five soldiers, furnishing them with firing in winter, and with other necessary articles. The pay of the whole officers of justice and police was £514 11s. sterling, and the total sum appropriated for the pay of the established officers, composing the various branches of the civil power, did not exceed £3809 8s. sterling."—Heriot's Travels in Canada, p. 98.

[3] "On the 1st January of this year England adopted the New Style, which had been long before in use among all civilized nations except Russia and Sweden. They, with England, still clung to the exploded system, for no better reason, apparently, than because it was a Pope who established the new. 'It was not, in my opinion,' writes Chesterfield, 'very honorable for England to remain in gross and avowed error, especially in such company.' The bill for the reformation of the calendar was moved by Lord Chesterfield in a very able, and seconded by Lord Macclesfield in a very learned speech, and it was successfully carried through both Houses. The bill had been framed by these two noblemen in concert with Dr. Bradley and other eminent men of science. To correct the old calendar, eleven nominal days were to be suppressed in September, 1752, so that the day following the 2d of that month should be styled the 14th. The difficulties that might result from the change, as affecting rents, leases, and bills of exchange, were likewise carefully considered and effectually prevented."—Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 23.

[4] "He amassed, while governor of Canada, by commerce alone, more than a million livres, besides which, he had for many years sixty thousand livres from his appointments and pensions. Yet, notwithstanding his riches, his avarice was in many instances so extreme, that he denied himself the common necessaries of life. During his last illness, he ordered the wax tapers that were burning in his room to be changed for tallow candles, observing that 'the latter would answer every purpose, and were less expensive.'"—Smith's Hist. of Canada, vol. i., p. 223.

[5] "While Britain claimed an indefinite extent to the west, France insisted on confining her to the eastern side of the Allegany Mountains, and claimed the whole country whose waters run into the Mississippi, in virtue of her right as the first discoverer of that river. The delightful region between the summit of those mountains and the Mississippi was the object for which these two powerful nations contended, and it soon became apparent that the sword alone could decide the contest."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 294; Belsham, vol. ii., p. 363, 364.

"Thus France would have enjoyed, in time of peace, the whole Indian trade, and the English colonies, in time of war, must have had a frontier of 1200 miles to defend against blood-thirsty savages, conducted by French officers, and supported by regular troops. It was, in fact, to attempt the extinction of the British settlements, and yet, without such interior communication as was projected between Canada and Louisiana, the French settlements on the St. Lawrence and Mississippi could never, it was said, attain any high degree of consequence or security; the navigation of one of those rivers being at all seasons difficult, and that of the other blocked up with ice during the winter months, so as to preclude exterior support or relief. This scheme of usurpation, which is supposed to have long occupied the deliberations of the court of Versailles, was ardently embraced by M. de la Jonquière, now commander-in-chief of the French forces in North America, and by La Galissonière, a man of a bold and enterprising spirit, who had been appointed governor of New France in 1747. By their joint efforts, in addition to those of their predecessors, forts were erected along the Great Lakes, which communicate with the River St. Lawrence, and also on the Ohio and Mississippi. The vast chain was almost completed from Quebec to New Orleans, when the court of England, roused by repeated injuries, broke off the conferences relative to the limits of Nova Scotia."—Russell's Modern Europe, vol. iii., p. 273.

[6] See Appendix, [No. LXV.]

[7] "The governors of Canada, who were generally military men, had, for several preceding years, judiciously selected and fortified such situations as would give their nation most influence with the Indians, and most facilitate incursions into the northern English provinces. The command of Lake Champlain had been acquired by erecting a strong fort at Crown Point, and a connected chain of posts was maintained from Quebec up the St. Lawrence and along the Great Lakes. It was now intended to unite these posts with the Mississippi, by taking positions which should enable them to circumscribe, and at the same time annoy, the frontier settlements of the English. The execution of this plan was probably in some degree accelerated by an act of the British government. The year after the conclusion of the war with France, several very influential persons, both in England and Virginia, who associated under the name of the Ohio Company, obtained from the crown a grant for 600,000 acres of land, lying in the country which was claimed by both nations. Several opulent merchants, as well as noblemen and gentlemen, being members of this company, its objects were commercial as well as territorial; and measures were immediately taken to derive all the advantages expected from their grants in both these respects, by establishing houses for carrying on their trade with the Indians. The governor of Canada, who obtained early intelligence of this intrusion, as he deemed it, into the dominions of his Christian majesty, wrote immediately to the governors of New York and Pennsylvania, informing them that the English traders had encroached on the French territory by trading with the Indians, and warning them that, if they did not desist, he should be under the necessity of seizing them wherever they should be found. This threat having been disregarded, it was put in execution by seizing the British traders among the Twightwees,[55] and carrying them as prisoners to a fort on Lake Erie."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 297.

[8] "The country taken possession of by the French troops had actually been granted as a part of the territory of Virginia to the Ohio Company, who were, in consequence, commencing its settlement."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 298.

[9] "Which was the less to be wondered at," remarks Major Washington, in his journal, "as the garrison of the fort consisted but of thirty-three effective men." They were commanded by Captain Trent.

[10] This name was given in honor of the then governor of Canada, the Marquis du Quesne de Menneville. Fort Du Quesne is now called Pittsburg.

[11] Smollett says that "Jumonville bore a summons to Colonel Washington, requiring him to quit the fort, which he pretended was built on ground belonging to the French or their allies. So little regard was paid to this intimation, that the English fell upon this party, and, as the French affirm, without the least provocation, either slew or took the whole detachment. De Villiers, incensed at these unprovoked hostilities...."—Smollett, vol. iii., p. 421.

[12] "This skirmish, of small importance, perhaps, in itself, was yet among the principal causes of the war. It is no less memorable as the first appearance in the pages of history of one of their brightest ornaments—of that great and good man, General Washington."—Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 65.

"This event was no sooner known in England than the British embassador at Paris received directions to complain of it to the French ministry, as an open violation of the peace."—Smollett, vol. iii., p. 421.

[13] "The capitulation was written in French, and as neither Mr. Washington nor any of his party understood that language, a foreigner was employed to read it to them in English. But, instead of acting the part of a faithful interpreter, when he came to the word 'assassination,'[56] employed in the capitulation to designate M. de Jumonville's defeat and death, he translated it 'the defeat of M. de Jumonville.' This I have the best authority to assert; the authority of the English officers who were present. Indeed, the thing speaks for itself. It can not be supposed that these gentlemen should know so little of what they owed to themselves, both as men and as soldiers, as not to prefer any extremity rather than submit to the disgrace of being branded with the imputation of so horrid a crime. After all, had they been guilty of this charge, they could scarce have been worse used than they were."—History of the late War in America by Major Thomas Mante, p. 14 (London, 1772).

[14] "The coal measures of this part of Maryland are usually called the Cumberland coal-field, from Fort Cumberland, famous for the wars of the English with the French and Indians, in which General Washington took part before the American Revolution. The carboniferous strata are arranged geologically in a trough about twenty-five miles long from north to south, and from three to four miles broad. Professor Silliman and his son, who surveyed them, have aptly compared the shape of the successive beds to a great number of canoes placed one within another."—Lyell's Geology, vol. ii., p. 17.

[15] "An able diplomacy in Europe exerted betimes would probably have allayed the rancor of these feuds in America. But, for our misfortune, we had then at Paris as embassador the Earl of Albemarle, an indolent man of pleasure."—Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 66. London, 1844.

"Between you and me, for this must go no further, what do you think made Lord Albemarle, colonel of a regiment of Guards, governor of Virginia, groom of the stole, and embassador to Paris, amounting in all to £16,000 or £17,000 a year? Was it his birth? No; a Dutch gentleman only. Was it his estate? No; he had none. Was it his learning, his parts, his political abilities and application? You can answer these questions as easily and as soon as I can ask them. What was it, then? Many people wondered, but I do not, for I know, and will tell you: it was his air, his address, his manners, and his graces."—Lord Chesterfield to his Son, May 27, 1752.

Lord Albemarle died suddenly at his post in December, 1754. "You will have heard, before you receive this, of Lord Albemarle's sudden death at Paris. Every body is so sorry for him—without being so; yet as sorry as he would have been for any body, or as he deserved. Can any one really regret a man who, with the most meritorious wife and sons in the world, and with near £15,000 a year from the government, leaves not a shilling to his family, but dies immensely in debt, though when he married he had near £90,000 in the funds, and my Lady Albemarle brought him £25,000 more."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Jan. 9, 1755.

Lord Hertford was named to succeed Lord Albemarle as embassador to Paris, but war being soon declared between the two nations, he never went there.

[16] "On the 6th of March, 1754, the calm and languid course of public business had been suddenly broken through by the death of the prime minister,[57] Mr. Pelham. 'Now I shall have no more peace!' exclaimed the old king, when he heard the news; and the events of the next few years fully confirmed his majesty's prediction. At the tidings of his brother's death—a death so sudden and unlocked for—the the mind of Newcastle was stirred with the contending emotions of grief, fear, and ambition. The grief soon passed away, but the fear and the ambition long struggled for the mastery. After a dishonest negotiation with Henry Fox (younger son of Sir Stephen Fox, a brother of the first Earl of Ilchester), the duke, finding him not sufficiently subservient, bestowed the seals of secretary upon Sir Thomas Robinson. It was certainly no light or easy task which Newcastle had thus accomplished: he had succeeded in finding a secretary of state with abilities inferior to his own.... The new Parliament met in November, 1754. Before that time a common resentment had united the two statesmen whom rivalry had hitherto kept asunder, Pitt and Fox. 'Sir Thomas Robinson lead us!' exclaimed Pitt to Fox: 'The duke might as well send his jackboot to lead us!' ... At length, in January, 1755, the Duke of Newcastle renewed his negotiations with Fox. The terms he offered were far less than those Fox had formerly refused, neither the head of the House of Commons nor the office of Secretary of State, but admission to the cabinet, provided Fox would actively support the king's measures in the House, and would in some sort lead without being leader.... The conduct of Fox to Pitt (in accepting these terms) seems not easy to reconcile with perfect good faith, while the sudden lowering of his pretensions to Newcastle was, beyond all doubt, an unworthy subservience. On one or both of these grounds he fell in public esteem. By the aid of Fox and the silence of Pitt the remainder of the session passed quietly. But great events were now at hand. The horizon had long been dark with war, and this summer burst the storm."—Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 65; Belsham, vol. ii., p. 354, 355.

[17] "The French have taken such liberties with some of our forts that are of great consequence to cover Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia, that we are actually dispatching two regiments thither. As the climate and other American circumstances are against these poor men, I pity them, and think them too many if the French mean nothing farther, too few if they do. Indeed, I am one of those that feel less resentment when we are attacked so far off: I think it an obligation to be eaten the last."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Oct. 6, 1754.

"A detachment of fifty men of the regiment of artillery embarked with the 2d battalion, No. 44 and No. 48, under the command of Major-general Braddock, for America.... This detachment was mostly cut to pieces near Fort du Quesne, on the Monongahela, on the 9th of July, 1755."—Memoirs of the Royal Regt. of Artillery, 1743. MSS., Col. Macbean, R.A. Library, Woolwich.

[18] The Duke of Cumberland was then at the head of the regency, during the absence of his father, George II., on the continent.

[19] Officers were appointed for two regiments, consisting of two battalions each, to be raised in America, and commanded by Sir William Pepperel and Governor Shirley, who had enjoyed the same command in the last war.[58]

[20] "Although the force to be employed was to be drawn almost entirely from Massachusetts, the command of the expedition was conferred on Lieutenant-colonel Monckton, a British officer, in whose military talents more confidence was placed than in those of any provincial. The troops of Massachusetts embarked at Boston on the 20th of May, 1755, together with Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Winslow, who was a major general of the militia, and an officer of great influence in the province. About four miles from Fort Lawrence they were joined by 300 British troops and a small train of artillery."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 310.

[21] "In the obstinate conflict which was commencing between the French and English crowns, the continuance of the Acadians in Nova Scotia was thought dangerous on account of their invincible attachment to France; and to expel them from the country, leaving them at liberty to choose their place of residence, would be to re-enforce the French in Canada. A council was held, aided by the Admirals Boscawen and Morty, for the purposes of deciding on the destinies of these unfortunate people, and the severe policy was adopted of removing them from their homes and dispersing them among the other British colonies. This harsh measure was immediately put into execution, and the miserable inhabitants of Nova Scotia, banished from their homes, were in one instant reduced from ease and contentment to a state of beggary. Their lands and movables, with the exception of their money and household furniture, were declared to be forfeit to the crown; and to prevent their being able to subsist themselves, should they escape, the country was laid waste, and their habitations reduced to ashes."—Minot, quoted by Marshall, vol. i., p. 312.

[22] "When the French were in possession of this garrison, they had no artillery; however, they were not at a loss to deceive their enemies at Fort Lawrence, for they provided a parcel of birch, and other hard, well-grown trees, which they shaped and bored after the fashion of cannon, securing them from end to end with cordage, and from one of these they constantly fired a morning and evening gun, as is customary in garrisons; but upon the reduction of the place, and a spirited inquiry after the cannon, they found themselves obliged to discover this ingenious device."—Knox's Hist. Journal, vol. i., p. 58.

[23] "Captain, afterward Lord Howe, after an engagement in which he displayed equal skill and intrepidity, succeeded in taking the two French ships, the Alcide and the Lys."—Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 68.

[24] "At home, in the king's absence, our councils were most feeble and wavering.... A great difference appeared among the members of the regency. The Duke of Cumberland, always inclined to vigorous measures, wished to declare war at once, and to strike the first blow.... The Duke of Newcastle, trimming and trembling as was ever his wont, thought only of keeping off the storm as long as possible, and of shifting its responsibility from himself.... At length, as a kind of compromise, it was agreed that there should be no declaration of war; that our fleet should attack the French ships of the line, if it fell in with any, but by no means disturb any smaller men-of-war or any vessels engaged in trade. When, at the Board of Regency, these instructions came round to the bottom of the table to be signed by Fox, he turned to Lord Anson, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and asked if there were no objections to them. 'Yes,' answered Anson, 'a hundred; but it pleases those at the upper end of the table, and will signify nothing, for the French will declare war next week, if they have not done it already.'[59] While the prospects of peace grew darker and darker, there was also gathering a cloud of popular resentment and distrust against the minister. It was often asked whether these were times when all power could be safely monopolized by the Duke of Newcastle? Was every thing to be risked—perhaps every thing lost—for the sake of one hoary jobber at the Treasury?"—Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 72.

