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+Project Gutenberg's The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 2 of 2), by George Warburton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 2 of 2)
+
+Author: George Warburton
+
+Release Date: January 6, 2011 [EBook #34862]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONQUEST OF CANADA (VOL 2 OF 2) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dianna Adair, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Graeme
+Mackreth and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by the Digital & Multimedia
+Center, Michigan State University Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+CONQUEST OF CANADA.
+
+
+BY THE AUTHOR OF "HOCHELAGA."
+
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+VOL. II.
+
+ NEW YORK:
+ HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
+ 82 CLIFF STREET.
+ 1850.
+
+
+ THE
+ CONQUEST OF CANADA.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+In the year 1750, commissioners met at Paris to adjust the various
+boundaries of the North American territories, M. de Galissoniere and M.
+de Silhouette on the part of France, and Messrs. Shirley and Mildmay on
+the part of Great Britain. The English commissioners, however, soon
+perceived that there was little chance of arriving at a friendly
+arrangement. The more they advanced in their offers, the more the French
+demanded; futile objections were started, and unnecessary delays
+continued; at length Mr. Shirley[1] and his colleague broke up the
+conference, and returned to England. [1752.] It now became evident that
+a decisive struggle was at hand.
+
+Under the rule of M. de la Jonquiere, a great and growing evil cankered
+the spirit of Canada. The scanty salaries[2] allowed to the government
+officers afforded a great inducement to peculation, especially as the
+remoteness of the colony rendered retribution distant and uncertain. The
+Indian trade opened a field for enormous dishonesty: M. Bigot, the
+intendant, discontented with his inadequate stipend, ventured to farm
+out trade licenses for his own profit and that of his creatures, and
+speedily accumulated considerable wealth; he, the governor, and a few
+others, formed themselves into a company, and monopolized nearly all the
+commerce of the country, to the great indignation of the colonists. M.
+de la Jonquiere and his secretary, St. Sauveur, also kept exclusively to
+themselves the nefarious privilege of supplying brandy to the Indians:
+by this they realized immense profits.
+
+At length a storm of complaints arose against the unworthy governor, and
+even reached the dull ears of his patrons at the court of France. Aware
+that his case would not bear investigation, he demanded his recall; but,
+before a successor could be appointed, he died at Quebec on the 17th of
+May, 1752,[3] aged sixty-seven years. Though not possessed of brilliant
+gifts, M. de la Jonquiere was a man of considerable ability, and had
+displayed notable courage and conduct in many engagements; but a
+miserable avarice stained his character, and he died enormously wealthy,
+while denying himself the ordinary necessaries of his rank and
+situation.[4] Charles Le Moine, Baron de Longueuil, then governor of
+Montreal, being next in seniority, assumed the reins of power until the
+arrival of a successor.
+
+The Marquis du Quesne de Menneville was appointed governor of Canada,
+Louisiana, Cape Breton, &c., on the recall of M. de la Jonquiere in
+1752. He was reputed a man of ability, but was of haughty and austere
+disposition. Galissoniere, who had recommended the appointment,
+furnished him with every information respecting the colony and the
+territorial claims of France: thus instructed, he landed at Quebec in
+August, where he was received with the usual ceremonies.
+
+The orders given to the new governor with regard to the disputed
+boundaries were such as to leave little doubt on his mind that the sword
+alone could enable him to secure their execution, and the character of
+his stubborn though unwarlike rivals promised a determined resistance to
+his views.[5] His first attention was therefore directed to the
+military resources of his command. He forthwith organized the militia[6]
+of Quebec and Montreal under efficient officers, and attached bodies of
+artillery to the garrison of each city; the militia of the country
+parishes next underwent a careful inspection, and nothing was neglected
+to strengthen the efficiency of his army.
+
+In 1753, several French detachments were sent to the banks of the
+Ohio,[7] with orders to establish forts, and to secure the alliance of
+the Indians by liberal presents and splendid promises. The wily savages,
+however, quickly perceived that the rival efforts of the two great
+European powers would soon lead to a war of which their country must be
+the scene, and they endeavored, to the utmost of their ability, to rid
+themselves of both their dangerous visitors. Disregarding these efforts
+and entreaties, both the English and French advanced nearer to each
+other, and the latter fortified several posts upon the Allegany and the
+Ohio. When the hostile designs of France became thus apparent, Mr.
+Dinwiddie, governor of Virginia,[8] which was the most exposed of the
+British provinces, undertook to check these aggressions, upon his own
+responsibility, and formed a regiment of militia for the purpose. A
+small detachment, raised by the Ohio Company, was immediately sent to
+protect the traders, and take possession of the Forks of the Ohio and
+Monongahela, the precise spot where the first efforts of the French
+would probably be made. They had scarcely begun the erection of a fort,
+when M. de Contrecoeur, with 1200 men, arrived from Venango in 300
+canoes, drove them from the ground,[9] and completed and occupied their
+fortification: to this since well-known spot he gave the name of Fort du
+Quesne.[10] In the mean time the Virginia militia marched to the aid of
+the English, and met them on their retreat at Will's Creek; the colonel
+of this body had died soon after it took the field, and the command
+devolved upon the officer next in seniority--GEORGE WASHINGTON, the
+father of the Great Republic.
