The colonies had done much for their own defence, but they acted as so many petty independent Governments, and could not be brought to combine their resources of men and money in any systematical method, under some central authority as the same colonies did twenty years later in the American Revolution; and the first proceedings of Abercrombie and Loudoun rendered them powerless to command the confidence and united action of the colonies. General Abercrombie was appointed Commander-in-Chief, to supersede General Shirley, until the arrival of the Earl of Loudoun. Abercrombie landed in New York the 12th of June, with two regiments, and forty German officers, who were to raise and train recruits for Loudoun's Royal American regiment of four thousand—a most impolitic proceeding, which offended and discouraged the colonists. On his arrival at New York he received letters from the shrewd and able Governor of Virginia, Dinwiddie, recommending Washington as "a very able and deserving gentleman," who "has from the beginning commanded the forces of this Dominion. He is much beloved, has gone through many hardships in the service, has great merit, and can raise more men here than any one," and urged his promotion in the British army. But Washington's services and rank were never recognized in the British army. A week after Abercrombie's arrival in New York, he wrote (June 19, 1756) a letter to Governor Colden: "I find you never will be able to carry on anything to any purpose in America, till you have a viceroy or superintendent over all the provinces." He stated that Lord Loudoun's arrival would produce "a great change in affairs."

The 25th of June Abercrombie arrived at Albany, and forthwith insisted that the regular officers should take precedence of the provincial officers, and that the troops should be quartered in private houses, which he accomplished two days afterwards; for on the 27th, "in spite of every subterfuge, the soldiers were at last billeted upon the town," to the great indignation of the Mayor, who wished all the soldiers back again, "for" said he, "we can defend our frontiers ourselves."

The next day after Abercrombie's arrival, Shirley (now relinquishing the office of Commander-in-Chief) informed General Abercrombie of the exposed and unsafe state of Oswego, advising that two battalions be sent forward for its protection; that 200 boats were ready, and every magazine along the passage plentifully supplied. But Abercrombie decided to wait the arrival of Loudoun, who at length reached Albany the 29th of July, and joined Abercrombie in the policy of hesitation and delay, though having 10,000 men at his disposal—the New England regiments, with the provincials from New York and New Jersey, amounting to more than 7,000 men, besides 3,000 soldiers of British regular regiments.

In the meantime the French generals were more active and energetic, taking places of defence between Albany and Oswego, strengthening the defences and garrison of Ticonderaga (then in possession of the French, and called by them Fort Carillon), making a palisaded camp near the mouth of Sandy Creek, close to Oswego, and at length attacking Oswego itself, the enterprising Montcalm making forced marches day and night, marching on foot, living and sleeping like his soldiers, and taking the fort the 9th of August, after a week's siege, capturing 1,600 prisoners, 120 cannon, six vessels of war, 300 boats, stores of ammunition and provisions, and three chests of money.

Loudoun had sufficient forces and time to penetrate to the heart of Canada, had he possessed the qualities of Montcalm; but he preferred to place obstacles to prevent the enemy from attacking him; and after having spent some weeks in busy inactivity at Albany, he dismissed the provincials to their homes, and the regulars to winter quarters.[239]

Loudoun never fought a battle in America; and the only battle in which Abercrombie commanded he kept out of reach of personal danger, was defeated, and retreated[240] after losing 1,942 men, among whom was General Lord Howe, who had been selected by Pitt to be Commander-in-Chief in America, had not succeeded to it, but had become a favourite with the army and colonists of all classes.

The General Assembly of Massachusetts appropriated out of the public treasury the sum of L250 for erecting a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey, as a testimony to the sense which the Province had of the services and military virtues of the late Lord Viscount Howe, who fell in the last campaign fighting in the cause of the colonies, and also to express the affection which their officers and soldiers have to his command.

After the disgraceful defeat and still more disgraceful retreat of Abercrombie, the last of the incompetent English generals, General Amherst was appointed Commander-in-Chief, assisted by General Wolfe, and the fortunes of war turned in favour of England and her colonies, and the French power began to wane in America.

This change in the colonies from defeat to victory, from disgrace to honour, from distrust to confidence, from fear to triumph, was owing to a change of councillors and councils in England, and the rousing of the colonies from the shame and defeat of the past to a supreme and combined effort with the English armies for the expulsion of the French from America, and the consequent subjugation and alliance of the Indian tribes, whose hostilities had been all along and everywhere prompted and aided by the French, who paid the Indians large bounties for English scalps.[241]

"But," says Hutchinson, "in the interval between the repulse at Ticonderaga and the arrival of General Amherst, Colonel Bradstreet (a provincial officer of New York), with 3,000 provincials and 150 regulars, stole a march upon Montcalm, and before he could send a detachment from his army to Lake Ontario by way of the St. Lawrence, went up the Mohawk river. About the 25th of August they arrived at Fort Frontenac; surprised the garrison, who were made prisoners of war; took and destroyed nine small vessels and much merchandise; but having intelligence of a large body of the enemy near, they made haste back to Albany. The men complained of undergoing greater hardship than they had ever undergone before, and many sickened and died from the fatigue of the march."[242]

After the arrival of Lord Amherst, three expeditions were proposed for the year 1758—the first against Louisburg, the second against Ticonderaga, and the third against Fort du Quesne—all of which were successful.

On the first expedition against Louisburg, Admiral Boscawen sailed from Halifax the 28th of May, with a fleet of 20 ships of the line and 18 frigates, and an army of 14,000 men, under the command of General Amherst, assisted by General Wolfe, and arrived before Louisburg the 2nd of June. The garrison was composed of 2,500 regulars, aided by 600 militia, commanded by the Chevalier de Drucourt, an officer of courage and experience. The harbour was secured by five ships of the line, one 50-gun ship, and five frigates; three of which were sunk across the mouth of the basin. The landing of the troops, artillery, and stores had therefore to be effected some distance from the town, and was extremely difficult and hazardous; but General Wolfe, who led the 2,000 men detached for that purpose, was equal to the occasion, and displayed qualities which designated him as the future conqueror of Quebec. After an obstinate siege from the 8th of June to the 26th of July, the fortress was surrendered at discretion, and the whole of Cape Breton, including St. John Island (since Prince Edward Island), came into possession of Great Britain. The loss on the part of the English was about 400 killed and wounded; the garrison lost upwards of 1,500 men, and the town was reduced to a heap of ruins. The conquerors took 221 pieces of cannon, 16 mortars, and an immense quantity of stores and ammunition, and 5,637 prisoners, including naval officers, sailors, and marines.[243]

Admiral Boscawen, after taking possession of the Island of St. John, included in the capitulation of Louisburg, sailed with the fleet for England, with General Wolfe, conveying the French prisoners to England, and the trophies of victory. General Amherst embarked, with about thirty transports filled with the victorious troops, and encamped on the common at Boston near the end of August, on his march, which he pursued after three days' rest, to the western forts; for a part of the plan of operations was, after the conquest of Cape Breton, for General Amherst, with 12,000 men, to destroy the enemy's fort at Ticonderaga (so unsuccessfully attacked by Abercrombie the year before), in order to open a way into Canada by the Lakes George and Champlain, and the River Sorell down to Quebec, the capture of which, by advancing up the St. Lawrence, was assigned to the fleet under Admiral Saunders, and to General Wolfe, in command of 9,000 men. It was intended that the armies under Generals Amherst and Wolfe should meet and join in the taking of Quebec; but the junction was not effected, and the two armies operated separately and successfully. The taking of the fortress of Niagara, which was regarded as "the throat of the north-western division of the American continent," was assigned to Brigadier-General Prideaux, aided by Sir William Johnson, who commanded the Provincials and Indians. General Prideaux conducted the expedition and planned the mode of attack; but on the 19th of July, while walking in his trenches, he was killed by the carelessness of his own gunner in firing a cannon.

"Luckily," says Hutchinson, "for Sir William Johnson, who, as next officer, took the command on Prideaux's death, a body of 1,200 men from Detroit, etc., making an attempt, on the 24th of July, to throw themselves into the fort as a reinforcement, were intercepted and killed, taken, or dispersed, and the next day the garrison capitulated." (History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III., p. 77.)