[25] MS. Journal of Major-general Braddock's Expedition against Fort du Quesne, 1755. Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich.

[26] "Mr. Franklin had observed that Sir John St. Clair's uniform (the quarter-master general) was of the hussar kind, and this gave him a hint which he immediately improved: he caused a report to be propagated among the Germans that, except 150 wagons could be got ready and sent to the general within a certain time, St. Clair, who was a hussar, would come among them, and take away what he found by force. The Germans, having formerly lived under despotic power, knew the hussars too well to doubt their serving themselves, and believing that General St. Clair was indeed a hussar, they provided, instead of 150, 200 wagons, and sent them within the time that Franklin had limited. The Pennsylvanians also advanced a further sum above the king's bounty, and sent him 190 wagons more, laden with a ton of corn and oats, four wagons with provisions and wine for the officers, and 60 head of fine cattle for the army."—Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1755.

[27] "Those who have experienced only the severities and dangers of a campaign in Europe can scarcely form an idea of what is to be done and endured in an American war. In an American campaign every thing is terrible—the face of the country, the climate, the enemy. There is no refreshment for the healthy nor relief for the sick. A vast inhospitable desert surrounds the troops where victories are not decisive, but defeats are ruinous, and simple death is the least misfortune that can happen to a soldier. This forms a service truly critical, in which all the firmness of the body and the mind is put to the severest trial, and all the exertions of courage and address are called out. If the actions of these rude campaigns are of less dignity, the adventures in them are more interesting to the heart, and more amusing to the imagination than the details of a regular war."—(Burke, Annual Register, 1763.) "Yet Adam Smith ventures to assert, in the plenitude of learned ignorance and ingenious error, that 'nothing can be more contemptible than an Indian war in North America.' ... Colonel Barré, who had served in America, declared, in his celebrated speech upon American taxation, in 1765, that the Indians were as enemies 'the most subtile and the most formidable of any people upon the face of God's earth.'"—Graham's History of the United States, vol. iv., p. 448.

[28] "You will see ... the condition of the troops in this country, particularly that of the infamous Free Companies of New York."—Letter from General Braddock to Colonel Napier, Adjutant General. Williamsburg, Feb. 24, 1754.

[29] "The (Duke of Cumberland), who is now the soul of the regency, is much dissatisfied at the slowness of General Braddock, who does not march as if he was at all impatient to be scalped. It is said for him that he has had bad guides, that the roads are exceedingly difficult, and that it was necessary to drag as much artillery as he does. This is not the first time, as witness in Hawley, that the duke has found that brutality did not necessarily constitute a general. Braddock is a very Iroquois in disposition."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Aug. 21, 1755.

[30] "Want of intelligence and reconnoitering parties was the sole cause of defeat."—General Kane's Mil. Hist. of Great Britain to 1757.

[31] "After the successful expedition against Fort du Quesne in 1758, General Forbes resolved to search for the relics of Braddock's army. As the European soldiers were not so well qualified to explore the forests, Captain West, the elder brother of Benjamin West, the painter, was appointed, with his company of American Sharp-shooters, to assist in the execution of this duty; and a party of Indians were requested to conduct him to the places where the bones of the slain were likely to be found. In this solemn and affecting duty, several officers belonging to the 42d regiment accompanied the detachment, and with them Major Sir Peter Halket, who had lost his father and brother in the fatal destruction of the army. It might have been thought a hopeless task that he should be able to discriminate their remains from the common relics of the other soldiers; but he was induced to think otherwise, as one of the Indian warriors assured him that he had seen an officer fall near a remarkable tree, which he thought he could still discover; informing him, at the same time, that the incident was impressed on his memory by observing a young subaltern, who, in running to the officer's assistance, was also shot dead on his reaching the spot, and fell across the other's body. The major had a mournful conviction in his own mind that those two officers were his father and brother; and, indeed, it was chiefly owing to his anxiety on the subject that this pious expedition, the second of the kind that is on record, was undertaken. Captain West and his companions proceeded through the woods and along the banks of the river toward the scene of the battle. The Indians regarded the expedition as a religious service, and guided the troops with awe and in profound silence. The soldiers were affected with sentiments not less serious; and as they explored the bewildering labyrinths of those vast forests, their hearts were often melted with inexpressible sorrow, for they frequently found skeletons lying across the trunks of fallen trees: a mournful proof to their imaginations that the men who sat there had perished of hunger in vainly attempting to find their way to the plantations. Sometimes their feelings were raised to the utmost pitch of horror by the sight of skulls and bones scattered on the ground, a certain indication that the bodies had been devoured by wild beasts; and in other places they saw the blackness of ashes amid the relics, the tremendous evidence of atrocious rites. At length they reached a turn of the river, not far from the principal scene of destruction, and the Indian who remembered the death of the two officers stopped: the detachment immediately halted. He then looked round in quest of some object which might recall distinctly his recollection of the ground, and suddenly darted into the wood. The soldiers rested their arms without speaking; a shrill cry was soon after heard; and the other guides made signs for the troops to follow them toward the spot from which it came. In a short time they reached the Indian warrior, who, by his cry, announced to his companions that he had found the place where he was posted on the day of battle. As the troops approached, he pointed to the tree under which the officers had fallen. Captain West halted his men round the spot, and, with Sir Peter Halket and the other officers, formed a circle, while the Indians removed the leaves which thickly covered the ground (the leaves of three seasons). The skeletons were found, as the Indian expected, lying across each other. The officers having looked at them for some time, the major said that as his father had an artificial tooth, he thought he might be able to ascertain if they were indeed his bones and those of his brother. The Indians were therefore ordered to remove the skeleton of the youth, and to bring to view that of the old officer. This was done, and after a short examination, Major Halket exclaimed, "It is my father!" and fell back into the arms of his companions. The pioneers then dug a grave, and the bones being laid in it together, a Highland plaid was spread over them, and they were interred with the customary honors."—Galt's Life of West.

[32] "The whole was in disorder, and, it is said, the general himself, though exceedingly brave, did not retain all the sang froid that was necessary."—Walpole's Letters to Sir Horace Mann, August 28, 1755.

[33] MS. Journal of Major-general Braddock's Expedition against Forte du Quesne, 1755. Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich.

"He was borne off the field by some soldiers whom his aid-de-camp had bribed to that service by a guinea and a bottle of rum to each."—Lord Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. iv., p. 70.

[34] "Among the rest, the general's cabinet, with all his letters and instructions, which the French court afterward made great use of in their printed manifestoes."—Smollett's Hist. of England, vol. iii., p. 448; Belsham, vol. ii., p. 369.

[35] "Major Washington acquired on this occasion, in the midst of defeat, the honors and laurels of victory."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 369.

"They had seen a chosen army from that country, which, reverencing as a mother, they had fondly believed invincible; an army led by a chief who had been selected from a crowd of trained warriors for his rare military endowments, disgracefully routed by a handful of French and Indians, and only saved from annihilation by the spirit and coolness of a Virginian boy, whose riper fame has since diffused itself with the steady influence of moral truth to the uttermost confines of Christendom."—Last of the Mohicans.

[36] "Though the enemy did not so much as attempt to pursue, nor even appeared in sight, either in the battle or after defeat. On the whole, this was, perhaps, the most extraordinary victory that ever was obtained, and the farthest flight that ever was made."—Smollett's Hist. of England, vol. iii., p. 440.

[37] "I have already given you some account of Braddock; I may complete the poor man's history in a few more words. He once had a duel with Colonel Gumly, Lady Bath's brother, who had been his great friend. As they were going to engage, Gumly, who had good-humor and wit (Braddock had the latter), said, 'Braddock, you are a poor dog! here, take my purse; if you kill me, you will be forced to run away, and then you will not have a shilling to support you.' Braddock refused the purse, insisted on the duel, was disarmed, and would not even ask his life. However, with all his brutality, he has lately been governor of Gibraltar, where he made himself adored, and where never any governor was endured before. Adieu! Pray don't let any detachment from Pannoni's[60] be sent against us: we should run away."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, August 28, 1755.

[38] "The European troops, whose cowardice has thus injured their country, are the same that ran away at Preston Pans. To prevent, however, any unjust national reflections, it must be remarked, that, though they are called Irish regiments, they are not regiments of Irishmen, but regiments on the Irish establishment, consisting of English, Irish, and Scotch, as other regiments do. It is, however, said, that the slaughter among our officers was not made by the enemy; but as they ran several fugitives through the body to intimidate the rest, when they were attempting in vain to rally them, some others, who expected the same fate, discharged their pistols at them, which, though loaded, they could not be brought to level at the French. On the other hand, it is alleged that the defeat is owing more to presumption and want of conduct in the officers than to cowardice in the private men; that a retreat ought to have been resolved upon the moment they found themselves surprised by an ambuscade; and that they were told by the men, when they refused to return to the charge, that if they could see their enemy they would fight him, but that they would not waste their ammunition against trees and bushes, nor stand exposed to invisible assailants, the French and Indian rangers, who are excellent marksmen, and in such a situation would inevitably destroy any number of the best troops in the world."—Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1755.

[39] "The American regulars, consisting of Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments, constituted the principal force relied on for the reduction of Niagara."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 308.

[40] "The fort of Niagara had been repaired by the French in 1741, in consequence of the apprehension they felt that the trading-house at Oswego, just established by the English at the mouth of the Onondaga River, would deprive them of a profitable trade, and of the command of the Lake Ontario."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 286.

"This fort was in other respects a very important post, for the lakes are so disposed that, without a somewhat hazardous voyage, one can not, any otherwise than by Niagara Fort, pass from the northeast to the southwest of North America for many hundred miles."—New Military Dictionary, London, 1760.

[41] "Bateaux are a kind of light, flat-bottomed boats, widest in the middle and pointed at each end, of about fifteen hundred weight burden, and managed by two men, called bateaux-men, with paddles and setting poles, the rivers being in many places too narrow to admit of oars."—Smollett's Hist. of England, vol. iii., p. 457.

[42] "Mr. Burnet,[61] governor of New York and New Jersey, deemed it an object of great magnitude to obtain the command of Lake Ontario, and, in pursuance of this plan, he had, in 1722, erected a trading-house at Oswego, in the country of the Senecas, which soon became of considerable importance. After ineffectual remonstrances, both in America and in Europe, against the re-establishment of Niagara Fort, Governor Burnet, to countervail as much as possible its effects, erected at his own expense a fort at Oswego."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. iv., p. 287.

[43] "The preparations for General Shirley's expedition against Niagara were not only deficient, but shamefully slow, though it was well known that even the possibility of his success must in a great measure depend upon his setting out early in the year, as will appear to any person who considers the situation of our fort at Oswego, this being the only way by which he could proceed to Niagara. Oswego lies on the southeast side of Lake Ontario, near 300 miles almost due west from Albany, in New York. The way to it from thence, though long and tedious, is the more convenient, as the far greater part of it admits of water-carriage by the Mohawk River, Wood's Creek, Lake Oneida, and the River Onondaga, which, after a course of twenty or thirty miles, unites with the River Seneca, and their united streams run into the Lake Ontario at the place where Oswego Fort is situated."—Smollett, vol. iii., p. 458.

[44] "Though repeated advice had been received that the French had there at least 1000 men at their Fort of Frontenac, on the same lake; and, what was still worse, the new forts (that of Ontario, and a new fort bearing the same name as the old, Oswego) were not yet completed, but left to be finished by the hard labor of Colonel Mercer and his little garrison, with the addition of this melancholy circumstance, that if besieged during the winter, it would not be possible for his friends to come to his assistance."—Smollett's England, iii. p. 461.

[45] Russell's Modern Europe, vol. iii., p. 279.

"The justly celebrated Sir William Johnson held an office difficult both to define and execute. He might, indeed, be called the Tribune of the Five Nations; their claims he asserted, their rights he protected, and over their minds he possessed a greater sway than any individual had ever attained. He was an uncommonly tall, well-made man, with a fine countenance, which, moreover, had rather an expression of dignified sedateness, approaching to melancholy. He appeared to be taciturn, never wasting words on matters of no importance, but highly eloquent where the occasion called forth his powers. He possessed intuitive sagacity, and the most entire command of temper and of countenance. He did by no means lose sight of his own interest, but, on the contrary, raised himself to power and wealth in an open and active manner, not disdaining any honorable means of benefiting himself. He built two spacious and convenient places of residence on the Mohawk River, known afterward by the name of Johnson Castle and Johnson Hall. The Hall was his summer residence. Here this singular man lived like a little sovereign; kept an excellent table for strangers and officers, whom the course of their duty now frequently led into these wilds; and by confiding entirely in the Indians, and treating them with unwearied truth and justice, without ever yielding to solicitation that he had once refused, he taught them to repose entire confidence in him. So perfect was his dependence on those people, whom his fortitude and other manly virtues had attached to him, that when they returned from their summer excursions, and exchanged the last years furs for fire-arms, &c., they used to pass a few days at the Castle, when his family and most of his domestics were down at the Hall. There they were all liberally entertained by Sir William; and 500 of them have been known for nights together, after drinking pretty freely, to lie around him on the ground, while he was the only white person in a house containing great quantities of every thing that was to them valuable or desirable. Sir William thus united in his mode of life the calm urbanity of a liberal and extensive trader, with the splendid hospitality, the numerous attendance, and the plain though dignified manners of an ancient baron."—Memoirs of an American Lady, vol. ii., p. 61.

Sir William Johnson was regularly appointed and paid by government as Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

[46] "Few countries could produce such dexterous marksmen, or persons so well qualified for conquering those natural obstacles of thick woods and swamps, which would at once baffle the most determined European. Not only were they strong of limb, swift of foot, and excellent marksmen, the hatchet was as familiar to them as the musket; in short, when means or arguments could be used powerful enough to collect a people so uncontrolled and so uncontrollable, and when headed by a leader whom they loved and trusted, a well-armed body of New York Provincials had nothing to dread but an ague or an ambuscade, to both of which they were much exposed on the banks of the lakes, and amid the swampy forests they had to penetrate in pursuit of an enemy."—Memoirs of an American Lady, vol. i., p. 203.

[47] "Our artillery then began to play on them, and was served, under the direction of Captain Eyre ... in a manner very advantageous to his character."—Letter from General Johnson to the Governor of New York. Camp at Lake George, Sept. 9th, 1755.