+
+To gain intelligence of the movements of the Virginians, frequent
+expeditions were dispatched from Fort du Quesne. [1754.] One of these,
+forty-five in number, commanded by M. Jumonville,[11] was surprised by
+Colonel Washington, and destroyed or captured with the exception of one
+man.[12] The victors immediately proceeded to intrench themselves on the
+scene of action, a place called Little Meadows, with the view of holding
+their ground till re-enforcements should arrive: they gave to their
+little stronghold the name of Fort Necessity. They were soon after
+joined by the remainder of the Virginia militia and a company from South
+Carolina, which raised their strength to about 400 men. When M. de
+Contrecoeur received intelligence of Jumonville's disaster, he sent M.
+de Villiers, with 1000 regular troops and 100 Indians, to obtain
+satisfaction. Colonel Washington resolved to await the attack in the
+fort, and trust to the arrival of some troops promised by the state of
+New York for his relief. He was, however, so warmly assailed by the
+French on the 3d of July, that he found it necessary to surrender the
+same evening, stipulating to march out with all the honors of war, and
+every thing in his possession except the artillery. The capitulation[13]
+was scarcely signed when it was most shamefully broken, the baggage was
+plundered, the horses and cattle destroyed, and the officers detained
+for some time as prisoners. At length Colonel Washington retired as he
+best might, and met at Winchester the re-enforcements that but a day
+before would have enabled him to stem the tide of French usurpation: he
+was then, however, fain to content himself with erecting Fort
+Cumberland[14] at Will's Creek, where he held his ground.
+
+Meanwhile the governor of the British colonies transmitted reports of
+these events to London, and the embassador[15] at Paris was instructed
+to remonstrate firmly against the French aggressions in America; but
+that court disregarded these communications, and took no further pains
+to conceal their hostile intentions. They publicly gave orders for the
+speedy re-enforcement of their colonies, especially Quebec, with men and
+military stores, and prepared to follow up with vigor the success at
+Fort Necessity.
+
+The English government only noticed these formidable preparations by
+letters of instruction to their colonial authorities, ordering them to
+unite for their common defense, and encouraging them to resist every
+aggression, without, however, furnishing any assistance. Commissioners
+were also appointed to meet the Indian chiefs in congress at Albany, and
+to endeavor to secure those important allies to the British power. The
+red warriors did not display much enthusiasm in the cause, but finally
+they accepted the presents offered them, and expressed a desire to
+receive vigorous assistance from the English to drive the French from
+their invaded hunting grounds. At this congress a general union of the
+funds and forces of the colonies was proposed, but clashing interests in
+comparatively unimportant matters defeated these salutary designs.
+
+While this congress continued its almost useless deliberations, Governor
+Shirley, of Massachusetts, marched upon the Kennebec River with about
+1000 men, and erected forts at the most exposed points to secure the
+northeastern frontier; he also accomplished the important object of
+gaining the confidence of the Indians, and their consent to his military
+occupation of the country. During the remainder of the year he
+repeatedly represented to the English ministry[16] the dangerous
+condition of the colonies, and the urgent need of powerful assistance to
+defeat the hostility of France. Shirley's appeal was successful; two
+regiments--Halket's, the 44th, and Dunbar's, the 48th, were ordered from
+Ireland to America,[17] and Major-general Braddock was appointed to the
+command of all the British forces on the Western continent; the governor
+of Massachusetts was at the same time thanked by the king, and empowered
+to concert measures for attacking the French settlements in the Bay of
+Fundy. The disbanded colonial regiments, Shirley's and Pepperel's, were
+also re-established, and recruits were rapidly raised through the
+several provinces to form an army for the approaching war.
+
+General Braddock arrived by the end of February, 1755, and immediately
+convened the governors of the different British colonies to meet him in
+council at Alexandria, in Virginia, on the 14th of April. It appeared
+his orders from home[18] were positive that he should at once move upon
+Fort du Quesne, notwithstanding the danger, difficulty, and expense of
+carrying the war across the rugged barrier of the Allegany Mountains,
+instead of assailing the Canadian settlements, where the facility of
+transport by water, and their proximity to his resources, offered him
+every advantage. However, no alternative remained, and he obeyed. At the
+same time, Shirley's and Pepperel's newly-raised regiments[19] were
+directed upon Niagara, and a strong body of provincial troops,
+commanded by General Johnson, was commissioned to attack the French
+position of Fort Frederic, called by the English Crown Point.
+
+While these plans were being carried out, Colonel Monckton,[20] with
+Colonel Winslow, marched against the French settlements in the Bay of
+Fundy; their force of nearly 3000 men was aided by the presence on the
+coast of Captain Rous, with three frigates and a sloop. The Acadian
+peasants,[21] and some regular troops with a few cannon, endeavored to
+oppose his passage at the River Massaquash, but were speedily
+overpowered. Thence he moved upon Fort Beau-sejour, and forced the
+garrison to capitulate after a bombardment[22] of four days. He left
+some troops to defend this position, which he now called Fort
+Cumberland, and proceeded the next day to a small intrenchment on the
+River Gaspereau, where the French had established their principal depot
+for the Indian trade, and the stores of arms, ammunition, and
+provisions; he then disarmed the peasantry to the number of 15,000 men.
