 Chapter 10 of the Life of Washington, Volume 1 by John Marshall. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 10, where declared against Spain, expedition against St. Augustine, Georgia invaded, Spaniards land on an island in the Alatamaha. Appearance of a fleet from Charleston, Spanish army reembarks, hostilities with France. Expedition against Louisburg, Louisburg surrenders, great plans of the belligerent powers. Misfortunes of the armament under the duty of Don Villier. The French fleet dispersed by a storm. Expedition against Nova Scotia, Treaty of Bakes, La Chapelle. Paper money of Massachusetts redeemed. Contest between the French and English respecting boundaries. Statement respecting the discovery of the Mississippi. Scheme for connecting Louisiana with Canada. Relative strength of the French and English colonies. Defeat at the Little Meadows. Convention at Albany. Plan of Union. Objected to both in America and Great Britain. 1739. War with Spain. The increasing complaints of the merchants and the loud climbers of the nation at length forced the minister to abandon his specific system. And war was declared against Spain. A squadron commanded by Admiral Vernon was detached to the West Indies with instructions to act offensively. And General Oglethorpe was ordered to annoy the settlements in Florida. He planned an expedition against St. Augustine and requested the assistance of South Carolina. That colony, ardently desiring, the expulsion of neighbors alike, feared and hated, entered zealously into the views of the general and agreed to furnish the mint and money he requested. A regiment commanded by Colonel Van Der Dusen was immediately raised in Virginia and the two Carolinas. A body of Indians was also engaged in Captain Price, who commanded the small fleet on that station promised his cooperation. These arrangements being made in the mouth of the St. John's River. On the coast of Florida being appointed as the place of rendezvous, General Oglethorpe hastened to Georgia to prepare his regiment for the expedition. 1740, those unexpected impediments which always embarrassed military movements conducted by men without experience having delayed the arrival of his northern troops, Oglethorpe entered Florida at the head of his own regiment, aided by a party of Indians and invested Diego, a small fort about 25 miles from St. Augustine, which capitulated after a short resistance. He then returned to the place of rendezvous where he was joined by Colonel Van Der Dusen and by a company of Highlanders under the command of Captain McIntosh, a few days after which he marched with his whole force consisting of about 2,000 men to Fort Musa in the neighborhood of St. Augustine which was evacuated on his approach. The general now perceived that the enterprise would be attended with more difficulty than had been anticipated in the time which intervened between his entering Florida and appearing before the town. Supplies of provisions have been received from the country and six Spanish half-gallies carrying long brass nine-pounders and two stoopes laden with provisions that entered the harbor. Finding the place better fortified than had been expected, he determined to invest it completely and to advance by regular approaches in execution of this plan. Colonel Palmer with 95 Highlanders and 42 Indians remained at Fort Musa while the army took different positions near the town and began an ineffectual bombardment from the island of Anastasia. The general was deliberating on the plan for forcing the harbor and taking a nearer position when Colonel Palmer was surprised in his detachment cut to pieces. At the same time, some small vessels from the Havana with a reinforcement of men and supply provisions entered the harbor through the narrow channel of the Matanzas. The army began to despair of success and the provincials and feeble by the heat dispirited by sickness and fatigue by fruitless efforts marked away in large bodies. The navy being ill supplied with provisions and the season for hurricanes approaching, Captain Price was unwilling to hazard his majesty's ships on that coast. The general, laboring under a fever, finding his regiment as well as himself worn out with fatigue and rendered unfit for action by disease, reluctantly abandoned the enterprise and returned to Frederica. The colonists disappointed and chagrined by the failure of the expedition that attributed this misfortune entirely to the incapacity of the general who was not less dissatisfied with them. Whatever may have been the true causes of the failure, it produced a mutual and injurious distress between the general and the colonists. 1742, the events of the war soon disclosed the dangers resulting from this want of confidence in General Ogilthorpe and Stillmark from the want of power to produce a cooperation of the common force for the common defense. Spain had ever considered the settlement of Georgia as an encroachment on her territory and had cherished the intention to seize every proper occasion to dislodge the English by force. With his view and armament consisting of 2,000 men commanded by Don Antonio D. Rodondo embarked at the Havana under convoy of a strong squadron and arrived at St. Augustine in May. The fleet having been seen on his passage, notice of its approach was given to General Ogilthorpe who communicated the intelligence to Governor Glenn of South Carolina and urged the necessity of sending the troops of that province to his assistance. Georgia being a barrier for South Carolina, the policy of meeting and invading army on the frontiers of the former, especially one containing several companies composed of migros who had fled from the latter was too obvious not to be perceived, yet either from prejudice against Ogilthorpe or the disposition inherent in separate governments to preserve their own force of their own defense, Carolina refused to give that general any assistance. Its attention was directed entirely to the defense of Charleston and the inhabitants of its southern frontier instead of marching to the camp of Ogilthorpe led to that city for safety. In the meantime, the general collected a few Highlanders and Rangers of Georgia together with as many Indian warriors as would join him and determined to defend Frederica. Georgia invaded late in June, the Spanish fleet consisting of 32 sail carrying about 3,000 men crossed Simon's Bar into Jekyll Sound and passing Simon's Fort then occupied by General Ogilthorpe proceeded up the Alata Maha out of the reach of his guns after which the troops landed on the island and erected a battery of 2018 pounders. Fort Simon's being indefensible, Ogilthorpe retreated to Frederica, his whole force exclusive of Indians amounted to a little more than 700 men, a force which could only enable him to act on the defensive until the arrival of reinforcements which he still expected from South Carolina. The face of the country was peculiarly favorable to this system of operations as thick woods and deep morasses oppose great obstacles to the advance of an invading enemy not well acquainted with the paths which pass through them. Ogilthorpe turned these advantages to the best account in an attempt made by the Spanish general to pierce these woods in order to reach Frederica several sharp wrong counters took place in one of which he lost the captain and two lieutenants killed and above 100 privates taken prisoners. He then changed his plan of operations and abandoning his intention of forcing his way to Frederica by land called in his parties, kept his men undercover of his cannon and detach some vessels up the river with a body of troops on board to reconnoiter the fort and draw the attention of the English to that quarter. About this time an English prisoner escaped from the Spaniards and informed General Ogilthorpe that a difference existed between the troops from Cuba and those from St. Augustine which had been carried so far that they encamped in separate places. This intelligence suggested the idea of attacking them while divided and his perfect knowledge of the woods favored the hope of surprising one of their encampments. In execution of this design, he drew out the flower of his army and marched in the night unobserved within two miles of the Spanish camp. There his troops halted and he advanced himself at the head of a select corps to reconnoiter the situation of the enemy while he was using the utmost circumspection to obtain the necessary information without being discovered. A French soldier of his party discharged his musket and ran into the Spanish lines discovery defeating every hope of success the general retreated to Frederica. Ogilthorpe confident that the deserter were disclosed his weakness devised an expedient which turned the event to a vantage. He wrote to the deserter as if in concert with him directing him to give the Spanish general such information as might induce him to attack Frederica hinting also at an attempt meditated by Admiral Vernon on St. Augustine and at late advices from Carolina giving assurances of our reinforcement of 2000 men. He then tampered with one of the Spanish prisoners who for a small bribe promised to deliver this letter to the deserter after which he was permitted to escape. The prisoner as was foreseen delivered the letter to his general who ordered the deserter to be put in irons and was in no small degree embarrassed to determine whether the letter ought to be considered as a strategy to save Frederica and induce the abandonment of the enterprise or as real instructions to direct the conduct of a spy while hesitating on the course to be pursued his doubts were removed by one of those incidents which have so much influence on human affairs. The assembly of South Carolina had voted a supply of money to general Ogilthorpe and the governor had ordered some ships of force to his aid these appeared off the coast while the principal officers of the Spanish army were yet deliberating on the letter they deliberated no longer. Spanish army reembarks in confusion. The whole army was seized with a panic and after setting fire to the fort embark in great hurry and confusion leaving behind several pieces of heavy artillery and a large quantity of provisions and military stores. Thus was Georgia delivered from an invasion which threatened the total subjugation of the province. The ill success of these reciprocal attempts at conquest seems to have discouraged both parties and the Spanish and English colonies in the neighborhood of each other contented themselves for the residue of the war with guarding their own frontiers. The connection between the branches of the House of Bourbon was too intimate for the preservation of peace with France during the prosecution of war against Spain. Both nations expected and prepared for hostilities before had commenced in fact though not informed on the continent of Europe but as they carried on their military operations as auxiliaries in support of contending claims of the Elector of Bavaria and the Queen of Hungary to the Imperial throne they preserved in America a suspicious and jealous suspension of hostility rather than a real peace. 