The expedition against the French Fort du Quesne, on the Ohio river, so fatal to General Braddock, was entrusted to General Forbes, with Washington, colonel of the Virginia regulars, as second in command. Forbes, though wasting under the disease of consumption, heroically superintended and endured for three months the difficulties and fatigues of the same line of march pursued by Braddock three years before, leaving Philadelphia in command of 8,000 men early in July, but not reaching Fort du Quesne until late in November. On the evening preceding his arrival, the French garrison, deserted by their Indians, abandoned the fort, and escaped in boats down the Ohio. Hutchinson says: "The expedition for dispossessing the French of Fort du Quesne, near the Ohio, had at first a very unfavourable prospect. The English forces met with a variety of obstructions and discouragements; and when they had advanced to within thirty or forty miles of the fort, they were at a stand deliberating whether they should go forward or not. Receiving intelligence that the garrison was in a weak condition, they pushed on. Upon their arrival at the fort they met with no opposition. The enemy had deserted it, for want of provisions, as was generally believed; and it was added that the provisions intended to supply that fort were destroyed by Bradstreet at Fort Frontenac.[244] Thus the gallant and laborious exploit of Bradstreet in demolishing Fort Frontenac contributed to the reduction of Fort du Quesne without firing a shot." "The English now took possession of that important fortress, and, in compliment to the popular Minister, called it Pittsburg. No sooner was the English flag erected on it, than the numerous tribes of the Ohio Indians came in and made their submission to the English. General Forbes having concluded treaties with the natives, left a garrison of provincials in the fort and built a block-house near Loyal Hannah, but, worn out with fatigue, he died before he could reach Philadelphia."[245] In the same month of July that Sir William Johnson dispossessed the French of Niagara, General Amherst took possession of the enemy's lines at Ticonderaga, which the French abandoned after having set fire to the fort. A few days afterwards, in the beginning of August, General Amherst obtained possession of the fort at Crown Point, it having also been abandoned by the French. About the middle of the month General Amherst received information at Crown Point that General Bourlamarque was encamped at Isle aux Noix with 3,500 men and 100 cannon, and that the French had four vessels on the lake under the command of the captain of a man-of-war. He therefore judged it necessary to build a brigantine, a radeau, and a sloop of 16 guns. Such a fleet could not be got ready before the beginning of October; on the 11th of which month General Amherst embarked in batteaux, under the convoy of armed vessels, and proceeded down the lake; but encountering cold and stormy weather and contrary winds, he resolved, on the 19th, to return to Crown Point and go into winter quarters. No communications could be opened between the armies of Amherst and Wolfe; but the withdrawal of a great part of the French force from Quebec, to watch and counteract the movements of General Amherst, doubtless contributed to General Wolfe's success. The fleet under Sir Charles Saunders, and the army of five thousand men under General Wolfe, arrived before Quebec the latter part of June, and from that time to the 13th of September a series of daring but unsuccessful attempts were made to get possession of the city. How unyielding perseverance and heroic courage, against apparently insurmountable obstacles, effected the capture of that Gibraltar of America, with the fall of the leaders of both armies in the bloody struggle, has often been vividly described and variously illustrated, which I need not here repeat.

The British and colonial arms were completely successful this year.[246] Bradstreet destroyed Fort Frontenac; Sir William Johnson captured Niagara; Forbes, aided by Washington, retook Fort du Quesne, and named it Pittsburg; Lord Amherst took possession of Ticonderaga and Crown Point; and Wolfe became the conqueror of Quebec. In each of these expeditions the provincial troops rendered essential service. The several provinces were prompted to put forth their utmost efforts from their impending perils by the successive victories of the French and Indians the previous year, and encouraged by the appeal of the Prime Minister, Pitt, who assured them of the strong forces by sea and land from England, and that they would be compensated for the expense they might incur.

The heart of Massachusetts had for many years been set upon the conquest of Canada, both for her own security and for the extension of her northern limits, and she had sacrificed much treasure and many lives for that purpose, but had failed in each attempt. The taking of Quebec did not complete the conquest of Canada. On the fall of that city, Montreal became the seat of the French Government; the inhabitants of Canada remained subjects of the King of France; the French military forces within the province, were still very considerable;[247] and M. de Levi, who succeeded Montcalm as Commander-in-Chief of the army, made a very formidable attempt to recover Quebec.[248] On the reduction of that city, the fleet under Sir Charles Saunders returned to England, and General Murray was left in command at Quebec with a garrison of 5,000 men, which, during the ensuing winter, owing to the extreme cold, and the want of vegetables and fresh provisions, was reduced to 3,000 men fit for service, when in April M. de Levi, with a superior force, attacked the city, drove General Murray's little army from the Plains of Abraham within the walls, and closely besieged the city, which was relieved, and M. de Levi compelled to raise the siege, by the opportune arrival of the English fleet.

In the meantime, General Amherst was energetically pursuing the most effective measures for the complete extinction of French power in Canada. At the commencement of the year 1760, he applied to the northern colonies for men and means equal to what they had provided for 1759,[249] and during the winter he made arrangements to bring the armies from Quebec, Lake Champlain, and Lake Ontario, to act against Montreal. Colonel Haviland, by his orders, sailed early in the spring with a detachment from Crown Point, took possession of the Isle aux Noix, which he found abandoned by the enemy, and proceeded thence to Montreal; while Lord Amherst, with his own division, consisting of about 10,000 regulars and provincials, left the frontier of New York and advanced to Oswego, where he was joined by 1,000 Indians of the Six Nations, under Sir William Johnson. Embarking with his entire army on Lake Ontario, and taking the fort of Isle Royale in his way, he arrived at Montreal, after a difficult and dangerous passage, on the same day that General Murray landed near the place from Quebec. The two generals met with no opposition in disembarking their troops; and by a happy concurrence in the execution of a well-concerted plan, Colonel Haviland joined them with his detachment the next day. The strength of these combined armies, and the masterly disposition made by the commanders, convinced M. de Vaudreuil that resistance would be ineffectual, and he demanded a capitulation; and on the 8th of September, 1760, Montreal, Detroit, Michili-Mackinac, and all other places within the government of Canada, were surrendered to his Britannic Majesty. The destruction of an armament ordered out from France in aid of Canada completed the annihilation of French power on the continent of America.[250]

But though the conquest of Canada was thus completed, and the American colonies thus secured from the encroachments and dangers which had disturbed their peace and caused much sacrifice of life for one hundred and thirty years, yet the war between England and France was not ended, and in 1762 Spain joined France in the war against the former; but the actual scene of the war was chiefly the West Indies, and the series of naval and other battles fought there were successive victories on the part of England. "The progress of the British conquests, which threatened all the distant possessions of the enemy, was arrested by preliminary articles of peace, which were signed and interchanged at Fontainebleau between the Ministers of Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, on the 3rd day of November. On the 10th of February, 1763, a definite treaty was signed at Paris, and soon after ratified."[251]

The joy was general and intense throughout England and North America at such a conclusion of a seven years' open war, preceded by several years of hostile and bloody encroachments on the settlements of the English provinces by the French and Indians. It was a war prompted and commenced by the colonies, and in which their very existence as well as liberties were involved. No one of the American colonies had a deeper, if as deep a stake in the results of this protracted struggle as the province of Massachusetts; no one had more suppliantly and importunately solicited the aid of money and men from England; and no colony had benefitted so largely in its commerce and resources during the successive years of the contest, as Massachusetts. As early as 1755 (the year before war was formally declared between England and France), the Legislature of Massachusetts adopted an address to the King, in which, after referring to their large expenditure in their unsuccessful expedition against Crown Point, they stated their services and prayed to be relieved from the burden incurred by means of them. They pleaded the precedent of the Cape Breton invasion (for expenses incurred in which, in 1745, the British Parliament had granted them compensation), and prayed that his Majesty would give orders for the support of such forts and garrisons as they hoped to establish, and aid them in the further execution of their designs. And in another address, adopted in October of the same year, the Massachusetts Court said that the design of securing his Majesty's territories against the invasions of the French was what his Majesty alone was equal to project and execute, and the nation to support; and that unless they could obtain the relief which they were soliciting from the royal bounty, they should be so far from being able to remove encroachments that they would be unable to defend themselves.[252]

Massachusetts having succeeded, with the other colonies, to "drag," as Mr. Bancroft expresses it, "England into a war with France," was thus importunate in soliciting aid and compensation from England for her self-originated expenses, and was so successful in her applications as to make the war a pecuniary benefit as well as a means of securing and enlarging her boundaries; for, in the words of the historian quoted above, in a previous page, "The generous compensations which had been made every year by Parliament not only alleviated the burden of taxes, which otherwise would have been heavy, but, by the importation of such large sums of specie, increased commerce; and it was the opinion of some that the war added to the wealth of the province, though the compensation did not amount to half the charges of the government."[253]

The monies raised by the colonies were expended in them and upon their own citizens—monies passing from hand to hand, and for provisions provided and works done in the colonies; but the large sums appropriated by Parliament for the war in the colonies was so much money abstracted from England, sent across the Atlantic, and added to the resources and wealth of the colonies.