+At the same time Captain Rous destroyed all the works erected by the
+French on the River St. John. By this expedition the possession of the
+extensive province of Nova Scotia was secured to the British crown
+almost without the loss of a man.
+
+The court of France in the mean time hastened the equipment of a
+considerable fleet at Brest, under the orders of Admiral Bois de la
+Mothe. On board were several veteran regiments, commanded by the Baron
+Dieskau, who had distinguished himself under the celebrated Marshal
+Saxe.
+
+The Marquis du Quesne had demanded his recall from the government of
+Canada, with the view of re-entering the naval service of France. His
+departure caused little regret, for though his management of public
+affairs was skillful and judicious, a haughty and domineering temper had
+made him generally unpopular in the colony. The Marquis de Vaudreuil de
+Cavagnac was appointed his successor, at the request of the Canadian
+people, who fondly hoped to enjoy, under the rule of the son of their
+favorite, the same prosperity and peace which had characterized his
+father's administration. The new governor, who arrived in M. de la
+Mothe's fleet, was received with great demonstrations of joy by the
+inhabitants of Quebec.
+
+Hearing of these hostile preparations, the English ministry, in the
+month of April, 1755, dispatched Admiral Boscawen, with eleven sail of
+the line, to watch the French squadron, although at the time no formal
+declaration of war had been made. The rival armaments reached the Banks
+of Newfoundland almost at the same time: the friendly fogs of those
+dreary latitudes saved De la Mothe's fleet; two of his vessels, indeed,
+fell into the hands of his enemies,[23] but the remainder entered the
+Canadian ports in safety. On the news of this attack reaching Paris, M.
+de Mirepoix, the embassador, was recalled from London, and loud
+complaints were made by the French against Boscawen's conduct. On the
+part of Great Britain it was answered, that the aggressions of the
+Canadians in Virginia justified the act of hostility.[24]
+
+On the 8th of May General Braddock joined the head-quarters of the army
+at a village on the Potomac; on the 10th he marched to Will's Creek, and
+encamped on a hill near Fort Cumberland. Here he remained till the 28th,
+passing the time in horse-races, reviews, and conferences with the
+Indians. These red warriors were astonished at the number of the
+British, their uniform dress, and their arms, the regularity of their
+march, the tremendous effect of their artillery, and the strange noises
+of their drums and fifes; but, unfortunately, the haughty general was
+not wise enough to conciliate his important allies, or to avail himself
+of their experience in forest warfare; he, however, with disdainful
+generosity, gave them numerous presents, and provided the warriors with
+arms and clothing.
+
+The force now assembled in camp at Fort Cumberland consisted of the 44th
+(Sir Peter Halket's) and the 48th (Colonel Dunbar's) regiments, each of
+700 men, with three New York and Carolina companies of 100, and ten of
+Virginia and Maryland (fifty strong), a troop of Provincial light horse,
+thirty seamen, and twelve pieces of field artillery: in all, 2300
+men.[25] The Delawares and other friendly Indians, whose services were
+unfortunately so lightly valued, added considerably to the numbers of
+this formidable body.
+
+Braddock was aware that the French garrison of Fort du Quesne only
+numbered 200 men, and earnestly desired to advance in early spring with
+his overwhelming force, but by an unfortunate exercise of corrupt
+influence at home his troops had been ordered to land in Virginia, where
+the inhabitants, altogether engrossed with the culture of tobacco, were
+unable to supply the necessary provisions and means of transport. Had
+they been landed in the agricultural state of Pennsylvania, all demands
+could have been readily supplied, their march shortened, and a large
+outlay saved to the British government. When the general found that the
+Virginians could not meet his views, he made a requisition on the
+neighboring state for 150 wagons, 300 horses, and a large quantity of
+forage and provisions: these were readily promised, but not a tenth part
+arrived at the appointed time. His disappointment was, however, somewhat
+mitigated by a small supply which Mr. Franklin sent shortly after from
+Philadelphia. By the exertions of this energetic man, Braddock was at
+length furnished with all his requisitions,[26] and then prepared to
+advance.
+
+The unfortunate selection of the chief of this expedition was, however,
+more fatal than difficulty[27] or delay; his character was unsuited for
+such a command in every point except that of personal courage: haughty,
+self-sufficient, and overbearing, he estranged the good-will, and
+rejected the counsel of his Indian and Provincial allies.[28] His troops
+were harassed by the endeavor to enforce a formal and rigid discipline,
+which the nature of the service rendered impracticable. Through the
+tangled and trackless passes of the Alleganies, he adhered with stubborn
+bigotry to a system of operations only suited to the open plains of
+civilized Europe. But his greatest and worst error was to despise his
+foe: in spite of the warnings of the Duke of Cumberland, his patron and
+friend, he scorned to take precautions against the dangerous ambush of
+the American savage.