1744, this state of things was interrupted by a sudden incursion of the French into Nova Scotia. Hostilities with France. The governor of Cape Breton having received information that France and Great Britain had become principles in the war took possession of the Cancel with a small military and naval force and made the garrison and inhabitants prisoners of war. This enterprise was followed by an attempt on Annapolis which was defeated by the timely arrival of a reinforcement from Massachusetts. These offensive operations stimulated the English colonists to additional efforts to expel such dangerous neighbors and to unite the whole Northern continent bordering on the Atlantic under one common sovereign. The island of Cape Breton so denominated from one of its capes lies between the 45th and 47th degree of North latitude at the distance of 15 leagues from Cape Ray the Southwestern extremity of Newfoundland. Its position rendered the possession of it very material to the commerce of France and the facility with which the fisheries might be annoyed from its ports gave it an importance to which it could not otherwise have been entitled. 30 millions of lever and the labor of 25 years had been employed on its fortifications from its strength and still more from the numerous privateers that issued from its ports. It had been termed the Dunkirk of America on this place, Governor Shirley meditated an attack. The prisoners taken at Cancel and others who had been captured at sea and carried to Louisburg were sent to Boston. The information they gave if it did not originally suggest this enterprise contributed greatly to its adoption. They said that Davidier had gone to France to solicit assistance for the conquest of Nova Scotia in the course of the ensuing campaign and that the storeships from France for Cape Breton not having arrived on the coast until it was blocked up with ice have retired to the West Indies. In several letters addressed to administration Governor Shirley represented the danger to which Nova Scotia was exposed and pressed for naval assistance. These letters were sent by Captain Ryle an officer of the garrison which had been taken at Cancel whose knowledge of Louisburg of Cape Breton and of Nova Scotia enabled him to make such representations to the Lords of the Admiralty as were calculated to promote the views of the Northern colonies. The governor was not disappointed orders were dispatched to Commodore Warren then in the West Indies to proceed towards the North early in the spring and to employ such a force as might be necessary to protect the Northern colonies in their trade and fisheries as well as to distress the enemy. On these subjects he was instructed to consult with Shirley to whom orders of the same date were written directing him to assist the King's ships with transports, men and provisions. Such deep impression had the design of taking Louisburg made on the mind of Shirley that he did not wait for intelligence of the reception given to his application for naval assistance he was induced to decide on engaging in the enterprise even without such assistance by the representations of Mr. Vaughan son of the Lieutenant Governor of New Hampshire a man of a sanguine and ardent temper who could think nothing impracticable which he wished to achieve. Mr. Vaughan had never been at Louisburg but had learned something of the strength of the place from fishermen and others and the bold turn of his mind suggested the idea of surprising it. There's something infectious and then enthusiasm would ever be its object and Vaughan soon communicated his own convictions to Shirley. 1745, the governor informed the general court that he had a proposition of great importance to communicate and requested that the members would take an oath of secrecy previous to his laying yet before them. This novel request being complied with he submitted his plan for attacking Louisburg. It was referred to a committee of both houses the arguments for and against the enterprise were temporarily considered and the part suggested by Prudence Preveille the expedition was thought to great to hazardous and too expensive. The report of the committee was approved by the House of Representatives and the expedition was supposed to be abandoned but not withstanding precaution taken to secure secrecy the subject which had occupied the legislature was devolved and the people took a deep interest in it. Numerous petitions were presented praying the general court to reconsider its vote and to adopt the proposition of the governor among the several arguments urged in its favor that which the petitioners pressed most earnestly was the necessity of acquiring Louisburg to save the fisheries from ruin. The subject being reconsidered a resolution in favor of the enterprise was carried by a single voice in the absence of several members known to be against it yet all parties manifested equal zeal for its success. A general embargo was laid and messengers were dispatched to the several governments as far as south of Pennsylvania soliciting their aid. These solicitations succeeded only in the northern provinces. There being at that time no person in New England who had acquired any military reputation the chief command was conferred on Colonel Pepperle a merchant who was also a large land holder and was highly respected throughout Massachusetts. All ranks of men combined to facilitate the enterprise and those circumstances which are beyond human control also concurred to favor the general wish the governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire whose orders forbade their assent to a farther emission of bills of credit departed from their instructions to promote this favorite project. The people submitted to impressments of their property and a mild winter gave no interruption to their warlike preparations. The troops of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut amounting to rather more than 4,000 men assembled at Kansu about the middle of April soon after which to the great joy of the colonial troops Admiral Warren arrived with a considerable part of his fleet. The army then embarked for Chapo Rouge Bay and the fleet cruised off Louisburg. After repulsing a small detachment of French troops the landing was affected and in the course of the night a body of about 400 men led by Vaughn marched round to the northeast part of the harbor and set fire to a number of warehouses containing spiritist liquors and naval stores. The smoke being driven by the wind into the grand battery caused such darkness that the men placed in it were unable to distinguish objects and being apprehensive of an attack from the whole English army abandoned the fort and fled into the town. The next morning as Vaughn was returning to camp with only 13 men he ascended the hill which overlooked the battery and observing that the chimneys in the barracks were without smoke and the staff without its flag he hired an Indian with a bottle of rum to crawl through an embrasure and open the gate. Vaughn entered with his men and defended the battery against their party then landing to regain possession until the arrival of a reinforcement. For 14 nights successfully the troops were employed in dragging cannon from the landing place to the encampment a distance of near two miles through a deep morass. The army being totally unacquainted with the art of conducting sieges made its approaches irregularly and sustained some loss on this account. While these approaches were making by land the ships of war which continued to cruise off the harbor fell in with and captured the vigilant of French man of war of 64 guns having on board a reinforcement of 560 men and a large quantity of stores for the garrison. Soon after this and unsuccessful and perhaps the rash attempt was made on the island battery by 400 men of whom 60 were killed and 116 taken prisoners. All these prisoners as if by previous concert exaggerated the numbers of the besieging army the deception which was favored by the unevenness of the ground and the dispersed state of the troops and which probably contributed to the surrender of the place. The provincial army did indeed present a formidable front but in the rear all was frolic and confusion. The vigilant had been anxious expected by the garrison and the information of her capture excited a considerable degree of perturbation. This event with the erection of some works on the high cliff at the lighthouse by which the island battery was much annoyed and the preparations evidently making for a general assault determined do Shamban, the governor Louis Bourg to surrender and in a few days he capitulated. Louis Bourg surrenders. Upon entering the fortress and viewing its strength and its means of defense all perceived how impracticable it would have been to carry it by assault. The joy excited in the British colonies by the success of the expedition against Louis Bourg was unbounded even those who had refused to participate in its hazards and expense were sensible of its advantages and of that luster it shed on the American arms. Although some disposition was manifested in England to ascribe the whole merit of the conquest of the Navy, Colonel Pepperot received with the title of baronet the