After the close of the war, in 1763, Massachusetts acknowledged her obligations to England for her protection and safety. In an address of both Houses of her Legislature to the Governor that year, they acknowledge that "the evident design of the French to surround the colonies was the immediate and just cause of the war; that without the protection afforded them during the war, they must have been a prey to the power of France; that without the compensation made them by Parliament, the burden of the expense of the war must have been insupportable." In their address to the King they make the same acknowledgments, and at the conclusion promise to evidence their gratitude by every expression of duty and loyalty in their power.[254]

Mr. Otis, afterwards the most eloquent agitator against England, and advocate of independence, at the first town meeting of Boston after the peace, having been chosen chairman, addressed the inhabitants in the following words, which he caused to be printed in the newspapers:

"We in America have certainly abundant reasons to rejoice. The heathen are not only driven out, but the Canadians, much more formidable enemies, are conquered and become our fellow-subjects. The British dominion and power may be said literally to extend from sea to sea, and from the great river to the ends of the earth. And we may safely conclude, from his Majesty's wise administration hitherto, that liberty and knowledge, civil and religious, will be co-extended, improved, and preserved to the latest posterity. No other constitution of civil government has yet appeared in the world so admirably adapted to these great purposes as that of Great Britain. Every British subject in America is of common right, by Act of Parliament, and by the laws of God and nature, entitled to all the essential privileges of Britons. By particular Charters, there are peculiar privileges granted, as in justice they might and ought, in consideration of the arduous undertaking to begin so glorious an empire as British America is rising to. Those jealousies that some weak and wicked minds have endeavoured to infuse with regard to the colonies, had their birth in the blackness of darkness, and it is a great pity they had not remained there for ever. The true interests of Great Britain and her plantations are mutual; and what God in His providence has united, let no man dare attempt to pull asunder."[255]

Such were the official acknowledgments and professed feelings of Massachusetts herself in regard to the conduct of England towards her at the close of the seven years' war with France, which was ratified by the Peace of Paris, 1763, and which secured the American colonies from the hostilities of the French and their Indian allies for more than a hundred years. The language of Massachusetts was but the language of all the American colonies in regard to Great Britain at this period—the language of gratitude and affection.

Down, therefore, to within thirteen years of the American Declaration of Independence, the conduct of England to her American colonies is acknowledged upon the highest authority to have been just and generous.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 223: "The French, upon recovering Louisburg, had laid the scheme (the particulars of which shall be exhibited in their due place) for engrossing the whole empire of North America, and in a manner for extirpating the English interest there. Notice of this was, soon after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, given to the English Government by their Governors in America, and proper instructions were dispatched to them to resist all encroachments attempted to be made upon the English territories. The Earl of Albemarle (British Ambassador in Paris) had orders from his Court to remonstrate on this occasion; but his remonstrances had so little effect that the French seemed rather encouraged in than deterred from their usurpations. The English Governors in America daily sent over complaints of the French encroachments there, which were too little regarded, in hopes of matters being compromised." (Rapin's History of England, Vol. XXI., p. 418.)]

[Footnote 224: "But their encroachments went further (than Nova Scotia), and this year (1754) they began to make settlements upon the River Ohio, within the limits of the British possessions in the western parts of Virginia. They had likewise committed many hostilities against British subjects in other parts of America."

"All the while the French were multiplying their hostilities and strengthening their usurpations by new recruits of men, money, provisions of all kinds, and ammunition, and some of the best officers in France."

"When the Government of England complained to the French Court of those encroachments, the Ministry gave evasive answers, and promised that everything should be amicably adjusted; but without desisting from their usurpations, which became every day more and more intolerable. The English, perceiving this, sent general orders to all their Governors in America to repel force by force, and to drive them from all the settlements which they had made contrary to the faith of treaties, and especially along the Ohio." (Rapin's History of England, Vol. XXI., pp. 478-491.)]

[Footnote 225: "They had been incessantly making settlements upon the English property since the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, and at last they made a settlement on the western part of Virginia, upon the River Ohio. Mr. Dinwiddie (Governor of Virginia) having intelligence of this, sent an officer, Major Washington, with a letter to the French commandant there, requiring him to desist, and with orders, if possible, to bring the Indians over to the British interest. Washington had but indifferent success with the Indians; and when he arrived with some of the Indians at the French settlements, he found the French by no means inclined to give over their undertaking, and that the Indians, notwithstanding all their fair promises, were much more in their interest than in that of England. Upon further inquiry it was found that the Indians called the Six Nations, who, by the treaty of Utrecht, were acknowledged to be subject to Great Britain, had been entirely debauched by the French, who had likewise found means to bring over to their interest those vast tracts that lie along the great lakes and rivers to the west of the Apalachian (or Allegany) mountains.

"Having thus got the friendship of those Indians, they next contrived how they could cut them off from all communication with the English, and for that purpose they seized the persons and effects of all the English whom they found trading with the Indians; and they erected a chain of forts from Canada to Mississippi, to prevent all future communication between the English and those Indians; at the same time destroying such of the Indians as discovered any affection or regard for the British subjects: so that in a very few years all the eastern as well as the western colonies of Great Britain were in danger of being ruined."—Ib., pp. 290, 291.

"Though the several provinces belonging to Great Britain, in the neighbourhood of the French encroachments, raised both men and money against them, yet the forms of their legal proceedings in their assemblies were so dilatory that the French always had the start of them, and they surprised a place called Log's Town, belonging to the Virginians, on the Ohio. This was a place of great importance, and the French made themselves masters of the block-house and the truck-house, with skins and other commodities to the amount of L20,000, besides cutting off all the English traders in those parts but two, who found means to escape. About the same time, near 1,000 French, under the command of Monsieur de Carstrecoeur, and 18 pieces of cannon, came in 300 canoes from Venango, a fort that they had usurped upon the banks of the Ohio, and surprised an English fort on the forks of the Monongahella. After this, a great many skirmishes happened between the English and the French with various success.

"In the meanwhile, orders came from England to the Governors of the British settlements in America to form a kind of political confederacy, to which every province was to contribute a quota. Though the scheme of political confederacy was the best measure that could be pursued in the situation of the British settlements, yet it had not all the effect that was expected from it." (Rapin's History of England, Vol. XXI., pp. 491, 492.)]

[Footnote 226: Rapin's History of England, Vol. XXI., pp. 520, 521. Rapin adds:—"While all Europe was in suspense about the fate of the English and French squadrons, the preparations for a vigorous sea war were going on in England with unparalleled spirit and success. Notwithstanding, the French Court still flattered itself that Great Britain, out of tenderness to his Majesty's German dominions, would abstain from hostilities. Mirepoix (the French Ambassador at London) continued to have frequent conferences with the British Ministry, who made no secret that their admirals, particularly Boscawen, had orders to attack the French ships wherever they should meet them; on the other hand, Mons. de Mirepoix declared that his master would consider the first gun fired at sea, in a hostile manner, as a declaration of war. This menace, far from intimidating the English, animated them to redouble their preparations for war."—Ib., p. 521.]

[Footnote 227: Rapin, Vol. XXI., p. 521. It was during this interval that the unfortunate expedition, death, and defeat of General Braddock took place, on the banks of the Ohio river, at Fort du Quesne, afterwards called Pittsburg. "The naval expedition, under Admiral Boscawen, was somewhat more fortunate (than that of Braddock), though far from answering the expectations of the public. He made a prosperous voyage till he came to the banks of Newfoundland, where his rendezvous was; and in a few days the French fleet, under De la Mothe, came to the same station. But the thick fogs which prevail on those coasts, especially at that time of the year, kept the two squadrons from seeing one another; and part of the French squadron escaped up the River St. Lawrence, while some of them went round and got into the same river by the Straits of Belleisle, by a way which had never been attempted before by ships of war. While Boscawen's fleet, however, lay before Cape Race, on the banks of Newfoundland, which was thought to be the proper station for intercepting the enemy, two French ships—the Alcide, of 60 guns and 480 men; and the Lys, pierced for 64 guns, but mounting only 22, and having eight companies of land forces on board—fell in with the Dunkirk, Captain Howe, and the Defiance, Captain Andrews, two 60-gun ships of the English squadron, and were, both of them, after a smart engagement, in which Captain (afterwards Lord) Howe behaved with the greatest skill and intrepidity, taken, with about L8,000 on board. Though this action was far from answering the grand destination of the fleet, yet when the news reached England it was of infinite service to the public credit of every kind; as the manner in which it was conducted was a plain proof that the English Government was resolved to observe no further measures with the French, but to take or destroy their ships wherever they could be met with."—Ib., pp. 525, 526.