[48] "Just arrived from America, and to be seen at the New York and Cape Breton Coffee-house, in Sweeting's Alley, from 12 to 3, and from 4 till 6, to the latter end of next week, and then will embark for America in the General Webb, Captain Boardman, a famous Mohawk Indian warrior! the same person who took M. Dieskau, the French general, prisoner, at the battle of Lake George, where General Johnson beat the French, and was one of the said general's guards. He is dressed in the same manner with his native Indians when they go to war; his face and body painted, with his scalping knife, tom-ax, and all other implements of war that are used by the Indians in battle: a sight worthy the curiosity of every true Briton.

"Price one shilling each person.

"*** The only Indian that has been in England since the reign of Queen Anne."—Public Advertiser, 1755.

[49] "There are flying reports that General Johnson, our only hero at present, has taken Crown Point."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Dec. 4, 1755.

[50] "General Johnson complained that his troops seemed impressed with apprehensions of the enemy, from the boldness with which they had been attacked, and were unwilling, from the insufficiency of their clothing, want of provisions, and other causes, to proceed further on the enterprise; and, although urged by General Shirley, now commander-in-chief (since Braddock's death), to attempt Ticonderoga, even that object was abandoned."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 318.

[51] "They erected a little stockaded fort at the nether end of Lake George, in which they left a small garrison as a future prey for the enemy, a misfortune which might have been easily foreseen."—Smollett, vol. iii., p. 456.

This was Fort William Henry. Between Lake George and the River Hudson, twelve miles of high table-land intervened; at its extremity was the portage or carrying-place for the River Hudson. Here Fort Edward had been erected a few weeks before.

[52] Crown Point was called Fort Frederic by the French. It was situated at the south end of Lake Champlain or Lake Corlaer. At fifteen miles' distance, at the north end of Lake George, the French were now beginning to fortify the post of Ticonderoga.

[53] "Three days before the meeting of Parliament, November 1755, Sir Thomas Robinson, secretary of state, from an honest and sincere consciousness of his incapacity to conduct the business of Parliament in the House of Commons, had resigned the seals, which were directly transferred to Mr. Fox, secretary at war, who unquestionably, in respect of political ability, had at this time no rival in the House of Commons, Mr. Pitt only excepted.... There had been vain attempts at a negotiation with Pitt during the summer, but his positive refusal to consent to 'a system of subsidies' threw the Duke of Newcastle into Fox's power, and the seals were now given to him upon his own terms."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 379; Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 76, 77.

"This session of Parliament was distinguished by an act of generosity and humanity, which conferred the highest honor upon the Parliament and nation. The city of Lisbon was almost totally destroyed by a tremendous earthquake on the 1st of November, 1755. A message from the throne informed both houses of this dreadful calamity, and the sum of £100,000 was instantly and unanimously voted for the use of the distressed inhabitants.... Amid the millions and millions expended for the purposes of devastation and destruction, a vote of this description seems as a paradise blooming in the wild!"—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 381. See Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 87; Southey's Peninsular War, vol. iii., p. 388, 8vo edition.

[54] Smollett, vol. iii., p. 520.

"The Earl of Loudon, an officer of reputation and merit."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 370.

"If it had been the wish or intention of the British ministers to render the guardian care of the parent state ridiculous, and its supremacy odious to the colonists, they could hardly have selected a fitter instrument for the achievement of this sinister purpose than Lord Loudon. Devoid of genius, either civil or military; always hurried and hurrying others, yet making little progress in the dispatch of business; hasty to project and threaten, but mutable, indecisive, and languid in pursuit and action; negligent of even the semblance of public virtue; impotent against the enemy whom he was sent to destroy, formidable only to the spirit and liberty of the people whom he was commissioned to defend, he excited alternately the disgust, the apprehension, and the contemptuous amazement of the colonists of America."—Graham's History of the United States, vol. iv., p. 4.

[55] The Twightwees were Indians who lived on the banks of the Ohio.

[56] Washington makes a labored defense of his conduct in the affair of M. de Jumonville, in the "Journal of his Expedition to the Ohio." In M. de Villiers's "Journal of his Campaign," he always uses the term "assassination" with reference to his brother's death. The only notice he takes of the broken terms of the capitulation is, "The consternation of the English was so great, when they heard the French savages laid claim to the pillage, that they ran away and left behind them even their flag and a pair of their colors."—Translation of M. de Villiers's Journal, July 4th, 1754.

The following is the testimony of the Canadian historian, Garneau: "Le 17 Mai (1754), au soir M. de Jumonville s'était retiré dans une vallon profond et obscur, lorsque des sauvages qui rôdaient le découvrirent et en informèrent le Colonel Washington, qui arrivait dans le voisinage avec ses troupes. Celui-ci marcha toute la nuit pour le cerner, et le lendemain au point du jour il l'attaqua avec précipitation, marchant comme à une surprise à la tête de son détachment. Jumonville fut tué avec neuf hommes de sa suite. Les Français prétendent que ce deputé fit signe qu'il était porteur d'une lettre de son commandant, que le feu cessa, et que ce ne fut qu'après que l'on eût commencé la lecture de la sommation que les assaillans se remirent à tirer. Washington affirme qu'il étoit à la tête de la marche, et qu'aussitôt que les Français le virent, ils coururent à leurs armes sans appeller, ce qu'il aurait dû entendre s'ils l'avaient fait. Il est probable qu'il y a du vrai dans les deux versions: l'attaque fut si précipitée qu'il dût s'ensuivre une confusion qui ne permit pas de rien démêler; mais s'il n'y a pas eu d'assassinat, on se demandera toujours pourquoi Washington avec des forces si supérieures à celles de Jumonville, montra une si grande ardeur pour le surprendre au point du jour comme s'il eût été un ennemi fort à craindre? Ce n'était point certainement avec 30 hommes que Jumonville était en état d'accepter le combat.... Tels sont les humbles exploits par lesquels le futur conquérant des libertés Américaines commença sa carrière.... La victoire que M. de Villiers venoit d'obtenir, fut le premier acte de ce grand drame de 29 ans, dans lequel la puissance Française et Anglaise devait subir de si terribles échecs en Amérique."—Histoire du Canada, vol. ii., p. 541 (Quebec, 1846).

[57] "Another revolution about this period (November, 1744) took place in the British cabinet. Lord Carteret, now become Earl of Granville, had insinuated himself so far into the good graces of his sovereign as to excite apprehension and dislike of the Duke of Newcastle and his brother Mr. Pelham. They therefore effected the downfall of this ambitious and haughty minister, whose power they envied, and whose talents they feared. Mr. Pelham, who, on the death of Lord Wilmington, had succeeded to the direction of the Board of Treasury, was now nominated Chancellor of the Exchequer, and may be considered from this period as first minister."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 313.

[58] "To reward Colonel Pepperel and Governor Shirley for the conquest of Louisburg in 1745, a regiment, to be raised in America, was bestowed on each."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 280.

[59] War was not declared against France until May in the following year.

[60] Pannoni's coffee-house of the Florentine nobility, not famous for their courage of note.—Ibid.

[61] He was the son of Bishop Burnet.

CHAPTER II.

The campaign of 1755 had opened with evil promise for the cause of France in the Western world; four formidable armies were arrayed to check her progress, and turn back the tide of war upon her own territory. A powerful fleet, under the brave and vigilant Boscawen, swept the Atlantic coast, insulted her eastern harbors, and captured her re-enforcements and supplies. The doubtful allegiance of many of her Indian neighbors was far overbalanced by the avowed hostility of others no less numerous and powerful.

But the close of the year presented results very different from those that might have been anticipated. Braddock was defeated and slain; the whole of that vast Valley of the Mississippi, whose unequaled fertility is now the wonder of mankind, had been freed from the presence of a British soldier by one decisive victory. Niagara was strengthened and unassailed; Crown Point had not been compromised by Johnson's partial success. The undisputed superiority upon Lake Ontario was upon the Canadian shore. From dangerous foes, or almost as dangerous friends, the forest tribes had generally become zealous allies, and thrown themselves with ready policy into the apparently preponderating scale; the ruined settlements and diminished numbers of the British frontier colonists marked the cruel efficiency of their co-operation. Notwithstanding the check of the Baron Dieskau's detachment, there still remained to the French more than 3000 regular troops, with a large force of the Canadian militia, who were in some respects even better qualified for forest warfare than their veteran brethren from the mother country. All these, united under one able chief, formed a much more formidable military power than the English colonies, with their jarring interests and independent commanders, could bring forward. Nova Scotia, again severed from the territories of New France, and the Acadian peasants reduced to British rule, formed but a slight offset to these hostile gains.

The civil progress of the French colony was, however, far from satisfactory. For two years past the scarcity of grain and other provisions had almost amounted to famine. The inhabitants of the country, constantly employed in warfare against their English neighbors were forced to neglect the cultivation of the soil, till absence from their own homesteads was almost as ruinous to themselves as their destructive presence to the enemy. Although the scanty supply of corn was too well known, the intendant Bigot, with infamous avarice, shipped off vast quantities of wheat to the West Indies for his own gain and that of his creatures. The price of food rose enormously, and the commerce of the country, hampered by selfish and stupid restrictions, rapidly declined.

The Marquis de Vaudreuil de Cavagnac, the successor of the Marquis du Quesne as governor, soon lost the confidence of his people. To him they had looked hopefully and earnestly for protection against the fatal monopolies of the Merchant Company, but they found that he readily sanctioned the oppression under which they suffered, and, indeed, rather increased its severity. Great stores of wheat had been purchased from the settlers by the company in anticipation of a scarcity; when they had obtained a sufficient quantity to command the market, they arranged with the intendant to fix the price at an immense advance, which was maintained in spite of the misery and clamors of the people. Again, the intendant pretended that the dearth was caused by the farmers having secreted their grain, and, in consequence, he issued an order that the city and troops should be immediately supplied at a very low rate, and those who would not submit to these nefarious conditions had their corn seized and confiscated without any remuneration whatever.

Abuses and peculations disgraced every department of the public service; the example set in high places was faithfully followed by the petty officials all over the colony. The commissaries who had the supply of the distant posts enriched themselves at the cost of the mother country; and, to the detriment of the hardy and adventurous men occupying those remote and dreary settlements, boats were not allowed to visit them without paying such heavy fees that the venture became ruinous, and thus the trade was soon altogether confined to the commissaries.

Vessels sent to Miramichi with provisions for the unfortunate Acadians, returned loaded with that people, who, faithful to their king and nation, had left their happy homes, refusing the proffered protection of their conquerors. When they reached Quebec they met with a cruel reception. The intendant gave to a creature named Cadet the office of ministering to their wants. This heartless man shamefully abused the trust, and only considered it as a means of selfish profit, providing them with unwholesome and insufficient food: thus many fell victims to his cruel avarice. Some, indeed, who settled on lands belonging to the governor or his favorites, were amply supplied, for the private advantage of the proprietors.

Loud and constant were the complaints of the colonists against these shameful abuses of power; but they fell either upon ears determined not to hear, or were misrepresented and refracted by the medium through which they passed. The outer aspect of New France was bold and formidable, but within all was corruption, languor, and decay. The seignorial tenure[62] and the custom law of Paris fatally embarrassed agricultural improvement, and the monopoly of the Merchant Company paralyzed trade. The absolute system of government, and the intrusive exercise of imperial power in even the most trivial matters of colonial interest, cramped individual energy by the constraining force of centralization. The military[63] system of feudal organization turned the plow-shares and reaping-hooks of the most active among the population into weapons of war, and the settlements, that were little else than scattered barracks for troops, made but small progress in the truly glorious war against the desolation of the wilderness. While the hardy voyageurs of the Ottawa and the farmers of the rich Valley of the St. Lawrence reaped the laurels of the bloody fight at Fort du Quesne, the canoes, once richly laden with the furs of the Western country, floated idly in the stream, and the exuberant soil by the banks of the Great River was overrun with a harvest of useless or noxious weeds. Thus it was that, while the military superstructure of this great French colony was strong and imposing, the social and political foundations were false and feeble.

On the other hand, the dangerous British rivals had rapidly advanced to prosperity and to the possession of formidable resources. The State of Massachusetts alone mustered 40,000 men capable of bearing arms, by one third a greater number than all Canada could produce. The militia of Connecticut was 27,000 strong, and that of New Hampshire and Rhode Island also considerable. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other states were also in themselves powerful, but in military matters New England ever took the lead. The sturdy Nonconformists who first peopled that country had been long accustomed to encounter and overcome difficulties: they had continually waged a war of mutual extermination with the Indians. The unbending spirit of their ancestors lost nothing under such training. Each separate settlement possessed an independent vitality; the habit of self-government engendered a feeling of confidence in their own power, and they who had marched with steady step over the barriers of an almost impenetrable forest, and swept away the warlike hordes of its savage inhabitants, were no mean foes to match even against the brilliant chivalry of France.

The peculiar and distinct institutions of these British colonies, while they fostered the development of individual energy and stimulated general prosperity, forbade, at the same time, that compact and centralized organization which rendered the external power of New France so formidable. It was difficult or impossible to unite all the different states in one great effort, and hopeless to induce them to act in concert. The borderers of Maine or Massachusetts heard with almost indifference of Indian massacres upon the banks of the Susquehanna, and the men of Virginia felt but little sympathy with the victors of the north. English colonization had already progressed to unheard of prosperity in its component parts, in spite of its utter want of large and comprehensive system, while that of France, planned on a scheme of magnificent ambition, had proved but a sickly exotic under the over-anxious care of the founders. In the one, powerful elements formed but a disjointed and unwieldy aggregate; in the other, indifferent materials were rendered strong by the firm frame-work in which they were united.

The defensive power of the British colonies was, however, very great. In cases of real peril, when the farmer tore himself from his fields, the merchant from his store-house, and the hunter from the chase, a militia formidable in numbers and composition was at the service of the state, while the vast extent and the scattered situations of the settlements would have rendered complete conquest difficult, and occupation impossible.

The campaign of 1756 opened with a partial success of the French arms. The Marquis de Vaudreuil had learned that the British had erected a chain of small forts to protect their route to Oswego, and that they purposed building ships at that port to command the navigation of Lake Ontario, and thus break up the chain of his communications. He therefore ordered a detachment of about 350 Canadians and Indians, under M. Chaussegros de Léry, to march to Montreal, from whence they proceeded westward on the 17th of March.