+
+On the 29th, Major Chapman, with 600 men and two guns, marched from the
+camp: Sir John St. Clair, quarter-master general, some engineers, and
+seamen, accompanied this detachment to clear the roads and reconnoiter
+the country. From that time till the 10th of June an incredible amount
+of useless and harassing toil was wasted in widening and leveling the
+forest paths, and erecting unnecessarily elaborate bridges. At length,
+on the 10th, Braddock followed with the rest of his army, and reached
+the Little Meadows that night, a distance of twenty-two miles. In spite
+of the facilities afforded by the labors of the pioneers, great
+difficulty was experienced in the conveyance of the heavy stores. During
+the route still to be pursued, where no preparations had been made,
+greater delays were to be expected. At the same time the general was
+stimulated to activity by information that the French soon expected a
+re-enforcement at Fort du Quesne of 500 regular troops; with more of
+energy than he had yet displayed,[29] he selected 1200 men, and taking
+also ten guns, the seamen, and some indispensable supplies of provisions
+and ammunition, he pushed boldly on into the pathless and almost unknown
+solitudes of the Alleganies. Colonel Dunbar, with the rest of the army
+and the heavy luggage, followed as they best might.
+
+To trace the unfortunate Braddock through his tedious march of 130 miles
+would be wearisome and unnecessary. His progress was retarded by useless
+labors in making roads, or rather tracks, and yet no prudent caution was
+observed; he persisted in refusing or neglecting the offers of the
+Provincials and Indians to scour the woods and explore the passes in his
+front.[30] Sir Peter Halket and other British officers ventured to
+remonstrate in strong terms against the dangerous carelessness of the
+march, but their instances seemed only to confirm the obstinate
+determination of the general. Washington, who acted as his aid-de-camp,
+also urged an alteration of arrangement, and with such vehement
+pertinacity that the irritated chief ordered his Virginian companies to
+undertake the inglorious duties of the rear-guard.
+
+M. de Contrecoeur, commandant of Fort du Quesne, had received
+information of all Braddock's movements from the Indians. With the view
+of embarrassing the English advance rather than of offering any serious
+resistance, he dispatched M. de Beaujeu, with 250 of the marine, or
+colony troops, toward the line of march which Braddock was expected to
+take; this detachment was afterward strengthened by about 600 Indians,
+principally Outamacs, and the united force took up a favorable position,
+where the underwood and long grass concealed them from the approaching
+enemy.
+
+Intelligence of a contradictory nature as to the strength and movements
+of the French had been every day carried to the unfortunate Braddock by
+Indians professing to be his friends, and by doubly traitorous
+deserters. Still, under a fatal conviction of security, he had pursued
+his march, meeting with no interruption, except in taking "eight or nine
+scalps, a number much inferior to expectation." On the 8th of July,
+following the winding course which the difficulty of the country
+rendered necessary, he crossed the Monongahela River, encamped upon the
+bank at the opposite side from Fort du Quesne, and sent Sir John St.
+Clair forward to reconnoiter the enemy's fort. The quarter-master
+general was successful in attaining the desired information: he reported
+that the defenses were of timber, and that a small eminence lay close
+by, from whence red-hot shot could easily be thrown upon the wooden
+parapets.
+
+At seven in the morning of the 9th of July, an advance guard of 400 men,
+under Colonel Gage, pushed on and took possession of the fords of the
+river, where it was necessary to recross, unopposed, but somewhat
+alarmed by the ominous appearance of a few Indians among the neighboring
+thickets. A little before mid-day the main body began to cross the broad
+stream with "colors flying, drums beating, and fifes playing the
+Grenadiers' March:" they formed rapidly on the opposite side, and, not
+having been interrupted in the difficult passage, recommenced their
+march in presumptuous security.
+
+Three guides and six light horsemen led the way toward Fort du Quesne,
+through an open space in the forest, followed by the grenadiers of the
+44th and 48th: flanking parties skirted the edge of the woods on both
+sides. The 44th regiment succeeded with two guns; behind them were the
+48th, with the rest of the artillery and the general: the Virginian
+companies, in unwilling obedience, sullenly brought up the rear. In this
+order they advanced with as much regularity as the rough road permitted.
+When within seven miles of the fort, they left a steep conical hill to
+the right, and directed their march upon the extremity of the open
+space, where the path disappeared between the thickly-wooded banks of a
+small brook: so far all went well.
+
+At length the guides and the light horse entered the "bush" in front and
+descended the slope toward the stream, while a number of axmen set
+vigorously to work felling the trees and clearing the underwood for the
+advance of the army, the grenadiers acting as a covering party. Suddenly
+from the dark ravine in front flashed out a deadly volley, and before
+the rattle of the musketry had ceased to echo, three fourths of the
+British advance lay dead and dying on the ground. The French had coolly
+taken aim from their unseen position, and singled out the officers with
+fatal effect, for every one was killed or wounded in that first
+discharge; only two-and-twenty of the grenadiers remained untouched;
+they hastily fired upon the copse containing their still invisible foes,
+then turned and fled. One of these random shots struck down the French
+chief, De Beaujeu, and for a short time checked the enemy's triumph. He
+was dressed like an Indian, but wore a large gorgiton to denote his
+rank. At the moment of his death he was waving his hat and cheering his
+men on at a running pace.