more substantial award of a regiment in the British service to be raised in America and the same mark of royal favor was bestowed on Governor Shirley. Reimbursements too were made by Parliament for the expenses of the expedition. It was the only decisive advantage obtained by the English during the war. Capture of Louis Bourg most probably preserved Nova Scotia du Vivier who had embarked for France to solicit an armament for the conquest of that province sailed in July 1745 with seven ships of war and a body of land forces. He was ordered to stop at Louis Bourg and thence to proceed in the execution of his plan. Hearing at sea of the fall of that place and that a British squadron was stationed at it he relinquished the expedition against Nova Scotia and returned to Europe. The British Empire on the American continent consisted originally of two feeble settlements unconnected with and almost unknown to each other for a long time the Southern colonies separated from those of New England by an immense wilderness and by the possessions of other European powers had no intercourse with them except what was produced by the small trading vessels of the North which occasionally entered the rivers of the South neither participated in the wars or pursuits of the other nor were they in any respect actuated by common views or united by common interests. The conquest of the country between Connecticut and Maryland laid a foundation which the settlement of the middle colonies completed for connecting these disjoint members and forming one consolidated whole capable of moving and acting in concert. This gradual change unobserved in its commencement had now become too perceptible to be longer overlooked and hence forward the efforts of the colonies were in a great measure combined and directed to a common object. France as well as England had extended her views with her settlements and after the fall of Louisburg the governments of both nations meditated important operations for the ensuing campaign in America. Great plans of the belligerence France contemplated not only the recovery of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia but the total devastation of the sea coast if not the entire conquest of New England Britain on her part calculated on the reduction of Canada and the entire expulsion of the French from the American continent. Shirley repaired to Louisburg after it surrendered where he held a consultation with Warren and Pepero on the favorite subject of future and more extensive operations against the neighboring possessions of France. 1746 from that place he wrote pressingly to administration for reinforcements of men and ships to enable him to execute his plans. The capture of Louisburg gave such weight to his solicitations then in the following spring the Duke of Newcastle then Secretary of State addressed a circular letter to the governors of the provinces as far south as Virginia requiring them to raise as many men as they could spare and hold them in readiness to act according to the orders that should be received. Before this letter was written an extensive plan of operations have been digested in the British cabinet. It was proposed to detach a military and naval armament which should early in the season join the troops to be raised in New England at Louisburg. Whence they were to proceed up to St. Lawrence to Quebec the troops from New York and from the more southern provinces were to be collected at Albany and to march against Crown Point and Montreal. This plan so far as it depended on the colonies was executed with promptness and alacrity. The men were raised and waited with impatience for employment beneath the troops nor orders arrived from England. The fleet destined for this service sailed seven times from Spithead and was compelled as often by contrary winds to return. Late in the season the military commanders in America despairing of the suckers promised by England determined to assemble a body of provincials at Albany and make an attempt on Crown Point. While preparing for the execution of this plan they received accounts stating that Annapolis was in danger from a body of French and Indians assembled at Minas upon which orders were issued for the troops of Massachusetts Rhode Island and New Hampshire to embark for Nova Scotia before these orders could be executed intelligence was received which directed their attention to their own defense. It was reported that a large fleet and army under the command of the Duke of Valdia had arrived in Nova Scotia and the views of conquest which had been formed by the Northern colonies were converted into fears for their own safety. For six weeks continual apprehensions of invasion were entertained and the most vigorous measures were taken to repellent. From this state of anxious solicitude they were at length relieved by the arrival of some prisoners set at liberty by the French who communicated the extreme distress of the fleet. This formidable armament consisted of near 40 ships of war seven of which were of the line of two artillery ships and the 56 transports laden with provisions and military stores carrying 3,500 land forces and 40,000 stand of small arms for the use of the Canadians and Indians. The French fleet dispersed by a storm. The fleet sailed in June but was attacked by such furious and repeated storms that many of the ships were wrecked and others dispersed. In addition to this disaster the troops were infected with the disease which carried them off in great numbers while lying in Cheb-Bacte under the circumstances of Vessel which had been dispatched by Governor Shirley to Admiral Townsend at Louisburg with a letter stating his expectation that a British fleet would follow that of France to America was intercepted by a cruiser and brought in to the Admiral. These dispatches were opened in a council of war which was considerably divided respecting their future conduct. This circumstance added to the calamities already sustained so affected the commander-in-chief that he died suddenly. The Vice Admiral fell by his own hand and the command devolved on Monsieur Lejean-Guière, Governor of Canada who had been declared chef de Skadua after the fleet sailed. The design and invading New England was relinquished and it was resolved to make an attempt on Annapolis with his view the fleet sailed from Chebacte but was again overtaken by a violent tempest which scattered the vessels composing it. Those which escaped shipwreck returned singly to France. Never says Mr. Balknap was the hand of divine providence more visible than on this occasion. Never was a disappointment more severe on the part of the enemy nor a deliverance more complete without human help in favor of this country. As soon as the fears excited by this armament were dissipated the project of dislodging the French and Indians who had invaded Nova Scotia was resumed. Governor Shirley detached a part of the troops of Massachusetts on this service and press the governors of Rhode Island and New Hampshire to cooperate with him. The quotas furnished by these colonies were prevented by several accidents from joining that of Massachusetts which was inferior to the enemy in numbers. The French and Indians under cover of a snowstorm surprised the English at Manus who after an obstinate resistance in which they lost upwards of 100 men were compelled to capitulate and to engage not to bear arms against his most Christian majesty in Nova Scotia for one year. The Ramsey who commanded the French returned soon afterwards to Canada. No further transactions of importance took place in America during the war which was terminated by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. By this treaty it was stipulated that all conquests made during the war should be restored and the colonists had the modification to see the French repossess themselves of Cape Breton. The heavy expenses which had been incurred by the New England colonies and especially by Massachusetts had occasioned large emissions of paper money and an unavoidable depreciation. Instead of evading themselves a piece to discharge the debts contracted during war they eagerly desired to satisfy every demand on the public treasury by farther emissions of bills of credit redeemable at future and distant periods. Every inconvenience under which commerce was supposed to labor every difficulty encountered in the interior economy of the province was attributed to a scarcity of money and the scarcity was to be removed not by increased industry but by putting an additional sum in circulation. The rate of exchange and the price of all commodities soon disclosed the political truth that however the quantity of the circulating medium may be augmented its aggregate value cannot be arbitrarily increased and that the effect of such a depreciating currency has necessarily be to discourage the payment of debts by holding out the hope of discharging contracts with less real value than that for which they were made and to substitute cunning and speculation for honest and regular industry. Yet the majority had persevered in this demoralizing system. The depreciation had reached 11 for one and the evil was almost deemed incurable when the fortunate circumstance of a reimbursement in specie made by parliament for colonial expenditures on account of their expeditions against Louisburg and Canada suggested to Mr. Hutchinson Speaker of the House of Representatives in Massachusetts the idea of redeeming the paper money in circulation at its then real value. This scheme at first deemed utopian was opposed by many well-meaning men who feared that its effect would be to give a shock to the trade and domestic industry of the province and we thought that as the depreciation had been gradual justice required that the appreciation should be gradual also. Paper money redeemed with great difficulty the measure was carried and the bills of credit in circulation were redeemed at 50 shillings the ounce. The evils which had been apprehended were soon found to be imaginary. Species immediately took the place of paper trade so far from sustaining a shock nourished more than before this change in the domestic economy of the colony and the commerce