After a harassing journey of great length through the wilderness, they came upon one of the small English forts on the Oswego route, garrisoned by Lieutenant Bull and twenty-five men. The British officer at once rejected the proposal of a capitulation, and prepared to offer a vigorous resistance; he was, however, speedily overpowered, and he and his little party, with the exception of two, were massacred and scalped by the Indians, whose ferocity could not be repressed; the fort was then blown up, and the ammunition destroyed.

The French, fully alive to the danger of allowing their enemies to hold possession of the important position of Oswego, were determined to spare no efforts to drive them away. Another expedition was accordingly prepared to accomplish this grand object, consisting of 300 men, led by M. de Villiers. They proceeded to within a short distance of Oswego, where they constructed a small fort, placed among the dense woods in such a manner as to be unseen by the enemy: from this hiding-place they frequently intercepted parties with provisions destined for Oswego. When the Iroquois became aware of the designs of the French, they summoned Sir William Johnson, whom they greatly respected, to meet them in council, for the purpose of considering the means of diverting hostilities from their country. He strongly advised them, if possible, to prevent the attack upon the fort, and thus avoid a war that would deluge the frontier with blood. Pursuing this counsel, they dispatched thirty deputies to Montreal to assure M. de Vaudreuil that they wished to preserve the strictest neutrality, and to entreat him not to draw the sword in their country or interrupt their communications. The governor answered that he would seek his enemies wherever he could find them, but that the people of the Five Nations should be protected from every insult as long as they did not join the English.

From this time the war was to assume a more important form, and new and more illustrious actors were to appear upon the stage. The British government[64] determined to increase its efforts in North America; and as the Earl of Loudon, lately appointed general-in-chief of the forces on that continent, was unavoidably detained in England for some time, Major-general Abercromby was ordered to precede him and hold command until his arrival. Lord Loudon was intrusted with extraordinary powers, to enable him to promote the essential object of union among the English colonies; he was also appointed governor of Virginia, and made colonel of a regiment of four battalions, chiefly officered by foreigners, called the Royal American.[65]

In the mean time, the preparations were made in British America to forward the execution of the plans[66] recommended by the great council of war, and the militia of the several provinces were assembled at Albany, where they awaited the arrival of the English general. Abercromby did not reach the army till the latter end of June, 1756, and at that time only brought with him two regiments, the 35th and the 42d, or Murray's Highlanders. The British troops in North America at this time consisted of those two corps, the 44th and 48th of the line, Shirley's and Pepperel's battalions, eight independent companies from New York and Carolina, and a large body of the Provincial militia.

General Abercromby considered the force under his command insufficient to carry out the extensive schemes recommended by the council at Albany; he was, however, cordially agreed with them upon the advantages to be gained by their execution. Desirous to avoid responsibility, he determined to await the arrival of the commander-in-chief, but in the mean time he marched the Provincial forces upon Fort William Henry, under the command of General Winslow,[67] who there awaited re-enforcements previous to his advance against Crown Point.

In the West, however, British energy and courage found employment under the able and adventurous Lieutenant-colonel Bradstreet. He determined to execute, as far as in his power lay, the resolves of the council at Albany, and left Schenectady with about 300 boatmen, bearing supplies and military stores to strengthen the important post of Oswego. His detachment consisted of raw Irish recruits, utterly unacquainted with discipline, and unaccustomed to the sight of an enemy; but their native courage overcame all disadvantages, and they bravely did their duty, as their countrymen have ever done when striving for a good cause, and led by a worthy chief. Bradstreet passed in safety up the Onondaga River, reached Oswego, and accomplished his object. The French, being apprized of this expedition, collected in force some miles to the eastward of Oswego, and detached 700 men to intercept their enemy. Happily, however, they became embarrassed in the tangled wilderness, and lost their way: when, at last, after much difficulty, they reached the banks of the Onondaga, the English had already passed up the stream in safety. They well knew, however, that Bradstreet must soon return by the same route; they therefore patiently awaited their opportunity, concealed beneath the favoring cloak of the dense forests surrounding the river.

The English chief—either informed of this ambuscade, or mistrusting the facility with which the dangerous navigation had been before accomplished—took the only precaution his difficult position permitted. To scour the neighborhood of the rapid stream with light troops would have been impossible, owing to the thick underwood every where arresting the human foot; and yet, from each dark clump of cedars, or from behind each projecting crag on the rugged banks, he might at any moment expect to see the deadly flash of the Canadian musket, and to hear the war-whoop of the savage. Bradstreet therefore determined on the precaution of proceeding in three divisions of canoes, within easy distances of each other; that thus, if any one were attacked, his stout boatmen might land from the others, and on equal terms encounter the assailants on the shore. He entered the first canoe; his gallant men followed with somewhat tumultuous good will. The day of their departure was the 3d of July; in that burning season the stream was low and difficult of navigation, and the stately trees and luxuriant underwood, rich in leafy honors, afforded complete concealment to the dangerous enemy.

For nine miles the party forced their way up the Onondaga, laboriously but without interruption; at length they reached a spot where the waters flow in shallow rapids past a small island, and the dense woods throw their shade over the very margin of the stream. Suddenly, from the north shore, a loud volley, and a louder yell, broke through the silence of the wilderness. This first fire fell with deadly effect upon the leading division; but Bradstreet, with six of the survivors, forced their canoes quickly across the eddying current toward the island. Twenty of the enemy had at the same time plunged into the river, and, taking advantage of the ford, arrived before him; nevertheless, Bradstreet threw himself on shore, and with desperate courage faced the foe. After a sharp struggle, he even dislodged them from the island, and drove them back upon the main land. When the remaining canoes of the advanced division joined, his little force amounted to no more than twenty men. The French, enraged at their first repulse, vigorously renewed the attack with doubled numbers, but they were again beaten, and, leaving many of their foremost dead in the stream, returned to the shelter of the shore. A third time, however, the assailants, brave even in defeat, pushed across the ford with seventy men, and threw themselves upon the little knot of English. For nearly an hour, with fiery courage on the one side and stubborn resolution on the other, they fought among the rocks and trees, till the secluded spot, where perhaps human foot had never before trodden, was red with human blood. At length the French gave way, and, scattered and depressed, fell back upon the main body of their countrymen.

While this stout fight was raging on the little island, the boatmen of the remaining divisions had landed in safety lower down on the southern shore, and moved in good order to the support of their hard-pressed comrades. The main body of the French pressed rapidly along the opposite bank toward another ford about a mile higher up the river, and many succeeded in crossing before Bradstreet's stout boatmen could intercept them. By this time, however, the British leader had arrived from the little island, and put himself at the head of his two last divisions. With prompt determination he threw himself upon the French advance, and, bravely supported by his followers, after a stubborn strife, forced it back into the river. Many of the conquered were struck down by the English marksmen in the close bush-fight, and even a greater number perished in their hurried passage of the stream.

In Bradstreet's absence, another large body of the French swarmed across the ford by the little island where they had been before repeatedly repulsed, but this last effort was even more disastrous than the preceding. Before they could form in the tangled swamps, the boatmen and their gallant chief came down at a running pace, flushed with recent success. One short struggle on the woody bank, and the assailants were forced back in utter rout. The remainder of the enemy dispersed in the forest and attacked no more, but above 100 of their number had perished in the stream or had fallen by the sword, while seventy prisoners and a great quantity of arms rewarded the successful valor of the conquerors. Many of the French regular soldiers, strangers to the American wilderness, became bewildered in its mazes, and died miserably of starvation. On the other hand, no less than sixty of Bradstreet's boatmen were killed and wounded in this gallant action.[68]

The English were too much fatigued and weakened by their hard-won victory to venture on pursuit, and prepared to rest that night upon the battle-field; they were, however, soon aroused by the approach of a body of troops, which, to their great joy, proved to be a detachment of their own grenadiers, on the march to Oswego, and the next morning 200 men also joined them from that garrison. But, in the mean time, the rain had poured down in torrents, and the stream of the Onondaga swelled to an angry flood; to cross and follow up their success was therefore impossible, and the remnant of the French found refuge in their vessels on the waters of Lake Ontario. After a time, when the subsiding flood permitted, the detachment and the grenadiers descended the river to Oswego, and the victorious boatmen, with their leader, pushed on for Schenectady, where they arrived in safety on the 14th of July. The following day Bradstreet set out for Albany to warn General Abercromby of the designs of the French against Oswego: the prisoners had informed him that a force of 1200 men was encamped on the shores of the lake, not far from the eastern fort of that port, where the thick covert of the forest concealed them from the British garrison. Abercromby at once ordered the remains of the 44th regiment, under Colonel Webb, to hasten to Oswego, but, owing to the interference of the Provincial governors,[69] a fatal delay intervened before this corps was put in motion.

On the 26th of July Lord Loudon arrived at New York from Europe; on the 29th he reached Albany, and assumed the command of the army. He found a body of nearly 3000 regular troops, besides a large Provincial force, under his orders at Albany[70] and Schenectady, including the survivors of the two unfortunate regiments which had been crippled and broken in Braddock's disaster.[71] In the fort of Oswego[72] were mustered 1400 bayonets, principally of Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments, besides sailors and peasants,[73] and nearly 500 men, in scattered detachments, preserved the difficult communications through the Iroquois territories.

On the other hand, the French held Crown Point and Ticonderoga with 3000 veterans, and found means to assemble a still more formidable force at Fort Frontenac for the purpose of attacking Oswego.

This year had arrived at Quebec from France a large body of regulars, under the command of the Marquis de Montcalm, with the Brigadier de Levi, and Colonel de Bourlemaque. Montcalm remained but a few days at Quebec, and then hastened on with his veteran re-enforcements to strengthen the force destined to act against Oswego. Rigaud de Vaudreuil, with a large body of Canadian militia raised at Montreal, was detached as the vanguard of the army, and arrived undiscovered on the 9th of August within a mile and a half of the British position; on the night of the 10th the first division also arrived; on the 12th, at midnight, the second division joined. Then the French chief, having made all necessary preparations, opened his trenches before Fort Ontario,[74] which was situated at the opposite side of the river from the important position of Oswego.

From break of day until six in the evening Montcalm kept up a heavy fire, which was vigorously replied to by the defenders; then, however, the resistance suddenly ceased. The unpardonable neglect of the British authorities had left this important post almost unprovided with ammunition, and in the hour of extremest need the scanty supply failed. Further defense was impossible; the survivors of the little garrison spiked their cannon, and retreated without interruption to the neighboring position of Fort Oswego, on the opposite side of the river. When the French perceived that the defenders had yielded the post, they quickly took possession, and turned such of the guns as in the hurry of retreat had been still left uninjured upon the walls of the remaining stronghold. The defenses of the feeble fort soon crumbled beneath the crushing fire from Montcalm's battering train and the now hostile guns of Fort Ontario. Colonel Mercer, the English chief, and many of his men, were struck down, and the remainder, hopeless of a successful defense, surrendered upon not unfavorable terms on the evening of the 14th of August.

Seven armed vessels, mounting from 8 to 18 guns each, 200 bateaux, a vast quantity of provisions and warlike stores, with 1200 prisoners,[75] were gained by the victors; and for a brief space, several British flags, the unwonted trophies of French conquest, decked with drooping folds the walls of the Canadian churches. This brilliant and important success was, however, stained by cruelty and doubtful faith.[76] Notwithstanding the terms of the capitulation, the savages were permitted to plunder all, and massacre many of the captives;[77] and, to the shame of Montcalm, the sick and wounded who had been intrusted to his protection were slain and scalped under the Indian knife. The remaining prisoners, however, were escorted to Montreal, where they were treated with kindness and consideration, and soon afterward exchanged.[78] The French, having demolished the works at Oswego, returned to the eastern part of the province.

This conquest established Montcalm's already rising reputation. Canada rejoiced, and the British colonies were proportionately discouraged. The sad news was first carried to Albany by some French deserters, but remained unconfirmed for several days, till two sailors arrived who had escaped subsequently to the disaster. Indian rumor was also busy with the melancholy tale. It was for a time believed that the whole garrison of Oswego had been put to the sword,[79] and that the bodies of the slain were left unburied upon the desolate shores of Lake Ontario. A panic spread. Colonel Webb, with the 44th regiment, nearly 900 strong, and 800 boatmen, stopped short in his advance, now useless through culpable delay, and employed his whole force in felling trees to block up the navigation of the important passage of Wood Creek,[80] while the French, equally anxious to avoid collision, performed a similar labor higher up the river.

The province of New York was the first to suffer by the unhappy loss of Oswego, and the pusillanimous retreat of Webb. The rich and beautiful settlements called the German Flats were speedily desolated by the Indians and the scarcely less vindictive Canadians; the crops were destroyed, the houses and homesteads burned, and such of the inhabitants as could not escape were captured, or slain and scalped.

It has been before stated that all the resources of the British colonies were taxed to enable General Winslow to act against Crown Point, with a view to master the important navigation of Lake Champlain, and to demolish the French forts upon its shores,[81] but these preparations produced no results beyond that of strengthening Forts Edward and William Henry. No blow was struck,[82] notwithstanding the opportunity afforded by the withdrawal of nearly all the French regular troops from that neighborhood to aid the Oswego expedition. The inglorious campaign concluded by the retirement of the British regiments of the line to Albany, and the return of the Provincials to their several localities.

But while the genius and good fortune of Montcalm raised the military reputation of New France and strengthened her external power, tyranny and corruption withered her budding prosperity, and blighted it with premature decay. The paltry peculations and narrow despotism of the petty magnates of colonial government are nauseous and ungrateful subjects. The "habitans" were oppressed and plundered, the troops were defrauded of their hard-earned stipend, traders were ground down under infamous extortions, and the unhappy Acadian refugees robbed of the generous bounties of the state. Eminent among the perpetrators of these shameless wrongs stood Bigot, the intendant; Cadet and others of his creatures were worthy of their principal. A scarcity almost amounting to famine, which inflicted the severest privations upon the colony, was again seized as an opportunity of gain by these relentless men, under the pretense of the general good; great stores of provisions were bought by them at a low, compulsory price, and resold at an enormous advance for their private benefit. Even the sacred calling of the missionaries did not in all instances preserve them from the taint of these unworthy acts; and where wealth, was thus largely and by such means increased, morals were naturally deteriorated.