Yet, in the face of these facts, that the French Government had been encroaching upon the colonies for six years—ever since the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; had been transporting soldiers and all the munitions of war to America to exterminate the English colonies; had put to death British subjects; and that complaints of these outrages had been made to England year after year by the Governors and representatives of the Colonies, and that the French Government had at this time, by fair words and false pretences, deceived the Government of England, which had warned the French Government that the English admirals had orders to attack and take all the French ships, public and private, that should be met with at sea; yet, in the face of such facts, Mr. Bancroft, with his habitual hostility to England and endless perversions of historical facts, says in 1755: "France and England were still at peace, and their commerce was mutually protected by the sanctity of treaties. Of a sudden, hostile orders were issued to all British vessels of war to take all French vessels, private as well as public," and "eight thousand French seamen were held in captivity. All France resented the perfidy. 'Never,' said Louis the Fifteenth, 'will I forgive the piracies of this insolent nation.' And in a letter to George the Second he demanded ample reparation for the insult to the flag of France by Boscawen, and for the piracies of the English men-of-war, committed in defiance of international law, the faith of treaties, the usages of civilized nations, and the reciprocal duties of kings." (History of the United States, Vol. IV., pp. 217, 218.)

Among the eight thousand French seamen held in captivity were the soldiers destined for America, to invade the British colonies in time of protracted peace and against "the faith of treaties." Mr. Bancroft also ignores the fact that a year before this the Commissioners from the Legislative Assemblies of the several colonies, assembled at Albany, had represented to the British Government the alarming encroachments of the French, and imploring aid, and that the French authorities in America had offered the Indians bounties on English scalps.]

[Footnote 228: Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III., pp. 21-23.

"While the Convention was sitting, and attending principally to the frontiers of the colonies, in the western parts, Mr. Shirly (Governor of Massachusetts) was diligently employed in the east, prosecuting a plan for securing the frontiers of Massachusetts Bay."—Ib., p. 25.

"In the beginning of this year (1755) the Assembly of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, passed an Act prohibiting all correspondence with the French at Louisburg; and early in the spring they raised a body of troops, which was transported to Nova Scotia, to assist Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence in driving the French from the encroachments they had made upon that province." (Hume and Smollett's History of England, Vol. VII., p. 7.)]

[Footnote 229: History of the United States, Vol. IV., pp. 276, 277.]

[Footnote 230: Minot's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. I., p. 228. Dr. Minot adds: "The whole number assigned for this expedition against Crown Point was 3,700, of which Massachusetts voted to raise 1,560, besides 500 by way of reinforcement, if judged necessary by the Commander-in-Chief, with the advice of the Council; and to these 300 more were added after the defeat of General Braddock. The General Court also voted L600 to be applied towards engaging the Indians of the Six Nations in the enterprise, and supporting their families. In short, this became a favourite enterprise both with the General Court and the people of Massachusetts Bay, not only because it originated with them, but because it was directed against a quarter (considering the French in Nova Scotia were subdued and dispersed) whence they had the most to fear."—Ib., pp. 229, 230.]

[Footnote 231: Before Johnson could attack Crown Point, he was himself attacked in his own quarters, at what was called Carrying Place, near Lake George, by Dieskau, at the head of 200 regular troops, 600 Canadians, and 600 savages. Johnson's force consisted of 3,400 provincial soldiers and 300 Indians, "regularly enlisted under the English flag and paid from the English treasury." Among the New England men was Israel Putman, of Connecticut, then a private soldier, afterwards famous. Mr. Bancroft, as might be expected, depreciates the services of Sir William Johnson in this important and successful battle. But he cannot deny that Johnson selected the most advantageous position for his camp; sent out scouts on all sides, and obtained timely information of the approach of the enemy, and was fully prepared for it; directed the order of battle, in the early part of which he was wounded, causing his removal from the field, when for five hours the provincial soldiers, good marksmen, under their own officers, "kept up the most violent fire that had yet been known in America." The House of Lords, in an address to the King, praised the colonists as "brave and faithful," and Johnson was honoured with a title and money. "But," says Mr. Bancroft, "he did little to gain the victory, which was due to the enthusiasm of the New England men. 'Our all,' they cried, 'depends on the success of this expedition.' 'Come,' said Pomeroy, of Massachusetts, to his friends at home, 'Come to the help of the Lord against the mighty; you that value our holy religion and our liberties will spare nothing, even to the one-half of your estate.' And in all the villages 'the prayers of God's people' went up that 'they might be crowned with victory, to the glory of God;' for the war with France seemed a war for Protestantism and freedom." (History of the United States, Vol. IV., p. 212.) Dr. Minot justly observes: "Such a successful defence made by the forces of the British colonists against a respectable army, with which the regular troops of France were incorporated, was an honourable instance of firmness, deliberation, and spirit." (History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. I., p. 254.)]

[Footnote 232: Hume and Smollett's History of England, Vol. XII., p. 25.

"Thus," says Minot, "ended the transactions of the year 1755—'a year,' says a well-informed writer of that time, 'never to be forgotten in America.' It opened with the fairest prospects to these distant possessions of the British empire. Four armies were on foot to remove the encroachments of a perfidious neighbour, and our coasts honoured with a fleet for their security, under the command of the brave and vigilant Boscawen. We had everything to hope—nothing to fear. The enemy was dispersed; and we only desired a proclamation of war for the final destruction of the whole country of New France. But how unlooked-for was the event! General Winslow (great-grandson of Edward Winslow, one of the patriarchs of the Plymouth Colony), indeed succeeded in Nova Scotia; but Braddock was defeated; Niagara and Crown Point remained unreduced; the savages were let loose from the wilderness; many thousand farms were abandoned; the King's subjects inhumanly butchered or reduced to beggary. To all which might be added an impoverishment of finances to a desperate state, the Crown Point expedition having cost, on the part of Massachusetts Bay alone, L76,618 8s. 9-1/2d., besides unliquidated accounts to a large amount for the charge of the sick and wounded, the garrisons at the two forts of William Henry and Edward, and the great stock of provisions laid in for their support." (History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. I., pp. 259-261.)]

[Footnote 233: "Mr. Fox, on the 28th of January, presented to the House of Commons a message from the King, desiring them to take into consideration the faithful services of the people of New England and some other parts of North America; upon which L115,000 were voted, and L5,000 as a reward to Sir William Johnson in particular." (Hume and Smollett's History of England, Vol. XII., p. 42.)

"The sum granted by Parliament was L115,000 sterling, which was apportioned in the following manner: Massachusetts Bay,L54,000; Connecticut, L26,000; New York, L15,000; New Hampshire, L8,000; Rhode Island, L7,000; New Jersey, L5,000. This money arriving in New York with the troops from England, enabled the Government (of Massachusetts) to pay off by anticipation the sums borrowed of the Commander-in-Chief, and to replenish the public treasury. They had also the satisfaction to find that the Province had not only anticipated the King's expectations in raising men, but had furnished them with provisions, which he had ordered to be found at the national expense." (Minot's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. I., p. 288.)]