+
+Braddock instantly advanced the 44th regiment to succor the front, and
+endeavored to deploy upon the open space, but simultaneously on all
+sides from the thick covert burst the war-whoop of the Indians, and a
+deadly fire swept away the head of every formation. The 44th staggered
+and hesitated. Sir Peter Halket and his son,[31] a lieutenant in the
+regiment, while cheering; them on, were shot dead side by side;
+Braddock's horse was killed, and two of his aids-de-camp wounded; the
+artillery, although without orders,[32] pressed to the front, and their
+leading guns plied the thickets with grape and canister, but in a few
+minutes all the officers and most of the gunners were stretched bleeding
+on the field. The broken remnant of the grenadiers who had formed the
+advance now fell back upon the disordered line, and threw it into utter
+confusion.
+
+With stubborn purpose and useless courage the general strove to re-form
+his ruined ranks; most of the officers nobly stood by him, but the
+soldiers were seized with uncontrollable terror. Assailed on every side
+by foes, unseen save when a savage rushed out from his woody stronghold
+to tear the scalp from some fallen Englishman, they lost all order, and
+fell back upon the 48th, which was now rapidly advancing to their aid
+under Colonel Burton. Braddock, with these fresh troops, made several
+desperate efforts to gain possession of the conical hill, from whence a
+strong body of the French galled him intolerably, but his well-drilled
+ranks were broken by the close trees and rocks, and shattered by the
+flanking fire of the Indians. Again and again he endeavored to rally the
+now panic-stricken soldiers, without, however, any effectual movement of
+advance or retreat. His ill-judged valor was vain; the carnage
+increased, and with it his confusion. At length, after having had four
+horses shot under him, while still encouraging his men, a bullet
+shattered his arm and passed through his lungs. The luckless but gallant
+chief was placed in a wagon by Colonel Gage and hurried to the rear,
+although he was "very solicitous to be left on the field."[33]
+
+The remains of the two British regiments now broke into utter disorder
+and fled, leaving all the artillery and baggage[34] in the hands of the
+enemy, and, worst of all, many of their wounded comrades, who were
+scalped by the Indians without mercy. This horrible occupation, and the
+plunder of the wagons, for a time interrupted the pursuers, and enabled
+Colonel Washington, the only mounted officer still unwounded, to rally
+the Virginian companies, who had as yet borne little share in the
+action. He succeeded in holding the banks of the Monongahela River[35]
+till the fugitives had passed, and then himself retired in tolerable
+order. One of his captains was Horatio Gates, afterward Burgoyne's
+conqueror in the Revolutionary war. This young officer distinguished
+himself by courage and conduct in the retreat, and was carried from the
+field severely wounded.
+
+The routed army fled all through the night, and joined Colonel Dunbar
+the following evening at a distance of nearly fifty miles from the scene
+of their defeat.[36] Braddock ordered that the retreat should be
+immediately continued, which his lieutenant readily obeyed, as his
+troops were infected with the terror of the fugitives. A great quantity
+of stores were hurriedly destroyed, that the wounded officers and
+soldiers might have transport, and the remaining artillery was spiked
+and abandoned. The unfortunate general's sufferings increased hourly,
+aggravated by the most intense mental anguish. On the 12th of July,
+conscious of the approach of death, he dictated a dispatch acquitting
+his officers of all blame, and recommending them to the favor of his
+country: that night his proud and gallant heart ceased to beat. His
+dying words expressed that astonishment at his defeat which had
+continued to the last: "Who would have thought it! we shall know better
+how to deal with them another time."[37]
+
+May he sleep in peace! With sorrow and censure, but not with shame, let
+his name be registered in the crowded roll of those who have fought and
+fallen for the rights and honor of England.
+
+The number of killed, wounded, and missing, out of this small army,
+amounted to 896 men, and sixty-four officers, as appeared by the returns
+of the different companies after the battle. Some few, indeed, of these
+ultimately reappeared, but most of the wounded and missing met with a
+fate far more terrible from their savage enemies than a soldier's death
+upon the field. Of fifty-four women who had accompanied the troops, only
+four escaped alive from the dangers and hardships of the campaign. The
+French, on the other hand, only report the loss of their commander, De
+Beaujeu, and sixty men in this astonishing victory.
+
+On Braddock's death, Colonel Dunbar fell back with disgraceful haste
+upon Fort Cumberland; nor did he even there consider himself safe.
+Despite the entreaties of the governors of Virginia, Maryland, and
+Pennsylvania, that he would remain to protect the frontier, he continued
+his march to Philadelphia, leaving only a small garrison of two
+Provincial companies at the fort. From Philadelphia the remains of the
+army, 1600 strong, was shipped for Albany by the order of General
+Shirley, who had succeeded to the command of the British American
+forces.