of Massachusetts immediately received an impulse which enabled it to surpass that of her neighbors who retained their paper medium. Renewal of contests with the French colonies respecting boundary the treaty of eggs La Chapelle did not remove the previously existing controversies between the colonies of France and England respecting boundary. These controversies originating in the manner in which their settlements have been made and at first a small consequence were now assuming a serious aspect. America was becoming an object of greater attention and as her importance increased the question concerning limits became important also. 1749 in settling this continent the powers of Europe estimating the right of the natives that nothing adopted for their own government. The principle that those who first discovered and took possession of any particular territory became its right for proprietors but as only a small portion of it could then be reduced to actual occupation the extent of country thus acquired was not well ascertained. Contests respecting prior discovery and extent of possession arose among all the first settlers. England terminated her controversy with Sweden and with Holland by the early conquest of their territories but her conflicting claims with France and with Spain remained unadjusted. On the south Spain had pretensions to the whole province of Georgia while England had granted the country as far as the river St. Matteu in Florida. On the north the right of France to Canada was undisputed but the country between the St. Lawrence and New England had been claimed by both nations and granted by both. The first settlement appears to have been made by the French but its principal town, Caulport, Royal or Annapolis had been repeatedly taken by the English. By the Treaty of Utrecht the whole province by the name of Nova Scotia or Accadie according to its ancient limits have been ceded to them. But the boundaries of Nova Scotia or Accadie had never been ascertained. Though the Treaty of Utrecht had provided that commissioner should be appointed by the two crowns to adjust the limits of their respective colonies the adjustment had never been made. France claimed to that Kennebec and insisted that only the peninsula which is formed by the Bay of Fundy the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of St. Lawrence was included in the session of Nova Scotia or Accadie according to its ancient limits. England on the other hand claimed all the country on the main land south of the river St. Lawrence. Under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle commissioners were again appointed to settle these differences who maintained the rights of their respective sovereigns with great ability and laborious research but their zeal produced a degree of asperity unfavorable to accommodation. While this contest for the cold and uninviting country of Nova Scotia was carried on with equal acrimony and talents of controversy arose for richer and more extensive regions in the south and west. Discovery of the Mississippi. So early as the year 1660 information was received in Canada from the Indians that west of that colony was a great river flowing neither to the north nor to the east. The government conjecturing that it must empty itself either into the Gulf of Mexico or the South Sea committed the care of ascertaining the fact to Joliet and inhabitant of Quebec and to the Jesuit Marquette. These men proceeded from like Michigan up the river of the foxes almost to its source once they traveled westward to the Huiz-Consing which they pursued to its confluence with the Mississippi. They sailed down this river to the 33rd degree of North latitude and returned by land through the country of the Illinois to Canada. The mouth of the Mississippi was afterwards discovered by LaSalle, an enterprising Norman who immediately after his return to Quebec embarked for France in the hope of inducing the cabinet of Versailles to patronize a scheme for proceeding by sea to the mouth of that river and settling a colony on its banks. Having succeeded in this application he sailed for the Gulf of Mexico with a few colonists but steering too far westward. He arrived at the Bay of St. Bernard about 100 leagues from the mouth of the Mississippi in consequence of a quarrel between him and Beaulieu who commanded the fleet. The colonists were landed at this place. LaSalle was soon afterwards assassinated by his own men and his followers were murdered or dispersed by the Spaniards and the Indians. Several other attempts were made by the French to settle the country by some unaccountable fatality. Instead of seating themselves on the fertile borders of the Mississippi they continually landed about the barren sands of Biloxi and the Bay of Mobile. It was not until the year 1722 that the miserable remnant of those who had been carried there at various times was transplanted to New Orleans nor until the year 1731 that the colony began to flourish. Scheme for connecting Louisiana with Canada. It had received the name of Louisiana and soon extended itself by detached settlements up the Mississippi in its waters towards the Great Lakes. As it advanced northward the vast and interesting plan was formed of connecting it with Canada by a chain of forts. The fine climate and fertile soil of upper Louisiana enabling it to produce and maintain an immense population rendered it an object which promised complete gratification to the views of France. While the extent given to it by that nation excited the most serious alarm among the colonies of Britain. The chart is granted by the Crown of England to the first adventurers having extended from the Atlantic to the South Sea. Their settlements had regularly advanced westward in the belief that they're titled to the country in that direction could not be controverted. The settlements of the French stretching from north to south necessarily interfered with those of the English. Their plan if executed would completely envire the English, Canada and Louisiana united as has been aptly said would form a bow of which the English colonies would constitute the court. While Great Britain claimed indefinitely to the west as appertaining to her possession of the sea coast, France insisted on confining her to the eastern side of the Appalachian or Allegheny Mountains and claimed the whole country drained by the Mississippi in virtue of her right as the first discoverer of that river. The delightful region which forms a magnificent veil of the Mississippi was the object for which these two powerful nations contended and it soon became apparent that the sword must decide the contents. The white population of the English colonies was supposed to exceed one million of souls while that of the French was estimated at only 52,000. This disparity of numbers did not intimidate the governor of New France, a title comprehending both Canada and Louisiana nor deter him from proceeding in the execution of his favorite plan. The French possessed advantages which he persuaded himself were counterbalance the superior numbers of the English. Their whole power was united under one governor who could give it such a direction as his judgment should dictate. The genius of the people and of the government was military and the inhabitants could readily be called into the field when their service should be required. Great Reliance too was placed on the Indians, these savages with the exception of the five nations were generally attached to France and were well trained to war. To these advantages were added a perfect knowledge of the country about to become the theater of action. The British colonies on the other hand were divided into distinct governments and accustomed except those of New England to act in concert were jealous of the power of the crown and were spread over a large extent of territory the soil of which in all the middle colonies was cultivated by men unused to arms. The governors of Canada who were general military men had for several preceding years judiciously selected and fortified. Such situations would give them most influence over the Indians and facilitating incursions into the Northern provinces. The command of Lake Champlain had been acquired by the erection of a strong fort at Crown Point and a connected chain of posts was maintained from Quebec up to St. Lawrence and along the Great Lakes. It was intended to unite these posts with the Mississippi by taking positions which would favor the design of circumscribing and annoying the frontier settlements of the English. Great meadows in the site of fort necessity on this battleground in the Western Pennsylvania wilderness which marked the beginning of the French and Indian War. July 3, 1754 a force of 400 men under young major Washington was defeated by 900 French and Indian allies and for the first and last time in his military career Washington surrendered. He stipulated however that he and his troops were to have safe conduct back to civilization and agreed not to build a fort rest of the Allegheny Mountains for a year. Washington was then 22 years old. 1750 the execution of this plan was probably accelerated by an act of the British government. The year after the conclusion of the war several individuals both in England and Virginia who were associated under the name of the Ohio Company obtained from the Crown a grant of 600,000 acres of land lying in the country claimed by both nations. The objects of this company being commercial as well as territorial measures were taken to derive all the advantages expected from their grant in both these respects by establishing trading houses and by employing persons to survey the country. The governor of Canada who obtained early information of this intrusion as he deemed it into the dominions of his most Christian majesty wrote to the governors of New York and Pennsylvania informing them that the English traders had encroached on the French territory by trading with their Indians and giving notice that if he did not desist he should be under the necessity of seizing them wherever they should be found. At the same time the jealousy of the Indians was excited by impressing them with fears that