[Footnote 234: "The loss of the two small forts, called Ontario and Oswego, was a considerable national misfortune. They were erected on the south side of the great Lake Ontario, standing on the opposite sides, at the mouth of Onondaga river, that discharges itself into the lake, and constituted a port of great importance, where vessels had been built to cruise upon the lake, which is a kind of inland sea, and interrupt the commerce as well as the motions and designs of the enemy. The garrison consisted of 1,400 men, chiefly militia and new-raised recruits, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Mercer, an officer of courage and experience; but the situation of the forts was very ill-chosen; the materials mostly timber or logs of wood; the defences wretchedly contrived and unfurnished; and, in a word, the place altogether untenable against any regular approach. Such were the forts which the enemy wisely resolved to reduce. They assembled a body of troops, consisting of 1,300 regulars, 1,700 Canadians, and a considerable number of Indian auxiliaries, under the command of the Marquis de Montcalm, a vigilant and enterprising officer, to whom the conduct of the siege had been entrusted by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor and Lieutenant-General of New France. The garrison having fired away all their shells and ammunition from Fort Ontario, spiked up the cannon, and, deserting the fort, retired next day across the river into Fort Oswego, which was even more exposed than the other, especially when the enemy had taken possession of Fort Ontario, from whence they immediately began to fire without intermission. Colonel Mercer being on the 13th killed by a cannon ball, the fort destitute of all cover, the officers divided in opinion and the garrison in confusion, they next day demanded capitulation, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war, on condition that they should be exempted from plunder, conducted to Montreal, and treated with humanity. These conditions, however, the Marquis did not punctually observe. The British officers were insulted by the savage Indians, who robbed them of their clothes and baggage, massacred several of them as they stood defenceless on parade, and barbarously scalped all the sick people in the hospital. Finally, 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; and in all probability these miserable captives were put to death by those barbarians, with the most excruciating tortures, according to the execrable custom of the country.

"The prisoners taken at Oswego, after having been thus barbarously treated, were conveyed in batteaux to Montreal, where they had no reason to complain of their reception; and before the end of the year they were exchanged. The victors immediately demolished the two forts (if they deserved that denomination), in which they found one hundred and twenty-one pieces of artillery, fourteen mortars, with a great quantity of ammunition, warlike stores and provisions, besides two ships and two hundred batteaux, which likewise fell into their hands." (Hume and Smollett's History of England, Vol. XII., pp. 92-94.)

"The policy of the French was no less conspicuous than the superiority of their arms. Instead of continuing the fort at Oswego, they demolished it in presence of the Indians of the Five Nations, to whom they represented that the French aimed only at enabling them to preserve their neutrality, and therefore destroyed the fortress which the English had erected in their country to overawe them, disdaining themselves to take the same advantage, although put in their hands by the right of conquest." (Minot's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. I., pp. 285, 286.)]

[Footnote 235: Fort William Henry was situated on the southern coast of Lake George, and was built with a view to protect the frontiers of the English colonies—especially New York and Massachusetts. The fortifications were good, defended by a garrison of three thousand men, and covered by an army of four thousand, under the command of General Webb, posted at no great distance at Fort Edward. The Marquis de Montcalm had, early in the season, made three different attacks upon Fort William Henry, in each of which he was repulsed by the resolute and courageous garrison. But Montcalm at length assembled all his forces from Crown Point, Ticonderaga, and other parts, amounting to nearly 10,000, including a considerable body of Canadians and Indians; attacked and invested the fort, which sustained the siege from the 3rd to the 9th of August, when, having burst most of their cannon, and expended their own ammunition, and receiving no relief or assistance from General Webb, at Fort Edward, fourteen miles distant, with 4,000 men, Col. Monro surrendered upon the conditions that the garrison should march out with arms, the baggage of the officers and men, and all the usual necessaries of war, escorted by a detachment of French troops to Fort Edward, and interpreters attached to the savages. But, as in the case of the surrender of Oswego, the articles of capitulation were not observed, but were perfidiously broken; the savages fell upon the British troops as they were marched out, despoiled them of their few remaining effects, dragged the Indians in the English service out of their ranks, and assassinated them under circumstances of unheard-of barbarity. Some soldiers with their wives and children are said to have been savagely murdered by these brutal Indians. The greater part of the garrison, however, arrived at Fort Edward under the protection of the French escort. The enemy demolished the fort, carried off the effects, provisions, and everything else left by the garrison, together with the vessels preserved in the lake, and departed without pursuing their success by any other attempt. "Thus ended," continues the historian, "the third campaign in America (1757), where, with an evident superiority over the enemy, an army of 20,000 regular troops, a great number of provincial forces, and a prodigious naval power—not less than twenty ships of the line—we abandoned our allies, exposed our people, suffered them to be cruelly massacred in sight of our troops, and relinquished a large and valuable tract of country, to the eternal reproach and disgrace of the British name." (Hume and Smollett's History of England, Vol. XII., pp. 207-211.)

Mr. Hildreth remarks: "In America, after three campaigns, and extraordinary efforts on the part of the English, the French still held possession of almost all the territory in dispute. They had been expelled indeed from the Bay of Fundy, but they held Louisburg, commanding the entrance to the St. Lawrence, Crown Point, and Ticonderaga, on Lake Champlain; Frontenac and Niagara, on Lake Ontario; Presque Isle, on Lake Erie; and the chains of forts thence to the head of the Ohio were still in their hands. They had expelled the English from their ancient fort at Oswego, had driven them from Lake George, and compelled the Six Nations to a treaty of neutrality. A devastating Indian war was raging along the whole north-western frontier of the British colonies, and Indian scalping parties penetrated into the very centre of Massachusetts, approached within a short distance of Philadelphia, and kept Maryland and Virginia in constant alarm." (History of the United States, Vol. II., p. 479.)]

[Footnote 236: "The Massachusetts General Court had provided barracks at the castle for such British troops as might be sent to the province. But some officers (from Nova Scotia) on a recruiting service, finding the distance (three miles) inconvenient, demanded to be quartered in the town. They insisted on the provisions of the Mutiny Act; but the magistrates to whom they applied denied that Act to be in force in the colonies. Loudoun warmly espoused the cause of his officers; he declared 'that in time of war the rules and customs must go, and threatened to send troops to Boston to enforce the demand if not granted within 48 hours. To avoid this extremity, the General Court passed a law of their own, enacting some of the principal provisions of the Mutiny Act; and Loudoun, through Governor Pownall's persuasions, consented to accept this partial concession. The General Court did not deny the power of Parliament to quarter troops in America. Their ground was, that the Act, in its terms, did not extend to the colonies. A similar dispute occurred in South Carolina, where great difficulty was encountered in finding winter quarters for the Royal Americans." (Hildreth's History of the United States, Vol. II., pp. 476, 477.)]

[Footnote 237: Bancroft's History, Vol. IV., p. 267.]

[Footnote 238: "As the General Court of Massachusetts Bay had been foremost in promoting the Crown Point expedition, and become proportionally exhausted of money, so they lost no time in making such use of the success of the troops in beating off the French as their necessities dictated. They drew up an address to his Majesty, in which they stated their services, and prayed to be relieved from the burden incurred by means of them. They pleaded the precedent of the Cape Breton expedition (for the expenses of which Parliament had compensated them), and prayed that his Majesty would give orders for the support of such forts and garrisons as they hoped to establish, and aid them in the further execution of their designs.

"When the Commander-in-Chief urged upon them to join in the plan of the Assembly of New Jersey, who proposed a meeting of Commissioners from all his Majesty's colonies at New York, to consult what might further be done for the security of his Majesty's territories against the invasion of the French, the same impoverishment constrained the General Court to reply, that the design of securing those territories was what his Majesty alone was equal to project and execute and the nation to support, and that unless they could obtain the relief which they were soliciting of the royal bounty, they should be as far from being able to remove encroachments as to be unable to defend themselves." (Minot's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. I., pp. 256, 257.)]

[Footnote 239: A thousand of the regulars were sent to New York, where free quarters for the officers were demanded of the city. Upon its being objected to by the authorities of the city, as contrary to the laws of England and the liberties of America, the Viceroy, Loudoun, replied to the Mayor with an oath, "If you do not billet my officers upon free quarters this day, I'll order here all the troops in North America under my command, and billet them myself upon the city." "So," says Bancroft, "the magistrates got up a subscription, and the officers, who had done nothing for the country but waste its resources, were supported at free quarters during the winter."

The same threats were used, with the same results, to the magistrates of Boston and Philadelphia, to obtain free quarters for the officers.

Bancroft remarks somewhat bitterly: "The arbitrary invasion of private rights and the sanctity of domestic life by the illegal and usurped authority of a military chief, was the great result of the campaign. The frontiers had been left open to the French; but the tempting example had been given, so dangerous in times of peace, of quartering troops in the principal towns, at the expense of the inhabitants," (History of United States, Vol. IV., pp. 240, 241.)]

[Footnote 240: The army consisted of between nine and ten thousand provincials—seven thousand raised by Massachusetts—and between six and seven thousand regulars and rangers in the King's pay, where Abercrombie in person was in command. Lord Howe arrived in Boston from England after the forces had left the Province, and immediately upon his landing began his journey, and joined the army before any action took place.