+
+In consequence of this lamentable defeat and the injudicious withdrawal
+of the remaining British troops, the western borders of Pennsylvania and
+Virginia were exposed during the ensuing winter to the ruthless
+cruelties of the victorious savages, and the scarcely less ferocious
+hostilities of their European allies. The French not only incited the
+Indians to these aggressions, but rewarded them by purchasing their
+hapless captives at a high price, and in turn exacted large ransoms for
+the prisoners' release. Their pretense was to rescue the English from
+the torture, their real motive gain, and the rendering it more
+profitable for the savages to hunt their enemies than the wild animals
+of the forest.
+
+From the presumptuous rashness of Braddock and the misconduct of the
+44th and 48th regiments,[38] followed results of a far deeper importance
+than the loss of a battle and the injury of a remote province. The
+conviction formerly held by the colonists of the superior prowess of
+English regulars was seriously shaken, if not destroyed, and the
+licentious and violent conduct of Dunbar's army to the inhabitants
+during the retreat excited a wide-spread feeling of hostility. "They are
+more terrible, to us than to the enemy," said the discontented: "they
+slighted our officers and scorned our counsel, and yet to our Virginians
+they owe their escape from utter destruction." Some far-sighted and
+ambitious men there were, who, through this cloud upon the British
+arms, with hope espied the first faint rays of young America's ascending
+star.
+
+The second expedition, set on foot by the council at Alexandria, was
+that under General Shirley: two Provincial regiments[39] and a
+detachment of the royal artillery were assembled by his order at Albany,
+to march against Niagara.[40] All the young men who had been, during
+more peaceful times, occupied by the fur trade in the neighboring
+country, were engaged to man the numerous bateaux for the transport of
+the troops and stores to Oswego. Part of the force commenced their
+westward journey in the beginning of July, and the remainder were
+preparing to follow, when the disastrous news of Braddock's ruin reached
+the camp. This struck a damp upon the undisciplined Provincial troops,
+and numbers deserted their colors, while the indispensable
+bateaux-men[41] nearly all fled to their homes, and resisted alike
+threats and entreaties for their return. The general, however, still
+vigorously pushed on, with all the force he could keep together. Great
+hopes had been formed of the assistance likely to be rendered to the
+expedition by the powerful confederacy of the Five Nations, but these
+politic savages showed no inclination to trust to the then doubtful
+fortunes of the British colonies, and even remonstrated against the
+transit of their territories by the army, alleging that the Oswego fort
+was established and tolerated by them as a trading-post,[42] but not as
+a place of arms for hostile purposes. After having undergone
+considerable hardships and overcome great difficulties, Shirley reached
+Oswego by the 18th of August:[43] his whole force, however, had not
+arrived till the end of the month. Want of supplies and the lateness of
+the season defeated his intention of attacking Niagara that year. On the
+24th of October he withdrew from the shores of Lake Ontario, without
+having accomplished any thing of the slightest importance. Leaving 700
+men under Colonel Mercer to complete and occupy the defenses of Oswego,
+and those of a new fort to be called Fort Ontario, he retraced the
+difficult route to his old quarters at Albany.[44]
+
+The expedition against Crown Point was the last in commencement of those
+planned by the council at Albany, but the first in success. By the
+advice of Shirley, the command was intrusted to William Johnson,[45] an
+Irishman by birth. This remarkable man had emigrated to New York at an
+early age, and by uncommon gifts of mind and body, united to ardent
+ambition, had risen from the condition of a private soldier, to wealth,
+consideration, and a seat at the council-board of his adopted country.
+For some years he had been settled on the fertile banks of the Mohawk
+River, where he had built two handsome residences and acquired a large
+estate. He associated himself intimately with the Indians of the Five
+Nations, learned their language, habits, and feelings, and gained their
+affection and respect. In war, he was their chief and leader; in peace,
+the persevering advocate of their rights and interests. Accordingly,
+when called to the command of the army, Hendrick, a Mohawk sachem, and
+300 warriors of that tribe, followed him to the camp.
+
+General Johnson had never seen a campaign, his troops had never seen an
+enemy, with the exception of a few companies that had shared the glories
+of Louisburg, but his ability and courage, and their zeal and spirit,
+served instead of experience. To this force was intrusted the most
+difficult undertaking in the checkered campaign, and it alone gained a
+share of honor and success.
+
+By the end of June, 6000 men, the hardy militia of the Northern
+States,[46] had mustered at Albany under Johnson's command. He soon
+after sent them forward, with Major-general Lyman, to the carrying-place
+between Lake George and the Hudson River, sixty miles in advance. Here
+they established a post called Fort Edward, in a strong position, while
+the artillery, provisions, and boats for the campaign were being
+prepared under the general's eye. Toward the end of August, Johnson
+joined his army at the carrying-place, and proceeded to the southern
+extremity of Lake George, leaving Colonel Blanchard with 300 men to
+garrison the newly-erected fort.
+
+Here all the Indian scouts brought the news that the French had
+intrenched themselves at Ticonderoga, on the promontory between the
+Lakes George and Champlain, but that the works were still incomplete.