The loss of Oswego was in some degree compensated to the English by the progress of Colonel Lawrence in Acadia, but sad it is to say that the stain of cruelty tainted our success, as it had the victory of Montcalm. When the French settlers refused to acknowledge allegiance to the British crown and laws, they were pursued with fire and sword, their villages and farms destroyed, and at last many thousands were suddenly shipped off, and dispersed among the Atlantic colonies, where friends and kinsfolk might never meet again; thus, to use the language of the time, "establishing peace and tranquillity throughout the whole province." In the ensuing February, some of these ill-fated Acadians with a few allied Indians, about 300 in all, unexpectedly sallied out upon the new English settlements, driven by desperation from the snowy forests; but Lieutenant-colonel Scott promptly called together an equal force of Provincials, and drove them back, with heavy loss, upon the inhospitable wilderness.

In the month of August of the year 1756, a small post on the borders of Pennsylvania, called Fort Granville, was surprised by a party of French and Indians, and the garrison carried into captivity. At the same time, the Moravian savages from the banks of the Ohio, rejoicing in the opportunity afforded by the contentions of the white men, suddenly burst upon the English western frontier, and massacred no less than 1000 of the scattered settlers. Then the thirst of vengeance burned among the hardy colonists. Infuriated rather than appalled by this horrid butchery, 280 men hastily assembled, and with untiring energy pushed on toward the rugged Alleganies to an Indian town called Kittaning, the rendezvous of the fierce marauders. The road was rude and difficult, the distance 150 miles, but the furious hatred of the pursuers spurred them forward, and on the morning of the fifth day the foremost scouts brought word that the Indian murderers were close at hand, celebrating their bloody triumph in songs and dances.

When morning light first chased away the darkness of the forest, the English Provincials burst upon the Indian camp. Armstrong, their leader, offered quarter, but the savages, conscious of their unpardonable cruelties, dared not submit. Then ensued a terrible slaughter; the Indians were beaten down in furious rage, or shot in attempting to fly, or shut up in their wooden huts and burned to death; some were seized and scalped, in horrible imitation of their own ferocity, and not a few were blown up and destroyed by the stores of ammunition they had collected during their late incursion. Terrible as was this vengeance, it availed but little. On almost every other part of the British frontiers, parties of the Indians, and their almost equally savage French allies, swarmed among the woods, concealed in ambush during the day, and by night busied in their bloody work.

In the mean time, the season had become too far advanced for the commencement of any important enterprise; the English colonies were divided in spirit, and all efforts for the general good were perpetually thwarted by jealousy and parsimony. Lord Loudon, with his armament, had not reached New York till the end of July; by that time little remained practicable but to strengthen some frontier forts, and push forward parties of observation into the French territories. Thus closed the campaign of 1756. England had a sorry account of her wasted blood and treasure in these Western wars; opportunities had been neglected, resources wasted, laurels lost.[83] The Indian trade and the commerce of the great lakes had been forfeited by the surrender of Oswego. To us only remained the barren boast of Bradstreet's gallant victory. The Indians were not slow to perceive the weakness of British councils, and Sir William Johnson's powerful influence was barely sufficient to restrain the politic Iroquois from openly declaring for the enemy.

FOOTNOTES:

[62] See Appendix, [No. LXIII.]

[63] "Thus was introduced into America the feudal system, so long the ruin of Europe."—Raynal, vol. viii., p. 143.

"Nothing has reduced the families of the ancient French seigneurs to misery more than the division and subdivision of their lands by their own law; a law which, though it appears at first to breathe more the spirit of democracy than of monarchy, yet in fact is calculated for a military government only, because nobles so reduced can and will only live by the sword."—Gray's Canada, p. 346.

[64] "War was at length declared in form by Great Britain against France in May, 1756, and in the following month by France against Great Britain; and in the manifesto published by the latter, much pains were taken to contrast the moderation and equity of the court of Versailles with the intemperate violence of the court of London, and particularly stigmatizing the seizure of the French ships of war and commerce, before a declaration of war, as piracy and perfidy."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 396.

[65] "The next object of the immediate attention of Parliament in this session (1755—May, 1756) was the raising of a new regiment of foot in North America, for which purpose the sum of £81,178 16s. was voted. This regiment, which was to consist of four battalions of 1000 men each, was intended to be raised chiefly out of the German and Swiss, who, for many years past, had annually transported themselves in great numbers to the British plantations in America, where waste lands had been assigned them upon the frontiers of the provinces; but, very injudiciously, no care had been taken to intermix them with the English inhabitants of the place, so that very few of them, even of those who have been born there, have yet learned to speak or understand the English tongue. However, as they were all zealous Protestants, and, in general, strong, hardy men, accustomed to the climate, it was judged that a regiment of good and faithful soldiers might be raised out of them, particularly proper to oppose the French; but to this end it was necessary to appoint some officers, especially subalterns, who understood military discipline and could speak the German language; and as a sufficient number of such could not be found among the English officers, it was necessary to bring over and grant commissions to several German and Swiss officers and engineers. But as this step, by the Act of Settlement, could not be taken without the authority of Parliament, an act was now passed for enabling his majesty to grant commissions to a certain number of foreign Protestants who had served abroad as officers or engineers, to act and rank as officers or engineers in America only. The Royal American Regiment is now the 60th Rifles."—Smollett's History of England, vol. iii., p. 483.

[66] The northern colonies were enabled to comply, in some degree, with the requisitions made on them, by having received from the British government, in the course of the summer, a considerable sum of money as a reimbursement for the extraordinary expenses of the preceding year. One hundred and fifteen thousand pounds had been apportioned among them, according to their respective exertions,[84] and this sum gave new vigor and energy to their councils.

[67] The command of the expedition against Crown Point was given to Major-general Winslow, whose conduct in Nova Scotia had very much increased both his reputation and his influence.—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 325.

Mr. Beckford thus speaks of General Winslow in a letter to Mr. Pitt, dated Fonthill, Dec. 18, 1758: "There is a brave, gallant officer, by name Winslow, who has acted as general in North America, and done signal service. This man is in England, and is only a captain on half pay. I wish you would think of him; he might furnish you with useful hints."—Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham, vol. i., p. 378.

[68] "Bradstreet had but three Indians of the Six Nations (Iroquois) with him at this attack. Of these, one took to his heels; a second fought bravely; but the third went over to the enemy, and assisted in pointing out our officers."—A Review of the Military Operations in North America from 1753 to 1756.

[69] "Mr. Shirley and the Provincial chiefs wanted that Webb's (the 44th) and my regiment (the 48th) should march to Forts Edward and William Henry, taking it for granted that Oswego was in no danger."—Letter from General Abercromby, dated Albany, 10th of August, 1756.

"The detaching any troops to Oswego was strongly opposed by a party at Albany, who thought that while Crown Point remained in the hands of the French, there could be no security for the province of New York. General Winslow, who was to command an expedition against Crown Point, was already more than sufficiently strong for that purpose, yet this party insisted on his being re-enforced with two or three regiments of regular troops, and that an army should likewise remain at Albany to defend it, in case the troops sent against Crown Point should happen to be defeated. Nay, they strongly opposed the departure of the regiment which General Abercromby had already ordered for Oswego. Some of the New England colonies joined those of New York in this opposition, so that it was not without the greatest difficulty Lord Loudon, who did not think proper to do any thing material without their approbation, could so much as prevail on them to let Colonel Webb depart for Oswego; therefore it was the 12th of August before that officer could leave Albany; too late to save Oswego. Thus the public safety of the whole British empire in North America was made to yield to the private views of some leading people in the provinces of New England and New York."—Mante, p. 64.

[70] "The Provincials do not exceed 4000, mostly vagabonds picked up by the New Englanders at random, by the high premium given them in order to save themselves from service."—Letter from General Abercromby, Albany, 30th of August, 1756.

[71] The 44th (then Halket's, now Webb's) and the 48th (then Dunbar's, now Abercromby's). They were regiments that ran away at Preston Pans.

[72] "The garrison of Oswego was insensibly increased to 1400 men; only 700 had been left there by Mr. Shirley the autumn before."—Mante's Hist. of the War, p. 63.

[73] "The greatest part of Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments is there.... By all account, Shirley's and Pepperel's are by much the worst corps on this continent. With such troops, what can we do?"—Letter from General Abercromby, Albany, 30th of Aug., 1756.

[74] "General Shirley's troops, after the attack on Niagara was relinquished in the autumn of the preceding year, had been employed in the erection of two new forts, one of them 450 yards from the old Fort Oswego, and bearing the same name, the other on the opposite side of the Onondaga River, to be called Fort Ontario. They were erected on the south side of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Onondaga, and constituted a port of great importance. The garrison, as we have already observed, consisted of 1400 men, chiefly militia and new-raised recruits, under the command of Colonel Mercer, an officer of experience and courage; but the situation of the forts was very ill chosen, the materials mostly timber or logs of wood, the defenses wretchedly continued and unfinished, and, in a word, the place altogether untenable against any regular approach."—Smollett's History of England, vol. iii., p. 535.

[75] "Such an important magazine, deposited in a place altogether indefensible, and without the reach of immediate succor, was a flagrant proof of egregious folly, temerity, and misconduct."—Smollett's Hist. of England, vol. iii., p. 536.

[76] Ibid., p. 535.

[77] "Montcalm, in direct violation of the articles, as well as in contempt of common humanity, delivered up above twenty men of the garrison to the Indians, in lieu of the same number they had lost during the siege."—Ibid.

[78] "The negligence and dilatoriness of our governors at home,[85] and the little-minded quarrels of the regulars and irregular forces,[86] have reduced our affairs in that part of the world (America) to a most deplorable state. Oswego, of ten times more importance even than Minorca, is so annihilated that we can not learn the particulars."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Nov. 4, 1756.

[79] "The massacre at Oswego happily proves a romance. Part of the two regiments[87] that were made prisoners there are actually arrived at Plymouth, the provisions at Quebec being too scanty to admit additional numbers."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Nov. 13, 1756.

[80] Wood Creek was one of the streams that formed a nearly uninterrupted water communication between Albany, in New York, and the mouth of the River Onondaga, where Oswego was situated.

[81] Crown Point, or Fort Frederic, and Ticonderoga, which had been lately fortified.

[82] Abercromby writes from Fort Edward, 30th of September, 1756; "Upon intelligence of the enemy's whole force being collected at Crown Point, in order to make an attempt on this fort or that of Fort William Henry, I arrived here the 26th with the Highlanders: to-morrow I shall have three regiments.... Our works here are far from being finished. However, though the fort is not finished we are throwing up lines, and shall be able to repel the enemy's force.—8th of Oct. Lord Loudon is now here: he has left Webb to take care of Otway's at Albany. General Winslow (he was at Fort William Henry) holds daily correspondence."

[83] Every where. "I see it with concern, considering who was Newcastle's associate" (he alludes to his friend Fox); "but this was the year of the worst administration that I have seen in England, for now Newcastle's incapacity[88] was left to its full play."—Walpole's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 54.

"In the course of this unfortunate year, 1756, we were stripped of Minorca and Oswego (the East India Company, by the loss of Calcutta, received a blow which would have shaken an establishment of less strength to its foundation), we apprehended an invasion of Great Britain itself, our councils were torn to pieces by factions, and our military fame was every where in contempt."—Annual Register.

Burke was the writer of the "History of Europe" in the early volumes of the Annual Register.

[84] To Massachusetts, £54,000; to Connecticut, £26,000; to New York, £15,000; to New Hampshire, £8000; to Rhode Island, £7000; to New Jersey, £5000,—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 328.

[85] The ministry of the Duke of Newcastle and Fox, which was forced out of office by the public indignation at the loss of Minorca, and on the 13th of Nov., 1756, Pitt kissed hands as secretary of state.

[86] "The regulations of the crown respecting rank had given great disgust in America, and rendered it extremely difficult to carry on any military operations which required a junction of British and Provincial troops. When consulted on this delicate subject, General Winslow assured General Abercromby of his apprehensions that, if the result of the junction should be placing the Provincials under British officers, it would produce very general discontent, and perhaps desertion. His officers concurred with him in this opinion. On the arrival of Lord Loudon, the subject was revived, and the colonial office gave the same opinion. The request that Lord Loudon would permit them to act separately was acceded to."—Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 327.

[87] Shirley's and Pepperel's.

[88] "A minister the most incapable though the most ambitious, the weakest though the most insolent, the most pusillanimous though the most presumptuous"—Mr. Potter's Speech in the House of Commons. "It would, however, be injustice not to allow the Duke of Newcastle the merit of disinterestedness as to the emoluments of office, and of zeal for the general interests of his country."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 381.

CHAPTER III.

Stimulated by the general success of their arms during the campaign of 1756, the French suffered not their energies to slumber even through the chilly Canadian winter. With detachments of Indians and hardy "habitans," they scoured the northern frontiers of the British colonies, and gained intelligence of every movement. From information thus acquired, Montcalm determined to move a force suddenly on Fort William Henry,[89] at the southern extremity of Lake George,[90] where the English had formed a dépôt for a vast quantity of provisions and warlike stores, which was as yet unprotected by any sufficient garrison. Fifteen hundred men, of whom four hundred were Indians, led by Rigaud de Vaudreuil and the Chevalier de Longueuil, were dispatched to surprise and escalade the fort, and, in case of failure, to destroy the stores and buildings beyond the protection of its walls, and also the shipping and bateaux on the neighboring lake. On the 19th of March, at the dead of night, the French noiselessly approached the little fortress, but the vigilant sentries discovered them in time, and alarmed the defenders, who drove them back with a brisk fire of cannon and musketry. Having failed to surprise, they invested the place the following day, and twice again vainly attacked the fort. On the 21st they summoned the commandant, Major Eyres, to surrender, which demand he instantly refused. The French assailed the stronghold a fourth and even a fifth time; but, having been repulsed in every attack, contented themselves by destroying the undefended property without. Furthermore, they strengthened Ticonderoga and Crown Point with two battalions, and sent Captain Pouchot as commandant to Niagara, with orders to fortify that important post as he best might. They then returned to Montreal. Shortly afterward they gained an advantage of some value over a detachment of 400 men, led by Colonel Parker, which had been sent by water to attack their advanced guard near Ticonderoga. By a cleverly devised ambuscade, and the opportune arrival of a re-enforcement, they completely overpowered the British troops, and slew or captured more than half the number.