"This body, the greatest which had ever assembled in arms in America since it was settled by the English, embarked on Lake George the 5th of July, for the French fortress at Ticonderaga (called Carillon by the French), and arrived next day at a cove and landing-place, from whence a way led to the advance guard of the enemy. Seven thousand men, in four columns, then began a march through a thick wood. The columns were necessarily broken; their guides were unskilful; the men were bewildered and lost; and parties fell in one upon another. Lord Howe, the life of the army, at the head of a column, which was supported by light infantry, being advanced, fell in with a party of the enemy, consisting of about four hundred regulars and some Indians. Many of them were killed, and one hundred and forty-eight taken prisoners. This, however, was a dearly purchased victory, for Lord Howe was the first who fell on the English side. The report of his death caused consternation as well as grief through the army, which had placed much confidence in him.

"About five hundred regulars were killed upon the spot, and about one thousand two hundred wounded. Of the provincials, one hundred were killed, and two hundred and fifty wounded.

"The army still consisted of thirteen or fourteen thousand. The enemy was much inferior in number. The retreat, nevertheless, was precipitate. Early in the morning of the 9th the whole army embarked in their boats, and arrived at the other end of the lake in the evening (no enemy pursuing). Provisions, entrenching tools, and many stores of various kinds, fell into the hands of the enemy. The English arms have rarely suffered greater disgrace.

"The ill success of General Abercrombie at Ticonderaga caused his recall. He seemed to expect and desire it. He was succeeded by General Amherst." (Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III., pp. 70-75.)]

[Footnote 241: "The successes of the French the last year (1757) left the colonies in a gloomy state. By the acquisition of Fort William Henry, they obtained full possession of the Lakes Champlain and George; and by the destruction of Oswego, they had acquired the dominion of those other lakes which connect the St. Lawrence with the Mississippi. The first afforded the easiest admission from the northern colonies into Canada, or from Canada into those colonies; the last united Canada to Louisiana. By the continual possession of Fort du Quesne, they preserved their ascendency over the Indians, and held undisturbed possession of all the country west of the Allegany mountains.

"In this adverse state of things, the spirit of Britain rose in full proportion to the occasion; and her colonies, instead of yielding to despondency, resumed fresh courage, and cheerfully made the preparations for the coming campaign. Mr. Pitt had, the last autumn, been placed at the head of a new Administration, which conciliated the contending interests in Parliament; and while the wisdom of that extraordinary statesman devised great and judicious plans, his active spirit infused new life into all, whether at home or abroad, whose province it was to execute them. In a circular to the Colonial Governors, he assured them of the determination to send a large force to America, to operate by sea and land against the French; and called upon them to raise as large bodies of men as the number of the inhabitants would allow. The northern colonies were prompt and liberal in furnishing requisite supplies. The Legislature of Massachusetts voted to furnish 7,000 men; Connecticut, 5,000; New Hampshire, 3,000. These troops were ready to take the field very early in May, previous to which time Admiral Boscawen had arrived in Halifax with a formidable fleet, and about 12,000 British troops under the command of General Amherst. The Earl of Loudoun had returned to England, and General Abercrombie, on whom the chief command of the entire forces of the American war had devolved (until the arrival of Lord Amherst), was now at the head of 50,000 men, the most powerful army ever seen in America." (Holmes' Annals of America, Vol. II., pp. 79, 80.)]

[Footnote 242: History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. II., p. 74. Holmes gives the following account of this brilliant achievement: "On the proposition of Col. Bradstreet, for an expedition against Fort Frontenac, relinquishing for the present his designs against Ticonderaga and Crown Point, Abercrombie sent that able and gallant officer on this service, with a detachment of 3,000 men, chiefly provincials, and two mortars. Bradstreet having marched to Oswego, embarked on Lake Ontario, and on the evening of the 25th of August landed within a mile of the fort. Within two days his batteries were opened within so short a distance that almost every shell took effect; and the French commandant, finding the place untenable, surrendered at discretion. The Indians having previously deserted, the prisoners were but 110. The captors found in the fort 60 pieces of cannon, 16 small mortars, a large number of small arms, a vast quantity of provisions, military stores and merchandise; and nine armed vessels fell into their hands. Col. Bradstreet having destroyed the fort and vessels, and such stores as could not be brought off, returned to the main army." (Annals, Vol. II., p. 83.)]

[Footnote 243: "The extraordinary rejoicings in England at this victory seemed to revive the honour of the northern British colonies as the former conquerors of Cape Breton. The trophies taken were brought in procession from Kensington to St. Paul's, and a form of thanksgiving was ordered to be used in all the churches." (Minot's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. II., p. 38.)]

[Footnote 244: History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III., p. 75.]

[Footnote 245: Holmes' Annals, Vol. II., p. 84.]

[Footnote 246: "The distant and important operations in Canada almost wholly relieved the suffering inhabitants of the frontiers of the Province; and, indeed, by a train of successes, gave a pledge of the future ease and security which was about to spread over all the British colonies. The fall of Crown Point, Ticonderaga, Niagara, and, above all, the capture of Quebec, closed the year with universal rejoicing and well-founded hope that the toils of war would shortly cease throughout the land." (Minot's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. II., p. 55.)]

[Footnote 247: "The main body of the French army, which, after the battle of the Plains of Abraham, retired to Montreal, and which still consisted of ten battalions of regulars, had been reinforced by 6,000 Canadian militia and a body of Indians. Here the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor-General of Canada, had fixed his head-quarters and determined to make his last stand. For this purpose (after the unsuccessful attempt of M. de Levi to retake Quebec) he called in all his detachments, and collected around him the whole force of the colony." (Holmes' Annals, Vol. II., pp. 98, 99.)]

[Footnote 248: "In the month of April, when the Upper St. Lawrence was so open as to admit of transportation by water, his artillery, military stores and heavy baggage were embarked at Montreal and fell down the river, under convoy of six frigates; and M. de Levi, after a march of ten days, arrived with his army at Point aux Tremble, within a few miles of Quebec. General Murray, to whom the care of maintaining the English conquest had been entrusted, had taken every precaution to preserve it, but his soldiers had suffered so by the extreme cold of winter, and by the want of vegetables and fresh provisions, that instead of 5,000, the original number of the garrison, there were not at this time above 3,000 men fit for service. With this small but valiant body he resolved to meet him in the field; and on the 28th of April marched out to the Heights of Abraham, where, near Sillery, he attacked the French under M. de Levi with great impetuosity. He was received with firmness; and after a fierce encounter, finding himself outflanked and in danger of being surrounded by superior numbers, he called off his troops and retired into the city. In this action the loss of the English was near 1,000 men, and that of the French still greater. The French general lost no time in improving his victory. On the very evening of the battle he opened trenches before the town; but it was the 11th of May before he could mount his batteries and bring his guns to bear upon the fortifications. By that time General Murray, who had been indefatigable, had completed some outworks, and planted so immense an artillery on its ramparts, that the fire was very superior to that of the besiegers, and in a manner silenced their batteries. A British fleet most opportunely arriving a few days after, M. de Levi immediately raised the siege and precipitately retired to Montreal." (Holmes' Annals, Vol. II., pp. 98, 99.)]

[Footnote 249: "General Amherst made application to Massachusetts for the same number of men for the service of the next year as they had raised the last (1759). The reduction of Canada was still the object. This alone was found to be a sufficient stimulus to the Assembly, and they needed no other arguments from the Governor. The generous compensations which had been every year made by Parliament not only alleviated the burden of taxes, which otherwise would have been heavy, but by the importation of such large sums of specie increased commerce, and it was the opinion of some that the war added to the wealth of the province, though the compensation did not amount to one-half the charges of government.

"The Assembly, at the session in January, 1760, first granted a large bounty to the men in garrison at Louisburg and Nova Scotia, to encourage them to continue in the service. A vote was then passed for raising 5,000 men more, upon the same encouragement as those of the last year had received. Soon after the Governor received letters from Mr. Pitt making the like requests as had been made by him the last year, and giving the same assurance of compensation. At the beginning of the year the English interest in Canada was in a precarious state. Quebec had been besieged in the spring, after a battle in which General Murray had lost a considerable part of his garrison. Fortunately, Lord Colville (with the English fleet) arrived at a critical time and caused the siege to be raised.