+Johnson promptly prepared for the offensive; soon, however, his plans
+were changed by the news of Baron Dieskau's arrival on the lake with a
+considerable force of regular troops from Old France. The well-known
+ability and courage of the enemy, together with his formidable force,
+alarmed Johnson for the safety of the British settlements; he therefore
+immediately dispatched an earnest entreaty for re-enforcements to the
+provincial governments, who loyally responded to the appeal, but the
+danger had passed before their aid reached the scene of action.
+
+Baron Dieskau had been ordered to reduce the Fort of Oswego, on Lake
+Ontario, as the primary object of his campaign; but, on hearing that a
+British force was in motion upon Lake George, he determined first to
+check or destroy them, and pressed on rapidly against Johnson with 2000
+men, chiefly Canadians and Indians. The English chief was apprized of
+this movement, but could form no estimate of the enemy's strength, his
+savage informants being altogether ignorant of the science of numbers:
+he nevertheless made every possible preparation for defense, and warned
+Colonel Blanchard to concentrate all his little force within the fort:
+that officer was, however, slain in the mean time by an advance party of
+the French.
+
+Johnson now summoned a council of war, which recommended the rash step
+of dispatching a force of 1000 men and the Mohawk Indians to check the
+enemy: Colonel Ephraim Williams was placed in command of the detachment.
+Hardly had they advanced three miles from the camp, when suddenly they
+were almost surrounded by the French, and, after a gallant but hopeless
+combat, utterly routed, with the loss of their leader, Hendrick, the
+Indian chief, and many of the men. The victors, although they had also
+suffered in the sharp encounter, pursued with spirit, till checked near
+the camp by Colonel Cole and 300 men, sent by Johnson in the direction
+of the firing. By this delay the British were enabled to strengthen
+their defenses, and to recover, in some measure, from the confusion of
+their disaster. The most vigorous efforts of the officers were needed to
+overcome the panic caused by Williams's defeat and death, and by their
+ignorance of the advancing enemy's force.
+
+After a brief pause, Dieskau made a spirited attack upon the British
+intrenchments, but his Canadians and Indians were suddenly checked by
+Johnson's guns;[47] they at once gave way, and, inclining to the right
+and left, contented themselves with keeping up a harmless fire on the
+flanks of the works. The French regulars, however, bravely maintained
+their ground, although surprised by the strength of Johnson's position,
+and damped by finding it armed with artillery. But they could not long
+bear the brunt alone; after several gallant attacks, the few remaining
+still unhurt also dispersed in the forest, leaving their leader mortally
+wounded on the field.[48] Early in the action General Johnson had
+received a painful wound, and was obliged unwillingly to retire to his
+tent; the command then devolved upon Lyman, who pursued the routed enemy
+for a short distance with great slaughter. The French loss in this
+disastrous action was little short of 800 men, and their regular troops
+were nearly destroyed.
+
+The Canadians and Indians, who had fled almost unharmed, halted that
+evening at the scene of Williams's defeat to scalp the dead and dying.
+Finding they were not molested, they prepared for rest and refreshment,
+and even debated upon the renewal of the attack. The heavy loss already
+sustained by the English (upward of 200 men), and the consequent
+disorganization, prevented them from following up their victory: this
+forced inaction had well-nigh proved the destruction of 120 men sent
+from Fort Edward to their aid under Captain Macginnis. This gallant
+officer, however, had secured his march by every proper precaution, and
+was warned by his scouts that he was close upon the spot where the still
+formidable enemy was bivouacked. He promptly formed his little band, and
+sustained a sharp engagement for nearly two hours, extricating his
+detachment at length with little loss, and much honor to himself. The
+brave young man was, however, mortally wounded, and died three days
+afterward in Johnson's camp. The remnant of the French army then
+dispersed, and sought shelter at Ticonderoga.[49]
+
+Though the brilliance of this success was obscured by the somewhat timid
+inaction that followed,[50] the consequences were of great importance.
+The English troops, it must be owned, were become so accustomed to
+defeat and disaster, that they went into action spiritless and
+distrustful. Now that a formidable force of the enemy had yielded to
+their prowess, confidence began to revive, and gradually strengthened
+into boldness. Had the French been successful in their attack, the
+results would have been most disastrous for the British colonies:
+nothing would have remained to arrest their progress into the heart of
+the country, or stem the tide of ruin that had followed on their track.
+The value of this unusual triumph on the Western continent was duly felt
+in England: a baronetcy by royal favor, and a grant of L5000 by a
+grateful Parliament, rewarded the successful general.
+
+General Johnson turned his attention immediately after the battle to
+strengthen the position he had successfully held, with the view of
+securing the frontiers from hostile incursion when he should retire into
+winter quarters. The fort called William Henry[51] was forthwith
+constructed by his orders; guns were mounted, and a regiment of
+Provincial troops, with a company of rangers, left to garrison it and
+Fort Edward. On the 24th of December Johnson fell back to Albany, and
+from thence dispersed the remainder of his army to their respective
+provinces. In the mean time, Captain Rogers, a daring and active
+officer, made repeated demonstrations against the French in the
+neighborhood of Crown Point,[52] cut off many of their detached parties,
+and obtained constant intelligence of their proceedings. By these means
+it was known that the French had assembled a force of no less than 2000
+men, with a proportion of artillery, and a considerable body of Indians,
+at Ticonderoga; the British were therefore obliged to use every
+vigilance to secure themselves against sudden attack from their
+formidable enemies, and to hasten, by all means in their power, the
+preparations for defense.