In the mean while the Earl of Loudon exerted himself to the utmost in collecting a sufficient force to strike a decisive blow. The favorite object of carrying Crown Point was laid aside, and the grander scheme of reducing the formidable stronghold of Louisburg, in Acadia, adopted instead.[91] There the naval power of England could be brought to bear, and the distracting jealousies of the several colonies might not interfere to paralyze vigorous action. Preparations for this enterprise were rapidly pushed on in England, and by the end of January, 1757, seven regiments of infantry and a detachment of artillery, all commanded by Major-general Hopson, were ordered to assemble at Cork, and await the arrival of a powerful fleet of fourteen line-of-battle ships, destined to bear them to America. June had nearly closed,[92] however, before this powerful armament, under Admiral Holborne, arrived at the place of rendezvous. Lord Loudon had arranged to meet the expedition at Halifax with all the force he could collect; to accomplish this transport, he was injudiciously led to lay an embargo on all the ships in the British North American ports. This arbitrary measure at once aroused a storm of indignation among the merchants and planters, whose trade it ruinously affected. The home government, ever jealous of commercial liberty, immediately disapproved the high-handed proceeding, and issued peremptory orders against its repetition.

On the 20th of June, 1757, Lord Loudon had embarked at New York with a considerable force drawn from the protection of the vast colonial borders. Sir Charles Hardy commanded a fleet of four ships of war and seventy transports for the troops; each ship had orders, in case of separation, to make the best of her way to Halifax. On the 30th they all reached that port, where they found eight vessels of war and some artillery, with two regiments of infantry. The troops were landed as soon as possible, and busied in various and somewhat trivial occupations, while fast-sailing vessels were dispatched to examine the French strength at Louisburg, and also to watch for the arrival of the remainder of the English fleet under Holborne. By the 9th of July the whole of the enormous armament had assembled. Nineteen ships of the line, with a great number of smaller craft, and an army of thirteen battalions in high spirit and condition, were now at the disposal of the British leaders.

Much valuable time was wasted at Halifax in unnecessary drills and silly sham fights; at length, however, on the 1st and 2d of August, the troops were embarked, with orders to proceed to Gabarus Bay, to the westward of Louisburg; but on the 4th, information received by a captured sloop that eighteen ships of the line and 3000 regular troops, with many militia-men and Indians, were prepared to defend the harbor, altered the views of the English chiefs. The attack was abandoned,[93] the troops were directed to land in various places on the Acadian peninsula, while the fleet was to cruise off Louisburg and endeavor to bring the French to action. About the middle of the month, a dispatch from Boston, containing the disastrous news of the loss of Fort William Henry, reached Lord Loudon; in consequence, his orders were again altered.[94] The luckless general himself, with a part of the troops and fleet, made sail for New York; the remaining regiments, not before landed, were directed upon the Bay of Fundy, and Admiral Holborne, with the bulk of this vast armament, bore away for the harbor of Louisburg.

The objects of this cruise can hardly be even conjectured; some imagine that curiosity was Holborne's sole motive. It is obvious that he did not mean to engage the enemy; for, when he approached within two miles of the hostile batteries, and saw the French admiral's signal to unmoor, he immediately made the best of his way back to Halifax. Being re-enforced by four ships of the line about the middle of September, Holborne again sailed within sight of Louisburg, being then certain that the French would not leave the shelter of their batteries to encounter his superior strength, and thus risk unnecessarily the safety of their colony.

While continuing this useless demonstration, a violent storm from the southwest assailed the British fleet on the 24th of October, at the distance of about forty leagues from the rock-bound coast. In twelve hours the ships were driven almost to within gunshot of the shore, when a happy shift of wind saved them from total destruction. But the Tilbury, a magnificent vessel of sixty guns, went to pieces on Cape Breton, and 225 of her crew perished in the waves; the Newark drove into Halifax crippled and damaged; others subsequently gained the same shelter, dismasted, and in a still more disastrous plight. When the weather moderated, Admiral Holborne made the best of his way for England with the remainder of the fleet, leaving, however, a small squadron, under Lord Colville, to protect the British traders in those northern seas.[95]

While the main force of the British armies had been occupied in the ill-fated expedition against Louisburg, Colonel Stanwix had marched to protect the Western frontier with a detachment of regular troops, and nearly 2000 of the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia militia. At the same time, the borders of Carolina were intrusted to the care of Colonel Bouquet with a nearly similar force. But to the north, the province of New York and the New England states were feebly held by Colonel Webb with about 4000 men, and Colonel Monro with his garrison of Fort William Henry, against the able and vigilant Montcalm. Although Webb could not but be aware of the movements of his dangerous enemy, he unaccountably neglected to avail himself of the means of defense within his reach. With an indifference bordering on infatuation, he abstained from calling out the numerous and hardy militia of the surrounding states, in themselves a force sufficient to overpower his active antagonist. At length, when the white banner of France had actually been unfurled on the shores of Lake Champlain, Webb awoke from his lethargy, but only to make a precipitate and disgraceful retreat. He fell back upon Fort Edward the following day, leaving Colonel Monro, with about 2000 men, to bear the brunt of battle, and defend the post which he had thus shamefully abandoned.

When Lord Loudon had put to sea with the main army, Montcalm instantly seized the opportunity of renewing his favorite project of gaining the command of Lake George, through the reduction of Fort William Henry. He rapidly concentrated his forces at Ticonderoga, including a considerable body of Indians, numbering altogether 8000 men, well appointed and provisioned, with a proportionate force of artillery, and, without delay, pushed on a large division of his army, under M. de Levi, along the shores of the lake. On the 1st of August he followed with the remainder, who, together with the heavy ordnance and warlike stores, were embarked in canoes and bateaux. On the night of the 2d, both divisions met in a bay near the English fort, and soon afterward the general learned from some prisoners, who were the survivors of a party surprised by the Indians, the retreat of Webb and the weakness of the British garrison. He immediately advanced upon the fort in three columns, sending M. de Levi, with all his savage allies, to scour the neighboring woods; these fierce warriors suddenly fell upon a small foraging party of the English, slew and scalped forty of their number, and carried off fifty head of cattle.

Montcalm spent the 3d of August in reconnoitering the fort and neighborhood,[96] and in erecting batteries; but the Indians scorned the delays of regular warfare, and urged an immediate attack without waiting for the aid of artillery. The chief listened not unwillingly to this daring counsel; first, however, he determined to try the virtue of negotiation, and dispatched a peremptory summons to Colonel Monro, demanding an immediate surrender. The English chief, although but too well aware of his own weakness, returned a spirited answer to this haughty message: "I will defend my trust," said he, "to the last extremity."

This bold reply quickened the ardor of the French: during the 4th and 5th, day and night, their labors ceased not; they dug and delved into the earth with vindictive and untiring zeal, pushing on the trenches of the attack close to the ramparts of the fort. At daybreak on the 6th, ten guns and a large mortar broke the silence of the morning with a salvo upon the beleaguered garrison. The British paid back the deadly salute vigorously, but with far inferior power. Meanwhile, the Indians and some Canadian sharp-shooters swarmed around at every point; some hiding behind the stumps of the forest trees, others finding shelter in an adjoining garden, from their covert swept the works of the defenders with a murderous fire. The odds were great, but in a vain hope that Webb would not see him lost without an effort, Monro held out with stubborn courage. His loss was heavy, his defenses rapidly giving way under the crashing artillery of the French, yet still he resisted the threats and promises of the enemy. At length ammunition failed; the savages soon perceived this, and redoubled their fire, crowding closer round the failing defenders. While yet they strove to hold their ground, an intercepted letter from Webb to Monro was sent in by the French general; this destroyed the last remaining hope, for it stated that no timely relief could reach them, and advised that they should make the best terms in their power. Monro then no longer hesitated, and a capitulation was signed, with conditions such as a chivalrous conqueror should give to those who had nobly but unsuccessfully performed their duty.

The sequel of this gallant defense is as sad as it is unaccountable. The Indians despised the rights of the conquered. When they saw the garrison march out on the following day with arms and baggage, and protected by a French escort, their rage knew no bounds; but with savage cunning they suffered their victims to proceed uninterruptedly till a place was reached favorable to their murderous designs, when suddenly, with horrible yells, they burst from the woods, upon the English column. This unexpected onslaught paralyzed with terror the men who but the day before had fought with dauntless bravery; few attempted to resist, some were instantly struck down by the tomahawks of the savages, others found tardy protection from the French escort, and about 600 dispersed among the woods, and finally reached Fort Edward in miserable plight.

The endeavor to clear the memory of the illustrious Montcalm from the dark stain of connivance with this ferocious treachery is now a grateful task. While the dreadful story was fresh on the English ear, few voices were raised in his defense; the blood of the murdered men was laid at his door; the traitor to a soldier's faith was held in scornful detestation. But time, "that reverses the sentence of unrighteous judges,"[97] has served to clear away the cloud that shaded the brightness of the gallant Frenchman's fame. He may, indeed, still be censured for not having provided a sufficient escort for the surrendered garrison. Surely, however, he may well have deemed 2000 men, such as those who had before defended themselves with becoming bravery against his host, might hold their own against an inferior number of savages. When the onslaught began, he used his utmost endeavor to arrest it; he rushed into the bloody scene, and strove earnestly to stop its progress. Baring his breast, he called upon the savages to slay him, their father, but to spare the English for whom his honor was plighted. Then, finding his interference useless, he called upon the prisoners to defend themselves, and fire upon their pursuers; it was in vain, however, so overpowering were the terrors of the Indian tomahawk.[98] Montcalm's officers also threw themselves in the way of the vindictive savages, and some were even wounded in the attempt.[99]

Immediately after the victory Montcalm demolished the fort, destroyed all the English vessels and boats upon the lake, triumphantly carried off the artillery, warlike stores, and baggage, 100 live oxen, and provisions for six months for a garrison of 5000 men. They did not endeavor to push further their important advantages, but once again retired within their own territories.[100]

The Marquis de Vaudreuil took the earliest opportunity to inform the court of France that his gallant general's expedition had been thus eminently successful. He moreover accompanied the cheering news by earnest demands for aid in troops, artillery, and warlike stores, and prayed that he might be speedily informed of the intentions of the ministry, and their plans for the defense of the still endangered colony.[101]

Meanwhile, peculation and corruption had frightfully increased among those intrusted with the Provincial administration. The Associates' Company cast aside all decent seeming of honesty, and robbed the government, the settlers, and the Indians with unblushing effrontery. The officers in command of outposts followed this infectious example. Under pretext of supplying the savages, they made frequent and large demands for goods, which, when obtained, were applied to their own use; and, not even content with this wholesale plunder, they gave certificates, amounting to large sums of money, for articles never furnished: from this source arose that immense amount of paper currency which deluged the colony at the time of the conquest, leaving no less than eighty millions of livres then unprovided for. This enormous dishonesty brought down its own punishment; agriculture and trade were paralyzed, loyalty shaken, while diminished resources and a discontented people hastened the inevitable catastrophe of British triumph.

Immediately on Lord Loudon's return from the disgraceful expedition to Halifax,[102] he repaired to Fort Edward, which was the English advanced post in the direction of Canada since the loss of Fort William Henry.[103] As soon as he had given directions for its defense, he took up his winter quarters at Albany: thence he dispatched Captain Rogers, with a small party, to capture stragglers of the enemy, and gain intelligence of their movements. This officer succeeded in ascertaining that the important posts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been left insufficiently garrisoned. The English general formed designs, and even made extensive preparations to take advantage of the opportunity thus offered, but, with vacillating weakness, soon abandoned the project. In Acadia some ineffectual marching and counter-marching was performed by his orders, and the troops suffered considerably from privation and from the harassing enmity of the French and Indians.

The feeble conduct and the contemptible results of this campaign demonstrated the inability of the English chief for military command; but Lord Loudon's merits in council should not be overlooked, while he stands condemned as a general. He aroused the different colonial governments from a dangerous apathy, induced them to unite, in some measure, their great but disjointed power, and exert for the general good the means which Providence had abundantly supplied. These favorable conditions were improved by the politic wisdom of his successors in the post of commander-in-chief in North America.

The return of Holborne's shattered fleet and the news of the resultless maneuvers of Lord Loudon aroused a storm of indignation in England. Enormous preparations had proved fruitless, a vast force had warred only against the hardships of the wilderness or the dangers of the ocean. Twenty thousand regular troops, with a large Provincial army, had wasted the precious season of action in embarkations and disembarkations, disgraceful retreats, and advances almost equally disgraceful. Twenty magnificent ships of the line had left the British ports for the American shore in the pride of irresistible power, and, without firing a gun for the honor of their flag, returned to whence they came, or, maimed and dismantled, sought refuge in friendly ports. England had to lament her gallant children, her stately ships, her hard-earned treasures, and, above all, her military glory, lost in the Western deserts or swallowed up in the waters of the Atlantic.

FOOTNOTES:

[89] "In the French accounts of this transaction, Fort George is the name given to the fort. This was a strong position at a short distance from Fort William Henry. In the vicinity of the village of Caldwell is situated the site of the old Fort William Henry, and a short distance beyond the ruins of Fort George, which was built during the campaign of Amherst."—Picturesque Tourist, p. 104.

[90] "Lake George, called by the Indians Horican, is justly celebrated for its romantic and beautiful scenery, and for the transparency and purity of its waters. They were exclusively selected by the Jesuit missionaries to perform the typical purification of baptism, which obtained for it the appropriate title of Lac Sacrament. The less zealous English thought they conferred sufficient honor on its unsullied fountains when they bestowed the name of their reigning prince, the second of the house of Hanover."—Last of the Mohicans, p. 2.

[91] "The abandonment of the enterprise against Crown Point, on which they had securely relied, was a severe disappointment to the New England States."—Graham's Hist. of the United States, vol. iv., p. 5.

"The attack on Louisburg was a scheme very favorable to the views and interests of France at this period, as it left M. de Montcalm entirely at liberty to prosecute his plans of conquest, and Louisburg was so strongly defended that little apprehension was entertained for its safety."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 371.