"The danger being over, and there being no probability of any French force from Europe, it seemed agreed that all Canada must fall in the course of the summer. The Massachusetts enlistments went on but slowly. Only 3,300 of the proposed 5,000 men enlisted, and 700 only remained in garrison at Louisburg and Nova Scotia." (Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III., pp. 79, 80.)]

[Footnote 250: Holmes' Annals, Vol. II., pp. 99, 100. Russell's Europe, Vol. V., Letter 34.

General Amherst, in his orders to the army, dated "Camp before Montreal, 8th September, 1760," announces this great event in the following words:

"The general sees with infinite pleasure the successes which have crowned the indefatigable efforts of his Majesty's troops and faithful subjects in North America. The Marquis Vandreuil has capitulated the troops of France in Canada; they have laid down their arms, and are to serve no more during the war. The whole country submits to the dominion of Great Britain. The three armies are entitled to the general's thanks on this occasion, and he assures them that he will take the first opportunity of acquainting his Majesty with the zeal and bravery which have always been exerted by the officers and soldiers of the regular and provincial troops, and also by his faithful Indian allies. The general is confident that when the troops are informed that the country is the King's, they will not disgrace themselves by the least appearance of inhumanity or unsoldierlike behaviour by taking any plunder; but that the Canadians, now become British subjects, may feel the good effects of his Majesty's protection."]

[Footnote 251: Holmes' Annals, Vol. II., p. 113.

There were still troubles on the borders of some of the provinces with tribes of Indians, but none to excite serious alarm, and hostile Indians were soon brought to submission. The majority of the high-spirited and powerful Cherokee nation spurned every offer of peace; but Lieutenant-Colonel James Grant, in command of the Highlanders and a provincial regiment raised in South Carolina, to act in conjunction with the regular forces, with the addition of some Indian allies—in all about 2,600 men—defeated them, destroyed their towns, magazines and cornfields, and drove them for shelter and subsistence to the mountains, when their chieftains solicited peace.

"This reduction of the Cherokees was among the last humbling strokes given to the power of France in North America." (Heevatt, II., 244-254; quoted in Holmes' Annals, Vol. II., p. 108).]

[Footnote 252: Minot's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. I., pp. 256, 257.]

[Footnote 253: Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III., p. 79.]

[Footnote 254: Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III., p. 101.]

[Footnote 255: Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III., pp. 101, 102.]



CHAPTER IX.

RELATIONS OF ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

I. The position of England in respect to the other European Powers after the Peace of Paris, 1763.

Mr. Bancroft remarks: "At the peace of 1763, the fame of England was exalted throughout Europe above that of all other nations. She had triumphed over those whom she called her hereditary enemies, and retained half a continent as the monument of her victories. Her American dominions stretched without dispute from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson's Bay; and in her older possessions that dominion was rooted firmly in the affections of the colonists as in their institutions and laws."[256]

The envy and fears of Europe were excited at this vast extension of British territory and power, which they regarded as the foundation of her still more formidable future greatness. "Her navy, her commerce, and her manufactures had greatly increased when she held but a part of the continent, and when she was bounded by the formidable powers of France and Spain. Her probable future greatness, when without a rival, with a growing vent for her manufactures and increasing employment for her marine, threatened to destroy that balance of power which European sovereigns have for a long time endeavoured to preserve. Kings are republicans with respect to each other, and behold with democratic jealousy any one of their order towering above the rest. The aggrandizement of one tends to excite a combination, or at least the wishes of many, to reduce him to the common level. From motives of this kind, the naval superiority of Great Britain was received with jealousy by her neighbours. They were in general disposed to favour any convulsion which promised a diminution of her overgrown power."[257]

This great increase of the naval and territorial power of Great Britain excited apprehension at home as well as jealousies abroad. Some of her own statesmen and philanthropists entertained doubts as to whether the extent and diversity of her vast territorial acquisitions would add to the strength or happiness of the mother country; and the policy of centralization and uniformity decided upon, created the discord and hastened the disintegration which reflective minds had apprehended.

II. The position of the American Colonies in regard to England and other nations clearly signalized a system of government which the English statesmen of the times failed to appreciate. The maxim of the King was not merely to reign, but to rule; and the policy of his Ministers, of successive Administrations, was to enfeeble what was colonial and to strengthen what was imperial; whereas the extension of colonial territory had brought a large accession of colonial experience and intelligence, which required to be entwined around the throne by the silken cords of kindness and interest, instead of being bandaged to England by 29 Acts of Parliament, every one of which indicated the loss of some sacred birthright or privilege of Englishmen and their posterity as soon as they emigrated from the eastern to the western shores of the Atlantic. Those who emigrated to or were born in America were no less Englishmen than those who remained or were born in England, and were entitled to all the rights and privileges of Englishmen; among which is the election of representatives who make laws and provide means for their government. The original design of colonization by the British Government was doubtless the extension of its power; the design of English merchants and manufacturers in promoting colonization was obviously the extension of their trade, and therefore their own enrichment; while the design of the colonists themselves, in leaving their native land and becoming adventurers and settlers in new countries, was as manifestly the improvement of their own condition and that of their posterity. As long as the threefold design of these three parties to colonization harmonized, there could be no cause or occasion of collision between them, and they would cordially co-operate in advancing the one great object of growing national greatness by enlarging the commerce and dominions of Great Britain. This was the case in the earlier stages of American colonization. The colonists needed the naval and diplomatic protection of England against foreign invasion, and the manufactures of England for their own wants and conveniences, while England needed the productions of the colonial forests and waters. The colonial trade became a monopoly of England, and its transportation to and from the colonies was confined to English ships and sailors. Even manufactures in the colonies were forbidden, or restricted, as well as their trade with foreign countries, except by way of England; so that the colonies became so many trading ports for English merchandise, and the American traders were little other than factors of English merchants.

However this system of monopoly and restriction might answer the purposes of English merchants and manufacturers, might contribute to build up the mercantile navy of England, and even be politic on the part of Government in colonial infancy, it could not fail ere long to cause friction with the colonies, and was utterly unsuitable to their circumstances as they advanced to manhood.[258] As the colonies increased in wealth and population, their commerce increased with each other and with the mother country, and overflowed to the French and Spanish colonies in the West Indies. Even before the termination of the war of 1755, a considerable commerce had been carried on between the British and Spanish colonies; the latter needed many of the productions and importations of the former, and the former needed the gold and silver, molasses and sugar, of the latter. The British colonies sent lumber, fish, and large quantities of goods imported from England, to the Spanish colonies, and received chiefly in payment gold and silver, with which they made remittances to England for the goods purchased there.[259] Such was the position of the colonies in respect to Great Britain and other European Powers at the peace of Paris in 1763; and such the friendly and affectionate feelings of the colonies towards the mother country down to that period.

III. The treaty of Paris was ratified in February, 1763; and on the 17th of March following, the Chancellor of the Exchequer submitted among the estimates the following item, which was adopted by the Commons:

"Upon account, to enable his Majesty to give a proper compensation to the respective provinces in North America, for the expenses incurred by them in the levying, clothing, and paying of the troops raised by the same, according to the active vigour and strenuous efforts of the respective provinces shall be thought by his Majesty to merit, L133,333 6s. 8d."

The several provinces gratefully acknowledged the compensation granted them; of which Massachusetts received the largest share.

This was the last practical recognition on the part of the British Government of the loyal co-operation of the colonies in the war which established the supremacy of Great Britain in North America. From that time forward the instructions, regulations, and measures of the British Government seem to have been dictated by a jealousy of the growing wealth and power of the colonies, and to have been designed to weaken the colonies in order to strengthen the parent state. The policy of the British Administration was undoubtedly to extinguish all military spirit in the colonies, by creating a standing army which the colonies were to support, but wholly independent of them; to discountenance and forbid colonial manufactures, so as to render the colonies entirely dependent upon Great Britain for manufactured goods, hardware, and tools of every description; to destroy their trade with foreign countries by virtually prohibitory duties, so as to compel the colonies to go to the English market for every article of grocery or luxury, in whatever climate or country produced; to restrict the colonial shipping, as well as productions, to British ports alone, and even to tax the trade of the colonies with each other. All the monies arising from the various duties thus imposed were to be paid, not into the provincial treasuries, as heretofore, but into the English exchequer, and to be at the disposal of the British Parliament.