their English were about to deprive them of their country. His threat having been disregarded the governor of Canada put it in execution by seizing the British traders among the twice tweeds and carrying them prisoners to Presca Isle unlike Erie where he was erecting a strong fort. About the same time a communication was opened from Presca Isle down French Creek and the Allegheny River to the Ohio. This communication was kept up by detachments of troops posted at proper distances from each other in works capable of covering them from an attack made only with small arms. 1753 this territory having been granted as part of Virginia to the Ohio company who complained loudly of these aggressions then would eat the lieutenant governor of that province laid the subject before the assembly and dispatch major Washington. The gentleman who afterwards led his countrymen to independence with a letter to the commandant of the French forces on the Ohio requiring him to withdraw from the dominions of his Britannic majesty. This letter was delivered at a fort on that river Le Bourg, the western branch of French Creek to Monsieur Le Gaudier du Sampier the commanding officer on the Ohio who replied that he had taken possession of the country by the direction of his general then in Canada to whom he would transmit the letter of the lieutenant governor and his orders he should implicitly obey. 1754 preparations were immediately made in Virginia to assert the rights of the British crown and that regiment was raised for the protection of the frontiers. Early in the spring major Washington had advanced with a small detachment from this regiment into the country to be contended for where he fell in with and defeated a party of French and Indians who were approaching him in a manner indicating hostile designs. I'm being joined by the residue of his regiment the command of which had devolved on him. He made great exertions to preoccupy the post at the confluence of the Allegheny and Mon Nongahila rivers. But on his march, Vither was met by a much superior body of French and Indians. Defeated at the Little Meadows who attacked him in a small stockade hastily erected at the Little Meadows and compelled him after a gallant defense to capitulate. The French had already taken possession of the ground to which Washington was proceeding and having driven off some militia and workmen sent there by the Ohio company had erected there on a strong fortification called Fort Duquesne. The Earl of Holderness, Secretary of State perceiving war to be inevitable and aware of the advantages of union and of securing the friendship of the five nations had written to the governors of the respective colonies recommending these essential objects and at the same time ordering them to repel force by force and to take effectual measures to dislodge the French from their posts on the Ohio. Convention at Albany at the suggestion of the commissioners for the plantations, a convention of delegates from the several colonies met at Albany to hold a conference with the five nations on the subject of French encroachments and to secure their friendship in the approaching war. Availing himself of this circumstance, Governor Shirley had recommended to the other governors to instruct their commissioners on the subject of union. Ample powers for this object were given to the delegates of Massachusetts and those of Maryland were instructed to observe what others should propose respecting it but no direct authority for concerning any system to call out and employ the strength of the colonies was given by any other of the governments. The Congress consisting of delegates from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland with the Lieutenant Governor and Council of New York after endeavoring to secure the friendship of the five nations by large presence directed a committee consisting of one member of each colony to draw and report a plan of union. Plan of union, a plan was reported which was approved on the 4th of July. It's essential principles were that application be made for an active parliament authorizing the formation of a grand council to consist of delegates from the several legislatures and a president general to be appointed by the crown and to be invested with a negative power. This council was to enact laws of general import to apportion their quotas of men and money on the several colonies to determine the building forts to regulate their operations of armies and to concert to all measures for the common protection and safety. The delegates of Connecticut alone dissented from this plan that cautious people feared that the powers vested in the president general might prove dangerous to their welfare. In England, the objections were of a different character the colonies had in several instances manifested a temper less submissive than was required. And it was apprehended that this union might be the foundation of a concert of measures opposing the pretensions of supremacy maintained by the mother country. This confederation therefore notwithstanding the pressure of external danger did not prevail. It was not supported in America because it was supposed to place too much power in the hands of the king and it was rejected in England from the apprehension that the colonial assemblies would be rendered still more formidable by being accustomed to cooperate with each other. Instead the minister proposed that the governors with one or two members of the councils of the respective provinces should assemble to consult and resolve on measures necessary for the common defense and should draw on the British treasury for the sums to be expended which some should be afterwards raised by a general tax to be imposed by parliament on the colonies. This proposition being entirely subversive of all the opinions which prevailed in America was not pressed for the present and no satisfactory plan for calling out to sprinkler the colonies being devised. It was determined to carry on the war with British troops aided by such reinforcements as the several provincial assemblies would voluntarily afford. End of chapter 10, chapter 11 of the life of Washington, volume one by John Marshall. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 11, General Braddock arrives, convention of governors and plan of the campaign, French expelled from Nova Scotia and inhabitants transplanted, expedition against Fort Duquesne, battle of Manangahila, defeat in death of General Braddock, expedition against Crown Point, Diazgau defeated, expedition against Naagra, frontiers distressed by the Indians, meeting of the governors at New York, planned for the campaign of 1756, Lord Loudon arrives, Moncom takes Oswego, Lord Loudon abandons offensive operations, smallpox breaks out in Albany, campaign of 1757 opened, Admiral Holborn arrives at Halifax, is joined by the Earl of Loudon, expedition against Louisburg relinquished, Lord Loudon returns to New York, Fort William Henry Taken, controversy between Lord Loudon and the Assembly of Massachusetts. 1755, the establishment of the post on the Ohio and the action at the Little Meadows, being considered by the British government as the commencement of war in America, the resolution to send a few regiments to that country was immediately taken. General Braddock and early in the year, General Braddock embarked at Cork at the head of a respectable body of troops destined for the colonies, an active offensive campaign being meditated, General Braddock convened the governors of the several provinces on the 14th of April in Virginia, who resolved to carry on three expeditions. Plan of the campaign, the first and most important was against Fort Duquesne. This was to be conducted by General Braddock in person at the head of the British troops with such aids as could be drawn from Maryland and Virginia. The second against Niagara and Fort Frontagnac was to be conducted by Governor Shirley, the American regulars consisting of Shirley and Pepperoll's regiments constituted the principal force destined for the reduction of these places. The third was against Crown Point. This originated with Massachusetts and was to be prosecuted entirely with colonial troops to be raised by the provinces of New England and by New York. It was to be commanded by Colonel William Johnson of the latter province. While preparations were making for the several enterprises an expedition which had been previously concerted by the government of Massachusetts was carried on against the French in Nova Scotia. It has been already stated that the limits of this province remained unsettled while the commissioners of the two crowns were supporting the claims of their respective sovereigns and fruitless memorials. The French occupied the country in contest and established military posts for its defense. Against these posts this enterprise was to be conducted. On the 20th of May, the troops of Massachusetts together with Shirley's and Pepperoll's regiments amounting in the hold to about 3,000 men embarked at Boston under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Winslow. The fleet anchored about five miles from Fort Lawrence where reinforcement was received of 300 British troops and a small train of artillery. The whole army commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Montyn immediately after landing marched against Beau Sazure. The principal post held by the French in that country at the River Musselquack, which the French considered as the western boundary of Nova Scotia. Some slight works had been thrown up with the intention of disputing its passage. After a short conflict, the river was passed with the loss of only one man. And in five days Beau Sazure capitulated, French expelled from Nova Scotia. Other small places fell in succession and in the course of the month of June with the loss of only three men killed, the English acquired complete possession of the whole province of Nova Scotia. The recovery of this province was followed by one of those distressing measures which involve individuals in indiscriminate ruin and aggravate the calamities of war. Nova Scotia having been originally settled by France, its inhabitants were cheaply of that