[92] "Upon our anchoring in Chebucto harbor, our commanding officer went ashore, and waited on his excellency the Earl of Loudon, who, with Major-general Abercromby, expressed great pleasure at our arrival, with the information they received of the fleet, and re-enforcements we had parted with at sea; and his lordship said, 'We had staid so long, he had almost despaired of us,' but being assured our delay proceeded principally from an obstinate set of contrary winds, that had retarded us in Ireland above two months after our arrival at the port of embarkation, his lordship seemed pleased. (As the fate of the expedition to Louisburg in this campaign depended, in a great measure, on the speedy sailing and junction of the fleet and forces from Europe with those of the Earl of Loudon, it was for this reason I judged it necessary to commence this work with the first orders to the troops in Ireland to march and embark for foreign service; and it will thereby appear that the earliest measures were taken at home to forward this enterprise, which, without doubt, would have succeeded, if the armament could have sailed when first intended)."—Knox's Historical Journals of the Campaigns of North America, vol. i., p. 14.

The same cause—impossibility of exactly combining fleets and armies—had proved the ruin of every expedition, on a grand scale, undertaken by either French or English, in America, for years before.

[93] "It was resolved, according to the custom of this war, to postpone the expedition to another opportunity."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 372.

"I do not augur very well of the ensuing summer; a detachment is going to America under a commander whom a child might outwit or terrify with a pop-gun."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Feb. 13, 1757.

[94] "It being now universally known at Halifax that the expedition against Cape Breton is laid aside for this season, the clerk of the Church, to evince his sentiments upon the situation of affairs, gave out and sung the 1st, 2d, 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, and 26th verses of Psalm xliv., of the New Version. A Jew merchant and another man were this morning committed to jail by the governor for circulating a false report of there being only five ships of war and three frigates at Louisburg; but the Earl of Loudon, being superior to such mean resentments, ordered them to be released in the evening."—Knox's Historical Journal, vol. i., p. 24.

The extraordinary ardor of Major-general Lord Charles Hay, having made him much louder than others in condemning Lord Loudon's conduct, upon this occasion, a council of war was called to consider the tendency of his reflections, and the consequence was his being put under arrest. General Hopson's letter to Lord Loudon in October, three months afterward, mentions Lord Charles Hay being still under arrest, and complains of three regiments, with their commanding officers at their head, having gone "in corps" to wait upon him.

[95] "Shortly after came letters from the Earl of Loudon, the commander-in-chief in North America, stating that he found the French 21,000 strong, and that, not having so many, he could not attack Louisburg, but should return to Halifax. Admiral Holborne, one of the sternest condemners of Byng, wrote at the same time that he, having but seventeen ships and the French nineteen, dared not attack them. There was another summer lost! Pitt expressed himself with great vehemence against the earl, and we naturally have too lofty ideas of our naval strength to suppose that seventeen of our ships are not a match for any nineteen others."—Walpole's George II., vol. ii., p. 231.

"Admiral Holborne declined to attack the French, because, while he had seventeen ships of the line, they had eighteen, and a greater WEIGHT OF METAL, 'according to the new sea phrase,' says Chesterfield, indignantly, 'which was unknown to Blake!' (Letter to his Son, Sept. 30, 1757.) He adds, 'I hear that letters have been sent to both (Holborne and Loudon) with very severe reprimands.'"—Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 168.

"The recent fate of Admiral Byng, who was shot on the 14th of March, 1757, for incapacity in a naval engagement, is supposed to have paralyzed the energy of many British officers at this juncture."—Graham's United States, vol. iv., p. 6.

"Dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de tems en tems un amiral pour encourager les autres."—Candide, ch. xxiii.

"The miserable consequences of our political divisions (in 1757) produced a general unsteadiness in all our pursuits, and infused a languor and inactivity into all our military operations; for while our commanders abroad knew not who would reward their services or punish their neglects, and were not assured in what light even the best of their actions would be considered (having reason to apprehend that they might not be judged of as they were in themselves, but as their appearances might answer the end of some ruling faction), they naturally wanted that enterprising resolution, without which the best capacity, and intentions the most honest, can do nothing in war."—Annual Register.

[96] "Directly on the shore of the lake, and nearer to its western than to its eastern margin, lay the extensive earthen ramparts and low buildings of William Henry. Two of the sweeping bastions appeared to rest on the water, which washed their bases, while a deep ditch and extensive morasses guarded its other side and angles. The land had been cleared of wood for a reasonable distance around the work, but every other part of the scene lay in the green livery of nature, except where the limpid water mellowed the view, or the bold rocks thrust their black and naked heads above the undulating outline of the mountain ranges. In its front might be seen the scattered sentinels who held a weary watch against their numerous foes.... Toward the southeast, but in immediate contact with the fort, was an intrenched camp, posted on a rocky eminence, that would have been far more eligible for the work itself.... But the spectacle which most concerned the young soldier was on the western bank of the lake, though quite near to its southern termination. On a strip of land, which appeared from its stand too narrow to contain such an army, but which, in truth, extended many hundreds of yards from the shores of Lake George to the base of the mountain, were to be seen the white tents and military engines for an encampment of 10,000 men."—Last of the Mohicans, p. 144.

[97] "I was a little child when this transaction took place, and distinctly remember the strong emotions which it every where excited, and which hitherto time has not been able to efface."—Dwight. The Last of the Mohicans has given an immortal interest to the fate of Fort William Henry.—Graham's United States, vol. iv., p. 8.

[98] " ... Committing a thousand outrages and barbarities, from which the French commander endeavored in vain to restrain them. All this was suffered by 2000 men, with arms in their hands, from a disorderly crew of savages."—Burke, Annual Register for the year 1758.

[99] "Montcalm says in his letter to Monro, August 3d, 1757, 'I am still able to restrain the savages, and to oblige them to observe a capitulation, as none of them have been killed; but this control will not be in my power under other circumstances.'"—Russell's Modern Europe.

"Of the scene of cruelty and bloodshed that took place at Fort William Henry, the accounts which have been transmitted are not less uniform and authentic than horrible and disgusting. The only point which is wrapped in obscurity is how far the French general and his troops were voluntarily or unavoidably spectators of the violation of the treaty which they stood pledged to fulfill. According to some accounts, no escort whatever was furnished to the British garrison. According to others, the escort was a mere mockery, both in respect of the numbers of the French guards, and of their willingness to defend their civilized enemies against their savage friends. It is certain that the escort, if any, proved totally ineffectual; and this acknowledged circumstance, taken in conjunction with the prior occurrences at Oswego, is sufficient to stain the character of Montcalm with a suspicion of treachery and dishonor."—Graham's History of the United States, vol. iv., p. 7.

[100] "Webb, roused at length from his lethargy by personal apprehension, had hastily invoked the succor of the states of New England. The call was promptly obeyed, and a portion of the militia of Massachusetts and Connecticut was dispatched to check the victorious progress of the French. Montcalm, whether daunted by this vigorous demonstration or satisfied with the blow which he had struck, and engrossed with the care of improving its propitious influence on the minds of the Indians, refrained from even investing Fort Edward, and made no further attempt at present to extend the circle of his conquests."—Graham's History of the United States, vol. iv., p. 8.

[101] "Mais malgré les instantes demandes des Canadiens, le gouvernement de Madame da Pompadour ne songeoit point à leur envoyer des secours. M. Pitt, au contraire, apportant une même vigueur dans tous les départemens de la guerre, avoit destiné des forces considérables, à subjuguer dans toutes les parties de l'Amérique les François, qui abandonnés à eux-mêmes ne pouvoient tarder plus long tems à succomber."—Sismondi's Hist. des Français, vol. xxix., ch. liv.

[102] "We had a torrent of bad news yesterday from America. Lord Loudon has found an army of 20,000 French, gives over the design on Louisburg, and retires to Halifax. Admiral Holborne writes that they have nineteen ships to his seventeen, and that he can not attack them. It is time for England to slip her own cables, and float away into some unknown ocean!—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Sept. 3, 1757.

"To add to the ill-humor, our papers are filled with the new loss of Fort William Henry, which covered New York. That opulent and proud colony, between their own factions and our folly, is in imminent danger; but I will have done—nay, if we lose another dominion, I think I will have done writing to you; I can not bear to chronicle so many disgraces."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Oct. 12, 1757.

"When intelligence of these new losses and disgraces reached England, the people, already sufficiently mortified by their losses and disgraces in Europe,[104] sank into a general despondency; and some moral and political writers, who pretended to foretell the ruin of the nation, and ascribed its misfortunes to a total corruption of manners and principles, obtained general credit. Of these writers the most distinguished was Dr. Brown, whose Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times, abounding with awful predictions, was bought up and read with incredible avidity, and seemed to be as much confided in as if he had been divinely inspired."—Russell's Modern Europe, vol. iii., p. 324.

[103] The lengthened sheet of Lake Champlain stretched from the frontiers of Canada nearly half the distance between Canada and New York. On the Canada side the River Richelieu formed a communication with the River St. Lawrence; on the New York side Lake George extended the water communication twelve leagues further to the south, and then a portage of twelve miles over the high land, which interposed itself to the further passage of the water, conducted the traveler to the banks of the Hudson, at a point where the river became navigable to the tide.[105] It was this almost uninterrupted water communication between the rival states of Canada and New York that rendered the forts on Lake Champlain[106] and Lake George[107] such important objects of attack or defense.

[104] The capitulation of Closterseven, or Convention of Stade, was signed in September of this year.

[105] Here Fort Edward was situated.

[106] Ticonderoga and Fort Frederick, or Crown Point.

[107] Fort William Henry.

CHAPTER IV.

During the disastrous campaign of 1757, a strife of greater importance than that on the American continent was carried on in the English House of Commons. In the preceding year, the falsehood and incompetency of the Duke of Newcastle, prime minister of England, had aroused a storm of indignation, to which the shameful losses of Minorca and Oswego had given overwhelming force. Mr. Fox, the only commoner of character and ability who still adhered to the ministry, determined to lend his name no longer to the premier's policy, and in the month of October resigned the seals of office. This blow proved fatal for the tottering cabinet. To the almost universal joy of the people, the Duke of Newcastle did not dare the encounter with his gifted rival in the approaching session of Parliament, and reluctantly yielded up those powers the exercise of which, in his hands, had led the nation to embarrassment and shame.

By the wish of the king, Mr. Fox endeavored to induce Mr. William Pitt to join him in the conduct of the national councils. The "Great Commoner," however, decisively rejected this overture.[108] The Duke of Devonshire, lord lieutenant of Ireland, a man more remarkable for probity and loyalty than for administrative capacity, next received the royal commands to form a ministry; he sacrificed his personal predilections toward Mr. Fox to the public good, and at once appointed Pitt Secretary of State, with Legge as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Most of the subordinate members of the cabinet retained their places, but several of Pitt's relatives received appointments to important offices.

Almost the first step of the new cabinet was to apply to Parliament for the means of aiding the King of Prussia against "the vindictive designs of France." Notwithstanding the great popularity of the ministry, and the general confidence in its capacity and integrity, the apparent contrast between this proposition and former protestations against continental interference excited the hostility of many, and the observation of all. The supplies, however, were voted to the full extent demanded by the minister.

Despite these concessions to the king's Hanoverian interests, nothing could overcome the personal dislike of his majesty to Pitt, and to his brother-in-law Lord Temple. The appointment of the Duke of Cumberland to command the British force on the Continent gave opportunity for the manifestation of this royal hostility. The duke refused to undertake his duties while such an anti-Hanoverian as Pitt remained as virtual head of the ministry. The king's love for his son, and hatred of his gifted servant, combined to prompt him to the decided step of dismissing the great minister from his councils. An interval of nearly three months elapsed in vain attempts to form a cabinet from which Pitt should be excluded. There was, however, another party interested in these arrangements, which neither prerogative nor parliamentary influence might long venture to oppose—the British nation. As with one voice, all ranks and classes spoke out their will that Pitt should hold the helm. His rivals saw that it was impossible to stem the stream, and wisely counseled the king to yield to the wishes of his people. In June the patriot minister was once again the ruler of England's destiny.[109]

This illustrious man knew no party but the British nation, acknowledged no other interest. To exalt the power and prosperity of his country, and to humble France, was his sole aim and object. Personally disagreeable to the highest power in the state, and from many causes regarded with hostility by the several aristocratic confederacies, it needed the almost unanimous voice of his countrymen, and the unacknowledged confidence of those powerful men whose favor he neither possessed nor desired, to sweep away these formidable difficulties, and give to England in the hour of need the services of her greatest son.

For the remainder of the campaign of 1757, however, the energy and wisdom of Pitt were too late brought to the council, and the ill-conducted schemes of his predecessors bore, as has been shown, the bitter fruit of disaster and disgrace. But no sooner was he firmly established in office, and his plans put in execution, than the British cause began to revive in the Western hemisphere, and, although still checkered with defeat, glory and success rewarded his gigantic efforts. He at once determined to renew the expedition against Cape Breton, and, warned by previous failures, urged upon the king the necessity of removing both the naval and military officers who had hitherto conducted the operations. With that admirable perception which is one of the most useful faculties of superior minds, he readily discerned in others the qualities requisite for his purpose—his judgment ever unwarped and his keen vision unclouded by personal or political considerations. In Colonel Amherst he had discovered sound sense, steady courage, and an active genius; he therefore recalled him from the army in Germany, and, casting aside the hampering formalities of military rule, promoted him to the rank of major-general, and to the command of the troops destined for the attack of Louisburg.[110] At the same time, from the British navy's brilliant roll, the minister selected the Hon. Edward Boscawen as admiral of the fleet, and gave him also, till the arrival of General Amherst, the unusual commission of command over the land forces. With vigorous zeal the equipments were hurried on, and on the 19th of February a magnificent armament sailed from Portsmouth for the harbor of Halifax on the Acadian peninsula. The general was delayed by contrary winds, and did not reach Halifax till the 28th of May, where he met Boscawen's fleet coming out of the harbor; the admiral, impatient of delay, having put all the force in motion, with the exception of a corps 1600 strong left to guard the post. No less than 22 ships of the line and 15 frigates, with 120 smaller vessels, sailed under his flag; and 14 battalions of infantry, with artillery and engineers, in all 11,600, almost exclusively British regulars, were embarked to form the army of General Amherst. The troops were told off in three brigades of nearly equal strength, under the brigadier-generals Whitmore, Lawrence, and James Wolfe.[111]

At dawn on the 2d of June the armament arrived off Cape Breton, where the greatest part of the fleet came to anchor in the open roadstead of Gabarus Bay. Amherst entertained a strong hope to surprise the garrison of Louisburg, and with that view issued an order to forbid the slightest noise, or the exhibition of any light, on board the transports near the shore; he especially warned the troops to preserve a profound silence as they landed. But the elements rendered these judicious orders of no avail. In the morning a dense fog shrouded the rocky shore, and as the advancing day cleared away the curtains of the mist, a prodigious swell rolled in from the Atlantic, and broke in impassable surf upon the beach. Nevertheless, in the evening the general, with Lawrence and Wolfe, approached close to the dangerous shore, and reconnoitered the difficulties which nature and the enemy might oppose to their landing. They found that the French had formed a chain of posts for some distance across the country, and that they had also thrown up works and batteries at the points where a successful debarkation seemed most probable. The next morning the sea had not abated, and for six successive days the heavy roll of the ocean broke with undiminished violence upon the rugged shore. During this interval the enemy toiled day and night to strengthen their position, and lost no opportunity of opening fire with guns and mortars upon the ships.