Had the British Government regarded the colonists as Englishmen in their rights and privileges as well as in their duties and obligations; had the British policy been to develop the manufactures and resources of the American colonies equally with those of England, and to leave to their local Legislatures (the only Parliaments in which the colonists had representation by their own election) to legislate on all purely domestic matters, to dispose of all colonial revenues, and to provide for their own protection, as before the war with France, and as is done in the provinces and Dominion of Canada, I doubt not but the American colonies would have remained in heart and policy an integral portion of the British empire, and become the strong right arm of Great Britain in regard to both national resources and national strength. I cannot, therefore, but regard the mistaken policy of the King and his Ministers as the primary cause of the alienation and severance of the American colonies from the mother country.

IV. The proceedings after the peace of Paris, 1763, which caused the alienation of the colonies from Great Britain, commenced on the part of the mother country, towards which, at that time, the language of the colonies was most affectionate and grateful. The first act of the British Government which caused disquiet in the colonies was the rigorous enforcement of the Navigation Act—an Act first passed by the Commonwealth Parliament more than a century before, which had been amended and extended by successive Acts under Charles the Second, which had been beneficial both to the mother country and the colonies, which had given to the naval and mercantile marine of Great Britain their superiority, but which had, in the application of its provisions to the trade between the English, Spanish, and French colonies of America, become almost obsolete by the common consent and practice of colonial governors, custom-house officers, and merchants. But shortly after the treaty of Paris instructions were sent to the colonies, directing the strict enforcement of the Navigation Act. "On the 10th of March, 1764, the House of Commons agreed to a number of resolutions respecting the American trade; upon which a Bill was brought in, and passed into a law, laying heavy duties on the articles imported into the colonies from the French and other islands of the West Indies, and ordered these duties to be paid in specie into the exchequer of Great Britain. The Americans complained much of this new law, and of the unexampled hardship of being first deprived of obtaining specie, and next being ordered to pay the new duties in specie into the treasury at London, which they said must speedily drain them of all the specie they had. But what seemed particularly hard upon them was a Bill brought in the same session, and passed into a law, 'to restrain the currency of paper money in the colonies.'

"At the end of the session the King thanked the House of Commons for the 'wise regulations which had been established to augment the public revenues, to unite the interests of the most distant possessions of his Crown, and to encourage and secure their commerce with Great Britain.'"[262]

Though the Bill and regulations referred to legalized in a manner the heretofore illicit trade between the colonies and the French and Spanish West India islands, they practically ruined the trade by the burden of duties imposed, and thus distressed and ruined many who were engaged in it.[263] It is not surprising that such a policy of restricting both the import and export trade of the colonies to England, apart from the methods of enforcing it, should produce general dissatisfaction in the colonies, and prompt to combinations against such extortion, and for the supply of their own wants, as far as possible independent of English manufactures. Popular meetings were held, and associations were formed in several provinces, pledging their members against purchasing or wearing clothing of English manufacture, and to set about manufacturing woollens, cottons, etc., for themselves, the materials for which they had in great abundance of their own production. Ladies and gentlemen of the wealthiest and most fashionable classes of society appeared in homespun; and merchants pledged themselves to order no more goods from England, and to countermand the orders they had previously given.[264]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 256: History of the United States, Vol. V., Chap. v., p. 78.

"The Spaniards having taken part in the war, were, at the termination of it, induced to relinquish to the same Power both East and West Florida (in exchange for Cuba). This peace gave Great Britain possession of an extent of country equal in dimensions to several of the kingdoms of Europe." (Ramsay's Colonial History, Vol. I., Chap. iii., p. 391.)]

[Footnote 257: Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. V., Chap. v., pp. 321, 322.]

[Footnote 258: "From the first settlement of English America till the close of the war of 1755, the general conduct of Great Britain towards her colonies affords a useful lesson to those who are disposed to colonization. From that era, it is equally worthy of the attention of those who wish for the reduction of great empires to small ones. In the first period, Great Britain regarded the provinces as instruments of commerce. Without the care of their internal police, or seeking a revenue from them, she contented herself with the monopoly of their trade. She treated them as a judicious mother does her dutiful children. They shared in every privilege belonging to her native sons, and but slightly felt the inconveniences of subordination. Small was the catalogue of grievances with which even democratic jealousy charged the parent state, antecedent to the period before mentioned. Till the year 1764, the colonial regulations seemed to have no other object but the common good of the whole empire. Exceptions to the contrary were few, and had no appearance of system. When the approach of the colonies to manhood made them more capable of resisting impositions, Great Britain changed her ancient system, under which her colonies had long flourished. When policy would rather have dictated a relaxation of authority, she rose in her demands and multiplied her restraints." (Ramsay's Colonial History, Vol. I., Chap. iii., page 323).]

[Footnote 259: "This trade, though it did not clash with the spirit of the British navigation laws, was forbidden by their letter. On account of the advantages which all parties, and particularly Great Britain, reaped from this intercourse, it had long been winked at by persons in power[260]; but at the period before mentioned (1764), some new regulations were adopted by which it was almost destroyed.[261] This was effected by cutters whose commanders were enjoined to take the usual custom-house oaths, and to act in the capacity of revenue officers. So sudden a stoppage of an accustomed and beneficial commerce, by an unusually rigid execution of old laws, was a serious blow to the northern colonies. It was their misfortune that, though they stood in need of vast quantities of British manufactures, their country produced very little that afforded a direct remittance to pay for them. They were therefore under the necessity of seeking elsewhere a market for their produce, and, by a circuitous route, acquiring the means of supporting their credit with the mother country. This they had found by trading with the Spanish and French colonies in their neighbourhood. From them they acquired gold, silver, and valuable commodities, the ultimate profits of which centred in Great Britain. This intercourse gave life to business of every denomination, and established a reciprocal circulation of money and merchandise, to the benefit of all parties concerned. Why a trade essential to the colonies, and which, so far from being detrimental, was indirectly advantageous to Great Britain, should be so narrowly watched, so severely restrained, was not obvious to the Americans. Instead of viewing the parent state, as formerly, in the light of an affectionate mother, they conceived her as beginning to be influenced by the narrow views of an illiberal stepdame."—Ib., pp. 324, 325.]

[Footnote 260: Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, in a letter to Richard Jackson, Grenville's Secretary in the Exchequer, September, 1763, says, "The real cause of the illicit trade in this Province (Massachusetts) has been the indulgence of the officers of the Customs; and we are told that the cause of this indulgence has been that they are quartered upon for more than their legal fees, and that without bribery and corruption they must starve."

As a specimen of this "bribery and corruption," the deposition on oath of the Deputy Collector of his Majesty's Customs at the port of Salem is given, to the effect that every time he had been in the office it had been customary for the Collector to receive of the masters of the vessels entering from Lisbon casks of wine, boxes of fruit, etc., which was a gratuity for suffering their vessels to be entered with salt or ballast only, and passing over unnoticed such cargoes of wine, fruit, etc., which were prohibited to be imported into his Majesty's plantations; part of which wine, fruit, etc., the Collector used to share with Governor Barnard. (Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. V., Chap, ix., p. 158, in a note.)]

[Footnote 261: "The sad story of colonial oppression commenced in 1764. Great Britain then adopted regulations respecting her colonies which, after disturbing the ancient harmony of the two countries for about twelve years, terminated in the dismemberment of the empire. These consisted in restricting their former commerce, but more especially in subjecting them to taxation by the British Parliament. By adhering to the spirit of her Navigation Act, in the course of a century the trade of Great Britain had increased far beyond the expectation of her most sanguine sons; but by rigidly enforcing the strict letter of the same in a different situation of public affairs, effects directly the reverse were produced."—Ib., p. 324.]

[Footnote 262: Prior Documents; or a Collection of Interesting Authentic Papers relating to the Dispute between Great Britain and America, showing the causes and progress of that misunderstanding from 1764 to 1775, pp. 1, 2; London, 1777.

"Four great wars within seventy years had overwhelmed Great Britain with heavy debts and excessive taxation. Her recent conquests, so far from relieving her embarrassments, had greatly increased that debt, which amounted now to L140,000,000, near $700,000,000. Even in the midst of the struggle, in the success of which they had so direct an interest, the military contributions of the colonial assemblies had been sometimes reluctant and capricious, and always irregular and unequal. They might, perhaps, refuse to contribute at all towards a standing army in time of peace, of which they would naturally soon become jealous. It seemed necessary, therefore, by some exertion of metropolitan authority, to extract from the colonies for this purpose a regular and certain revenue." (Hildreth's History of the United States, Vol. II. Chap. xxviii., p. 516.)