nation in that treaty of Utrecht it was stipulated for the colonists that they should be permitted to hold their lands on condition of taking the oaths of allegiance to their new sovereign. With this condition, they refused to comply unless permitted to qualify with a provisor that they should not be required to bear arms in defense of the province. Though this qualification to which the commanding officer of the British forces exceeded was afterwards disallowed by the crown, yet the French inhabitants continued to consider themselves as neutrals. Their devotion to France, however, would not permit them to conform their conduct to the character they had assumed in all the contests for the possession of their country. They were influenced by their wishes rather than their duty and 300 of them were captured with the garrison of Beau Sazure. Their continuance in their country during the obstinate conflict which was commencing would it was feared in danger of the colony and to expel them from it, leaving them at liberty to choose their place of residence would be to reinforce the French in Canada. A council was held by the executive of Nova Scotia aided by the admirals, Baskawon and Morty for the purpose of deciding on the destiny of these unfortunate people, the inhabitants transported and the severe policy was adopted of removing them from their homes and dispersing them through the other British colonies. This harsh measure was immediately put in execution and the miserable inhabitants of Nova Scotia were in one instant reduced from ease and contentment to a state of beggary, their lands and moveables with the exception of their money and household furniture were declared to be forfeited to the crowd and to prevent their return, the country was laid waste and their houses reduced to ashes. As soon as the convention of governors had separated, General Braddock proceeded from Alexandria to afford at Will's Creek afterwards called Fort Cumberland. At that time, the most Western post in Virginia or Maryland from which plays the army destined against Fort Duquesne was to commence its march. The difficulties of obtaining wagons and other necessary supplies for the expedition and delays occasion by opening a road through an excessively rough country, excited apprehensions that time would be afforded the enemy to collect in such force at Fort Duquesne as to put the success of the enterprise into some hazard. Under the influence of this consideration it was determined to select 1,200 men who should be led by the general in person to the point of destination. The residue of the army under the command of Colonel Dunbar was to follow with the baggage by slow and easy marches. This disposition be made, Braddock pressed forward to his object in the confidence that he could find no enemy capable of opposing him and reach the Monongahela on the 8th of July. As the army approached Fort Duquesne, the general was cautioned of the danger to which the character of his enemy and the face of the country exposed him and was advised to advance the provincial companies in his front for the purpose of scouring the woods and discovering ambascades. But he held both his enemy and the provincials in too much contempt to follow this salutary council. 300 British troops comprehending the grenadiers and light infantry commanded by Colonel Gage composed his van and he followed at some distance with the artillery and the main body of the army divided into small columns. Within seven miles of Fort Duquesne immediately after crossing the Monongahela the second time in an open wood thick set with high grass as he was pressing forward without fear of danger, his front received an unexpected fire from an invisible enemy, battle of Monongahela. The van was thrown into some confusion but the general having ordered up the main body and the commanding officer of the enemy having fallen, the attack was suspended and the assailants were supposed to be dispersed. This delusion was soon dissipated, the attack was renewed with increased fury, the van fell back on the main body and the whole army was thrown into utter confusion. The general possessed personal courage in an eminent degree but was without experience in that species of war in which he was engaged and seems not to have been in doubt with that rare fertility of genius which adapts itself to the existing state of things and invents expedience fitted to the emergency. In the impending crisis he was peculiarly unfortunate in his choice of measures. Neither advancing nor retreating he exerted his utmost powers to form his broken troops under an incessant and galling fire on the very ground where they had been attacked in his fruitless efforts to restore order. Every officer on horseback except Mr. Washington one of his aides to camp was killed or wounded. At length after losing three horses the general himself received a mortal wound upon which his regulars fled in terror and confusion. Fortunately the Indian enemy was arrested by the plunder found on the field and the pursuit was soon given over. The provincials exhibited an unexpected degree of courage and were among the last to leave the field. Death of Braddock the defeated troops fled precipitately to the camp of Dunbar where Braddock expired of his wounds. Their panic was communicated to the residue of the army as if affairs have become desperate all the stores except those necessary for immediate use were destroyed and the British troops were marched to Philadelphia where they went into quarters. The Western parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia were left exposed to the incursions of the savages. The frontier settlements were generally broken up and the inhabitants were driven into the interior. So excessive was the alarm that even the people of the interior entertained apprehensions for their safety and many suppose that the seaboard itself was insecure. The two northern expeditions though not so disastrous as that against Fort Duquesne were neither of them successful. That against Crown Point was so retarded by those causes of delay to which military operations conducted by distinct governments are always exposed that the army was not ready to move until the last of August. At length General Johnson reached the south end of Lake George on his way to Ticonderoga of which he designed to take possession. An armament fitted out in the port of breast for Canada had eluded a British squadron which was stationed off the banks of Newfoundland to intercept it and with the loss of two ships of war had entered the St. Lawrence. After arriving at Quebec, the Baron Dias Cal who commanded the French forces resolved without loss of time to proceed against the English at the head of about 1,200 regulars and about 600 Canadians and Indians he marched against Oswego. On hearing of this movement General Johnson applied for reinforcements and 800 men were ordered by Massachusetts to his assistance. An additional body of 2,000 men was directed to be raised for the same object and the neighboring colonies also determined to furnish reinforcements. Dias Cal did not wait for their arrival perceiving that Johnson was approaching Lake George and being informed that the provincials were without artillery. He determined to postpone his designs upon Oswego and to attack them in their camp. I'm being informed that Dias Cal was approaching Johnson detached Colonel Williams with about 1,000 men to recon order and skirmish with him. This officer met the French about four miles from the American camp and immediately engaged them. He fell early in the action and his party was soon overpowered and put to flight. Dias Cal defeated a second detachment sent in eight of the first experienced the same fate and both were closely pursued to the main body who were posted behind a breastwork of fallen trees. At this critical moment within about 150 yards of this work the French halted for a short time. This interval having given the Americans an opportunity to recover from the first alarm they determined on a resolute defense. When the assailants advanced to the charge they were received with firmness the militia and savages fled and Dias Cal resembled the necessity of ordering his regulars to retreat. A close and ardent pursuit ensued and the general himself being mortally wounded and left alone was taken prisoner. During the engagement a scouting party from Fort Edward under Captain's Folsom and McGinnis fell in with the baggage of the enemy and routed the guard which had been placed over it. Soon afterwards the retreating army of Dias Cal approached and was gallantly attacked by the Americans. This unexpected attack from an enemy whose numbers were unknown completed the confusion of the defeated army which abandoning its baggage fled towards the posts on the lake. The repulse of Dias Cal magnified into a splendid victory had some tendency to remove the depression of spirits occasioned by the defeat of Bridek and to inspire the provincials with more confidence in themselves. General Johnson who was wounded in the engagement received very solid testimonials of the gratitude and liberality of his country for the 5,000 pounds sterling and the title of baronet were the rewards of his service. This success was not improved. The hopes and expectations of the public were not gratified and the residue of the campaign was spent in fortifying the camp. Massachusetts pressed the winter campaign but when her commissioners met those of Connecticut and the Lieutenant Governor and Council of New York it was unanimously agreed that the army under General Johnson should be discharged except 600 men to Garrison Fort Edward on the great carrying place between the Hudson and Lake George and Fort William Henry on that lake. The French took possession of Ticonderoga and fortified it. Expedition against Naagra. The expedition against Naagra and Fort Fontenac was also defeated by delays in making the preparations necessary for its prosecution. Shirley did not reach Oswego till late in August after ascertaining the state of the Garrison he determined to abandon that part of the enterprise which respected Fort Fontenac and to proceed against Naagra. While employed