On the 8th the sea subsided into calm, and the fog vanished from the shore. Before daybreak the troops were assembled in boats, formed in three divisions; at dawn Commodore Durell examined the coast, and declared that the landing was now practicable. When his report was received, seven of the smaller vessels at once opened fire, and in about a quarter of an hour the boats of the left division began to row in toward the shore: in them were embarked twelve companies of Grenadiers, 550 Light Infantry men, with the Highlanders and a body of Provincial Rangers: Brigadier-general Wolfe was their chief. The right and center brigades, under Whitmore and Lawrence, moved at the same time toward other parts of the shore, and three sloops were sent past the mouth of the harbor to distract the attention of the enemy.

The left division was the first to reach the beach, at a point a little eastward of Fresh-water Cove, and four miles from the town.[112] The French stood firm, and held their fire till the assailants were close in shore; then, as the boats rose on the dangerous surf, they poured in a rattling volley from every gun and musket that could be brought to bear. Many of the British troops were struck down, but not a shot was returned. Wolfe's flag-staff was shivered by a bar-shot, and many boats badly damaged; still, with ardent valor, the sailors forced their way through the surging waves, and in a very few minutes the whole division was ashore, and the enemy flying in disorder from all his intrenchments. The victors pressed on rapidly in pursuit, and, despite the rugged and difficult country, inflicted a heavy loss on the fugitives, and took seventy prisoners. At length the cannon of the ramparts of Louisburg checked their further advance. In the mean time the remaining British divisions had landed, but not without losing nearly 100 boats and many men from the increasing violence of the sea.

During the two following days the fury of the waves forbade all attempts to land the artillery and the necessary stores for the attack of the hostile stronghold; on the 11th, however, the weather began to clear, and some progress was made in the preparations. Hitherto the troops had suffered much from want of provisions and tents; now their situation was somewhat improved.

Louisburg is a noble harbor: within is ample shelter for the largest fleets England or France have ever sent from their shores. A rugged promontory, on which stood the town and somewhat dilapidated fortifications, protects it from the southwest wind; another far larger arm of the land is its shelter to the southeast. About midway across the entrance of this land-locked bay stands Goat Island, which at that time was defended by some works, with a formidable array of guns; a range of impassable rocks extends thence to the town. From an elevation to the northwest of the harbor, the grand battery showed a threatening front to those who might seek to force the entrance of the Sound. For the defense of this important position, M. de Drucour, the French chief, had at his disposal six line-of-battle ships; five frigates, three of which he sank, to impede the entrance of the harbor; 3000 regular troops and burgher militia, with 350 Canadians and Indians.

On the 12th the French withdrew all their outposts, and even destroyed the grand battery that commanded the entrance of the harbor, concentrating their whole power upon the defense of the town. Wolfe's active light troops soon gave intelligence of these movements, and the following day the brigadier pushed on his advance round the northern and eastern shores of the bay, till they gained the high lands opposite Goat Island with little opposition; there, as soon as the perversity of the weather would permit, he mounted some heavy artillery, but it was not till the 20th that he was enabled to open fire upon the ships and the land defenses. On the 25th the formidable French guns on Goat Island were silenced. Wolfe then left a detachment in his battery, and hastened round with his main force to a position close to the town, where he erected works, and from them assailed the ramparts and the shipping.

For many days the slow and monotonous operations of the siege continued, under great difficulties to the assailants, the marshy nature of the ground rendering the movement of artillery very tedious. The rain poured down in torrents, swamping the labors of the engineers; the surf still foamed furiously upon the shore, embarrassing the landing of the necessary material and impeding the communication with the fleet. On the night of the 9th of July, the progress of the besiegers was somewhat interrupted by a fierce and sudden sally; five companies of light troops, supported by 600 men, burst upon a small English work during the silence of the night, surprising and overwhelming the defenders. The young Earl of Dundonald, commanding the grenadiers of the 17th, who held the post, paid for this want of vigilance with his life; his lieutenant was wounded and taken, and his men struck down, captured, or dispersed. Major Murray, however, with the Grenadiers of the 22d and 28th, arrived ere long, and restored the fight. After a time the French again betook themselves to the shelter of their walls, having left twenty of their men dead upon the scene of strife, and eighty more wounded or prisoners in the hands of the besiegers.

Meanwhile the British generals pushed on the siege with unwearied zeal, and, at the same time, with prudent caution, secured their own camp by redoubts. Day and night the batteries[113] poured their ruinous shower upon the ramparts, the citadel, and shipping. On the 21st, three large vessels of war took fire in the harbor from a live shell, and the English gunners dealt death to those who sought to extinguish the flames. The next day the citadel was in a blaze; the next, the barracks were burned to the ground, and Wolfe's trenches were pushed up to the very defenses of the town. The French could no longer stand to their guns. On the night of the 25th, two young captains, La Forey and Balfour, with the boats of the fleet, rowed into the harbor under a furious fire, boarded the two remaining vessels of war, and thus destroyed the last serious obstacle to British triumph.[114] The following morning, M. de Drucour surrendered at discretion.

In those days, the taking of Louisburg was a mighty triumph for the British arms: a place of considerable strength, defended with skill and courage, fully manned, and aided by a powerful fleet, had been bravely won; 5600 men, soldiers, sailors, and marines were prisoners; eleven ships of war taken or destroyed; 240 pieces of ordnance, 15,000 stand of arms, and a great amount of ammunition, provisions, and military stores, had fallen into the hands of the victors, and eleven stand of colors were laid at the feet of the British sovereign: they were afterward solemnly deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral.

But while the wisdom and zeal of Amherst, and the daring skill of Wolfe,[115] excite the gratitude and admiration of their countrymen, it must not be forgotten that causes beyond the power and patriotism of man mainly influenced this great event. The brave admiral doubted the practicability of the first landing.[116] Amherst hesitated, and the chivalrous Wolfe himself, as he neared the awful surf, staggered in his resolution, and, purposing to defer the enterprise, waved his hat for the boats to retire. Three young subaltern officers, however, commanding the leading craft, pushed on ashore, having mistaken the signal for what their stout hearts desired—the order to advance; some of their men, as they sprung upon the beach, were dragged back by the receding surge and drowned, but the remainder climbed up the rugged rocks, and formed upon the summit. The brigadier then cheered on the rest of the division to the support of this gallant few, and thus the almost desperate landing was accomplished.

Nor should due record be omitted of that which enhances the glory of the conquerors—the merit of the conquered. To defend the whole line of coast with his garrison was impossible; for nearly eight miles, however, the energetic Drucour had thrown up a chain of works, and occupied salient points with troops; and when at length the besiegers effected a landing, he still left no means untried to uphold the honor of his flag. Hope of relief or succor there was none; beyond the waters of the bay the sea was white with the sails of the hostile fleet. Around him, on every side, the long red line of British infantry closed in from day to day. His light troops were swept from the neighboring woods; his sallies were interrupted or overwhelmed. Well-armed batteries were pushed up to the very ramparts; a murderous fire of musketry struck down his gunners at their work; three gaping breaches lay open to the assailants;[117] his best ships burned or taken; his officers and men worn with fatigue and watching; four fifths of his artillery disabled; then, and not till then, did the brave Frenchman give up the trust which he had nobly and faithfully held. To the honor of the garrison, not a man deserted his colors through all the dangers, privations, and hardships of the siege, with the exception of a few Germans who served as unwilling conscripts. This spirited defense was in so far successful that it occupied the bulk of the British force, while Abercromby was being crushed by the superior genius and power of Montcalm. By thus delaying for seven weeks the progress of the campaign, the season became too far advanced for further operations, and the final catastrophe of French American dominion was deferred for another year.[118]

On the 7th of August detachments were sent, under Major Dalling and Lord Rollo, to take possession of the other settlements in Cape Breton, and of the Isle de St. Jean, now Prince Edward's Island. This latter territory had long been an object of great importance to Canada; the fertility of the soil, the comparative mildness of the climate, and the situation commanding the navigation of the Great River, rendered it invaluable to the settlers of New France.

On the 15th the French prisoners were dispatched to Europe in transports. On the 28th, Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, with seven ships of the line and three frigates, conveying a force of some Artillery, and three battalions of Infantry, was sent round to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The object of this expedition was to destroy the French settlements at Miramichi, the Baye de Chaleurs, Gaspé, and as far up the banks of the Great River as the season might permit; then to disperse or carry away the inhabitants: by this it was hoped that the troublesome marauders on the English frontier might be chastised and kept in check, and that a portion of the enemy's strength might be diverted from Abercromby's front. The execution of this painful duty was committed to Brigadier-general Wolfe.

These stern orders were punctually obeyed, but as much humanity as was possible tempered the work of destruction. All the Acadian villages on the northeastern coast were laid in ruins: some hundreds of the inhabitants were borne away to captivity, and the rest driven from their blackened hearths and desolated farms to the grim refuge of the wilderness. Among the settlements devastated by this expedition was the flourishing fishing station of Mont Louis.[119] The intendant in charge of the place offered a ransom of 150,000 livres to save the stores and provisions his people's industry had created, but the relentless law of retribution took its course, and the hoarded magazines of corn, fish, and other supplies for their own use and for the market of Quebec, were totally destroyed. Colonel Monckton, with three other battalions, was sent on a similar errand to the Bay of Fundy and to the River St. John, and in like manner fulfilled his task.

It may, perhaps, be partial or unjust to single out one tale of woe from among the crowded records of this war's gigantic misery to hold up in the strong light of contrast with the glory of the recent victory. But we may not hear, without a blush of shame and sorrow, how the simple Acadian peasantry were made to pay the penalties of banishment and ruin for the love of France and for loyalty to their king, at a time when Pitt was the minister, Amherst the general, and Wolfe the lieutenant.

Having executed his orders, Wolfe repaired to Halifax and assumed the command of the troops in garrison. Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst came to a conclusion that for that season nothing more could be effected by them against the power of France. They therefore agreed, although their instructions did not extend to any part of the continent beyond Nova Scotia, that it would be advisable to detach a portion of the army to strengthen Abercromby, and assist him to repair his disaster, of which they were informed. Accordingly, Amherst sailed for Boston on the 30th of August with five battalions, arrived on the 13th of September, and the next day landed his troops. Despite the interested remonstrances of the local authorities, he soon pushed on through the difficult district of the Green Woods, by Kinderhook Mills, and through Albany to Lake George. Having there held counsel with the unfortunate Abercromby, and delivered over his seasonable re-enforcement, he returned to Boston, and finally to Halifax, where he had been instructed to await orders from the English government.

FOOTNOTES:

[108] "But though Pitt desired high office, he desired it only for high and generous ends. He did not seek it for patronage like Newcastle, or for lucre like Fox. Glory was the bright star that ever shone before his eyes, and ever guided him onward—his country's glory and his own. 'My lord!' he once exclaimed to the Duke of Devonshire, 'I am sure that I can save this country, and that no one else can.'"—Lord Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. iv., p. 77.

[109] At this period commenced the brilliant era justly called Mr. Pitt's Administration, in which he became the soul of the British councils, conciliated the good-will of the king, infused a new spirit into the British nation, and curbed the united efforts of the house of Bourbon.

The following picture of affairs at the moment when Pitt became secretary of state (29th of June, 1757) is contained in a letter from Lord Chesterfield to Mr. Dayrolles: "Whoever is in or whoever is out, I am sure we are undone both at home and abroad: at home, by our increasing debt and expenses; abroad, by our ill luck and incapacity.... The French are masters to do what they please in America. We are no longer a nation. I never yet saw so dreadful a prospect."—Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham, edited by William Stanhope Taylor, Esq., vol. i., note, p. 238.

[110] "What alarms me most, is the account Lady Hester brought, of some men-of-war, a few, very few, being got into Louisburg; because, upon the issue of that attempt I think the whole salvation of this country and Europe does essentially depend," (Letter of Earl Temple to Mr. Pitt, Stowe, July 3, 1758.)—Chatham Correspondence, vol. i., p. 325.

[111] See Appendix, [No. LXIV.]

[112] The place where the British troops landed, near Fresh-water Cove, before the successful siege of Louisburg, was called Cormoran Creek.

[113] "It may not be amiss to observe that a cavalier, which Admiral Knowles had built, at enormous expense to the nation, while Louisburg remained in the hands of the English during the last war, was in the course of this siege entirely demolished by two or three shots from one of the British batteries; so admirably had this piece of fortification been contrived and executed, under the eye of that profound engineer."—Smollett, vol. iv., p. 303.

[114] "The renowned Captain Cook, then serving as a petty officer on board of a British ship of war, co-operated in this exploit, and wrote an account of it to a friend in England. That he had honorably distinguished himself may be inferred from his promotion to the rank of lieutenant in the royal navy, which took place immediately after."—Graham's United States, vol. iv., p. 28.

[115] "Brigadier Wolfe has performed prodigies of valor.... We could not land before the 8th, which we fortunately effected after encountering dangers that are almost incredible." (Letter from the camp before Louisburg.)—Knox's Historical Journal, vol. i., p. 144.

[116] "Captain Ferguson, an old, brave, and distinguished navy officer, earnestly prayed the admiral not to put the fate of the expedition on the uncertain chances of a council of war,[120] but at once to attempt the landing, despite all difficulties. His spirited appeal was successful."—The Field of Mars; Article, Louisburg. London, 1801.

[117] So ruinous were the fortifications, that "General Wolfe himself was obliged to place sentinels upon the ramparts, for the private men and the sutlers entered through the breaches and gaps with as much ease as if there had only been an old ditch."—Translation of a Letter from M. de Drucour to M. ——, dated Andover, October 1, 1758, when he was a prisoner in England.

[118]

"Dear Wolfe,

"Camp, August 8, 1758.