in the embarkation of his troops on the lake, the rain set in with such violence as to suspend his operations until the season was so far advanced that the attempt against Naagra was also relinquished and Shirley returned to Albany. Thus terminated the campaign of 1755. It opened with so decided a superiority of force on the part of the English as to promise the most important advantages. But if we accept the expulsion of the French from Nova Scotia, no single enterprise was crowned with success. Great exertions were made by the Northern colonies but their efforts were productive of no benefit from the want of one general superintending authority in their councils which could contemplate and control the different parts of the system which could combine all their operations and direct them with effect towards the attainment of the object pursued. Everything failed. Such delays and deficiencies were experienced that though a considerable force was in motion, it could not be brought to the point against which it was to act until the season for action was over nor execute the plans which were concerted until the opportunity had passed away. General Braddock's grave showing the monument recently erected. It is not generally appreciated that this British commander was chosen to head the expedition to destroy the French power in America in 1754 to five because of his distinguished army record. In the battle of Fontanci, for instance, he was colonel in command of the famous Coldstream guards who covered themselves with glory. And shortly before embarking for America, he was made major general of the line. Braddock had won his promotion solely through gallantry and at the time when Lieutenant Colonel C in this crack British regiment sold for 5,000 pounds sterling. Despite his fatal mistake, when not heeding the advice of his aide, Washington in conducting his expedition against Fort Duquesne, Pittsburgh, Braddock regarded Washington and Franklin as the greatest men in the colonies. Meeting the French and Indians on July 9, 1755, the British were routed and Braddock was fatally wounded after having four horses shot under him. Dying four days later at Great Meadows where he is buried, he bequeathed his favorite surviving horse and body servant to Washington than a colonel. A system adopted by the British cabinet for conducting the war in America left to the colonial governments to determine what number of men each should bring into the field but required them to support their own troops and to contribute to the support of those sent from Great Britain to their assistance. But this system could not be enforced. The requisitions of the minister were adopted, rejected or modified at the discretion of the government on which they were made. And as no rule of apportionment had been adopted, each colony was inclined to consider itself as having contributed more than its equal share towards the general object as having received less than its just proportion of the attention and protection of the mother country. This temper produced a slow and reluctant compliance on the part of some, which enfeebled and disconcerted enterprises for the execution of which the resources of several were to be combined. Distress of the frontiers, in the meantime, the whole frontier as far as North Carolina was exposed to the depredations of the savages who were almost universally under the influence of the French. Their bloody incursions were made in all directions and many settlements were entirely broken up. It is a curious and singular fact that while hostilities were thus carried on by the France and England against each other, in America, the relations of peace and amity were preserved between them in Europe. Each nation had in consequence of the military operations in 1754 determined to fit out a considerable armament to aid the efforts made in its colonies. And when it was understood that Admiral Baskawin was ordered to intercept that of France, the Duke de Miropoix, the French ambassador at London complained of the proposed measure and gave formal notice that the king, his master, would consider the first gun fired at sea as a declaration of war. On receiving intelligence of the capture of a part of the squadron by Baskawin, the French minister at the court of St. James was recalled without asking an audience of leave upon which letters of mark and reprise were issued by the British government. This prompt and vigorous measure had much influence on the war, which was declared in form the following spring. General Shirley, on his return to Albany after the close of the campaign in 1755, received a commission appointing him commander-in-chief of the king's forces in North America. A meeting of all the governors was immediately called at New York for the purpose of conserting a plan for the ensuing campaign. Operations equally extensive with those proposed for the preceding campaign were again contemplated to ensure their success. It was determined to raise 10,000 men for the expedition against Crown Point, 6,000 for that against Niagara and 3,000 for that against Fort Duquesne. To favor the operations of this formidable force, it was further determined that 2,000 men should advance up the Kennebec, destroy the settlement on the Chaudière and descending to the mouth of that river, keep all that part of Canada in alarm. In the meantime, it was proposed to take advantage of the season when the lake should be frozen to seize Ticonderoga in order to facilitate the enterprise against Crown Point. This project was defeated by the unusual mildness of the winter and about the middle of January, General Shirley repaired to Boston in order to make the necessary preparations for the ensuing campaign. Such was a solicitude to accomplish the objects in contemplation and so deep an interest did the colonists take in the war that every nerve was strained to raise and equip the number of men required. 1756 command bestowed on Lord Loudon. Having made in Massachusetts all the preparations for the next campaign, so far as depended on the government, Shirley repaired to Albany where he was superseded by Major General Abercrombie who soon afterwards yielded the command to the Earl of Loudon. Early in the year, that nobleman had been appointed to the command of all his Majesty's forces in North America and extensive powers, civil as well as military have been conferred on him, but he did not arrive at Albany until mid-summer. In the spring, the provincial troops destined for the expedition against Crown Point were assembled in the neighborhood of Lake George. They were found not much to exceed 7,000 men and even this number was to be reduced in order to garrison posts in the rear. This armored being too weak to accomplish its object, Major General Winslow who commanded it declared himself unable to proceed on the expedition without reinforcements. The arrival of a body of British troops with General Abercrombie removed this difficulty, but another occurred which still further suspended the enterprise. The regulations respecting rank had given great disgust in America and had rendered it disagreeable and difficult to carry on any military operations which required a junction of British and provincial troops. When consulted on this delicate subject, Winslow assured General Abercrombie of his apprehensions that if the result of the junction should be to place the provincial troops under British officers, it would produce general discontent and perhaps desertion. His officers concurred in this opinion and it was finally agreed that British troops should succeed the provincials in the posts then occupied by them so as to enable the whole colonial force to proceed under Winslow against Crown Point. On the arrival of the Earl of Loudoun, this subject was revived. The question was seriously propounded whether the troops in the several colonies of New England armed with his Majesty's arms would in obedience to his commands signify to them acting conjunction with his European troops or under the command of his commander-in-chief. The colonial officers answered this question in the affirmative, but then treated it as a favor of his lordship as the New England troops have been raised on particular terms that he would permit them so far as might consist with his Majesty's service to act separately. This request was exceeded due but before the army could be put in motion, the attention both of the Europeans and provincials was directed to their own defense. Montcom takes Oswego, Monsieur de Montcom, an able officer who succeeded Diaz-Gault in the command of the French troops in Canada sought to compensate by superior activity for the inferiority of his force while the British and Americans were adjusting their difficulties respecting rank and deliberating whether to attack now Agro or Fort Duquesne, Montcom advanced at the head of about 5,000 Europeans, Canadians and Indians against Oswego. In three days, he brought up his artillery and opened a battery which played on the fort with considerable effect. Colonel Mercer, the commanding officer was killed and in a few hours, the place was declared by the engineers to be no longer tenable. The garrison consisting of the regiments of Shirley and Pepero, amounting to 1,600 men, supplied with provisions for five months, capitulated and became prisoners of war. A respectable naval armament then on the lake was also captured. The fort at Oswego had been erected in the country of the five nations and had been viewed by them with some degree of jealousy. Montcom actuated by a wise policy, destroyed it in their presence declaring at the same time that the French wished only to enable them to preserve their neutrality and would therefore make no other use of the rights of conquest than to demolish the fortresses which the English had erected in their country to over all them. The British general disconcerted at this untoward event, abandoned all his plans of offensive operations. General Winslow was ordered to relinquish his intended expedition and to fortify his camp and endeavor to prevent the enemy from penetrating into the country by the way of South Bay or Wood Creek. Major General Webb with 1,400 men was posted at the great caring place and to secure his rear, Sir William Johnson with 1,000 militia was stationed at the German flats. These dispositions being made, the colonies were strenuously urged to reinforce the army. It was represented to them that should any disaster befall Winslow, the enemy might be enabled to overrun the country unless opposed by force, much superior to that in the field. Smallpox in Albany, during this state of apprehensive inactivity, the smallpox broke out in Albany. This enemy was more dreaded by the provincials than Montcom himself. So great was the alarm that it was found necessary to garrison the posts in that quarter, entirely with British troops and to discharge all the provincials except a regiment raised in New York. Thus germinated for a second time in defeat and utter disappointment, the sanguine hopes which the colonists had formed of a brilliant and successful campaign. After all their expensive and laborious preparations, not an effort had been made to drive the invaders of the country, even from their outpost at Ticonderoga. The expedition to Lake Ontario had not been commenced and no preparations have been made for that against Fort Duquesne. The colonies of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, far from contemplating offensive operations have been unable to defend themselves and their frontiers were exposed to all the horrors of Indian warfare. The expedition of the Canabect was also abandoned, thus no one enterprise contemplated after the opening of the campaign was carried into execution. 1757, about the middle of January, the governors of the Northern provinces were convened in a military council at Boston. The Earl of Loudoun opened his propositions to them with a speech in which he attributed all the disasters that had been sustained to the colonies and in which he proposed that New England should raise 4,000 men for the ensuing campaign. Requisitions proportionably large were also made on New York and New Jersey. Campaign of 1757, the ill success which had thus far attended the combined arms of Great Britain and our colonies did not discourage them, their exertions to bring a powerful force into the field were repeated and the winter was employed in preparations for the ensuing campaign. The requisitions of Lord Loudoun were complied with and he found himself in the spring at the head of a respectable army. Some important enterprise against Canada when the armament expected from Europe should arrive was eagerly anticipated and the most sanguine hopes of success were again entertained. Admiral Hallborn arrives, is joined by Lord Loudoun. In the beginning of July, Admiral Hallborn reached Halifax with a powerful squadron and reinforcement of 5,000 British troops commanded by George by Count Howe and on the 6th of the same month, the Earl of Loudoun sailed from New York with 6,000 regulars. A junction of these formidable armaments was effected without opposition and the Loudoun colonists looked forward with confidence for decisive blow which would shake the power of France and America. The expedition against Louis Bird relinquished. The plan of this campaign varied from that which had been adopted in the preceding years, the vast and complex movements here to for a proposed were no longer contemplated and offensive operations were to be confined to a single object, leaving the posts and the lakes strongly garsened the British general determined to direct his whole disposable force against Louis Bird and fixed on Halifax as the place of rendezvous for the fleet and the army. After assembling the land and naval forces at this place, information was received that a fleet had lately arrived from France and that Louis Bird was so powerfully defended as to render any attempt upon it hopeless. In consequence of this intelligence, the enterprise was deferred until the next year. The general and Admiral returned to New York in August and the provincials were dismissed. The French general feeling no apprehension for Louis Bird determined to avail himself of the absence of a large part of the British force and to obtain complete possession of Lake George. With an army collected chiefly from the garrisons of Crown Point, Ticonderoga and the adjacent forts amounting with the addition of Indians and Canadians to 9,000 men, the Marquis de Montcom laid siege to Fort William Henry. That place was well fortified in garrison by 3,000 men and derived additional security from an army of 4,000 men at Fort Edwards under the command of Major General Webb. For William Henry taken notwithstanding the strength of the place and its means of defense, Montcom urged his approaches with so much vigor that articles of capitulation, surrounding the fort artillery in stores and stipulating that the garrison should not serve against his most Christian majesty or his allies for the space of 18 months were signed within six days after its investment. When this important place was surrendered, the commander-in-chief had not returned from Halifax. General Webb alarmed for Fort Edward applied for reinforcements and yet most exertions were made to furnish the aids he required. The return of the army to New York on the last of August dispelled all fear of an invasion and enabled the general who contemplated no further active operations to dismiss the provincials. Unsuccessful in all his attempts to gather laurels from the common enemy, the Earl of Loudon engaged in a controversy with Massachusetts in the commencement of which he displayed a degree of vigor which had been kept in reserve for two campaigns. This controversy is thus stated by Mr. Minow. About information from the governor that a regiment of highlanders was expected in Boston, the general court provided barracks for the accommodation of 1,000 men at Castle Island, soon afterwards several officers arrived from Nova Scotia to recruit their regiments, finding it impracticable to perform this service while in the barracks at the castle. They applied to the justices of the peas to quarter and billet them as provided by active parliament. The justices refused to grant this request on the principle that the act did not extend to the colonies. When informed of this refusal, Lord Loudon addressed a letter to the justices insisting corrupturally on the right as the act did, in his opinion, extend to America and to every part of the king's dominions where the necessities of the people should oblige him to send his troops. He concluded a long dissertation on the question in the following decisive terms that having used gentleness and patience and confuted their arguments without effect, they having returned to their first mistaken plan, they're not complying, would lay him under the necessity of taking measures to prevent the whole continent from being thrown into a state of confusion as nothing was wanting to set things right, but the justices doing their duty for no act of the assembly was necessary or wanting for it. He had ordered the messenger to remain only 48 hours in Boston. And if on his return he found things not settled, he would instantly order into Boston the three battalions from New York, Long Island and Connecticut. And if more were wanting, he had two in the jerseys at hand besides those in Pennsylvania. As public business obliged him to take another route, he had no more time left to settle this material affair and must take the necessary steps before his departure in case they were not done by themselves. The general court passed a law for the purpose of removing the inconveniences of which the officers complained, but this law not equaling the expectations of Lord Loudon, he communicated his dissatisfaction in a letter to the governor which was laid before the assembly who answered by an address to his excellency in which the spirit of their forefathers seemed to revive. They again asserted that the act of parliament did not extend to the colonies, that they had for this reason enlarged the barracks at the castle and passed a law for the benefit of recruiting parties as near the act of parliament as the circumstances of the country would admit that such a law was necessary to give power to the magistrates and that they were willing to make it whenever his magistrate's troops were necessary for their defense. They asserted their natural rights as Englishmen that by the royal charter, the powers and privileges of civil government were granted to them that their enjoyment of these was their support under all burdens and would animate them to resist and invading enemy to the last. If their adherents do their rights and privileges should in any measure lessen the esteem which his lordship had conceived for them, it would be their great misfortune but that they would have the satisfaction of reflecting that both in their words and actions they had been governed by a sense of duty to his majesty and faithfulness to the trust committed to them. This address being forwarded to Lord Loudon, he effected to rely on their removing all difficulties in future and not only countermandered the march of the troops but condescended to make some conciliatory observations respecting the zeal of the province and his majesty's service. For these, the two houses made an ample return in a message to the governor in which they disavowed any intention of lessening their dependence on parliament and expressed acknowledge the authority of all acts which concerned and extended to the colonies. This explicit avowal of sentiments so different from those which Massachusetts had long cherished respecting her connection with another country would induce a belief that she had recently become more colonial in her opinions. This was probably the fact but Mr. Minow who may be presumed to have been personally acquainted with the transaction does not attribute to that cause entirely. The conciliating temper manifested at the close of a contest which had commenced with such appearances of asparity. Massachusetts had made large advances for the prosecution of the war for which she expected reimbursements from parliament and was not willing at such a juncture to make impressions unfavorable to the success of her claims. End of chapter 11.