+
+The fatal consequences of the unfortunate Braddock's defeat were rapidly
+developed in the southwestern frontiers. The French were aroused by
+success to an unusual spirit of enterprise, and, together with the
+Indians, they carried destruction into the remote and scattered hamlets
+of the British settlements. To put an end to these depredations, the
+government of Virginia marched 500 men to garrison Fort Cumberland, and
+160 more to the southern branch of the Potomac, lately the scene of a
+cruel massacre. But these isolated efforts were of little more than
+local and temporary advantage; as the marauders were checked or baffled
+in one district, they poured with increased ferocity upon another. The
+province of Pennsylvania now became their foray-ground; and the
+inhabitants, the faithful but fanatic men of peace, actually denied all
+assistance to their governor for defense, and zealously preached against
+any warlike preparations, recommending patience and forbearance as the
+best means of securing their properties and lives.
+
+This fatal delusion was not even dispelled by the intelligence that 1400
+Indians and 100 French were already mustered on the banks of the
+Susquehanna, only eighty miles from Philadelphia, with the object of
+again dividing and sweeping the whole country in separate parties. Soon
+after, news arrived that the peaceful and prosperous settlement of Great
+Cove was utterly destroyed, and all the inhabitants massacred or carried
+into captivity. Still the men of peace refused to use the arm of flesh.
+The spirited governor in vain urged the necessity of action upon his
+unmanageable Assembly, till the sudden arrival of some hundreds of
+ruined fugitives strengthened his argument. These unfortunates crowded
+to the State House, dragging a wagon loaded with the dead and mutilated
+bodies of their friends, who had been scalped by the Indians at a place
+only sixty miles distant; they threw the bleeding corpses at the door,
+and threatened violence if their demands for protection and revenge were
+not instantly complied with. The Assembly, either moved by their
+distress, or overawed by their menaces, at length gave up its scruples,
+and passed a bill to call out the militia and appropriate L62,000 to the
+expenses of the war.
+
+It must be said, at the same time, that the other English colonies,
+where no such scruples as those of the Quakers existed, were far from
+being active or united in raising supplies of men and money for their
+common safety. Those, however, where danger was most imminent,
+addressed strong and spirited appeals to their rulers for protection and
+support, and denounced in vigorous language the aggressions and
+usurpations of the French. These remonstrances had at length the desired
+effect of disposing the minds of the local authorities to second the
+views of the court of London for curbing the advances of Canadian power.
+On the 12th of December, 1755, a grand council of war was assembled at
+New York, consisting of as many provincial governors and superior
+officers as could be collected for the purpose. General Shirley
+presided, and laid before them the instructions which had been given to
+Braddock, his unfortunate predecessor. He exerted himself with energy
+and success to create a good understanding among the several
+governments, and was particularly happy in effecting a union for mutual
+protection and support between the important states of New England and
+New York. He also succeeded in regaining to his cause many of the
+Indians, who had either already gone over to the French or withdrawn to
+a cold neutrality.
+
+The measures Shirley now proposed to the council were in accordance with
+the tenor of General Braddock's instructions; they were cheerfully
+assented to by that body, through his successful negotiations. It was
+agreed to strengthen the naval force on Lake Ontario, and to form an
+army of 6000 men upon its shores, while 10,000 more were to be directed
+against the French intrenchments at Ticonderoga. Another attempt was
+also proposed upon Fort du Quesne, and a movement against the Canadian
+settlements on the Chaudiere, provided that these schemes should not
+interfere with the main objects of the war. The council then unanimously
+gave their opinion that a re-enforcement of regular soldiers was
+indispensable for the assertion and security of the British sovereign's
+rights on the American continent.
+
+The English government,[53] though sensible of General Shirley's
+abilities as a negotiator, had not sufficient confidence in his military
+capacity to intrust him with the execution of extensive warlike
+operations. The command in chief of all the forces in America was
+therefore conferred upon the Earl of Loudon, a nobleman of amiable
+character, who had already distinguished himself in the service of his
+country.[54]
+
+[Footnote 1: Mr. Shirley was born in England, and brought up to the law.
+In that profession he afterward practiced for many years in the
+Massachusetts Bay, and in 1741 was advanced to the supreme command of
+that colony. Upon the conclusion of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle he was
+chosen as one of the British commissioners at Paris, and when the
+conference there broke up, he resumed his government in New England (in
+1753).]
+
+[Footnote 2: "The salaries allotted to the officers of the civil
+departments in the French colonial governments were extremely moderate,
+and inadequate to support their respective situations. In 1758, that of
+the Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor and lieutenant general of Canada,
+amounted to no more than L272 1_s._ 8_d._ sterling, out of which he was
+to clothe, maintain, and pay a guard for himself, consisting of two
+sergeants and twenty-five soldiers, furnishing them with firing in
+winter, and with other necessary articles. The pay of the whole officers
+of justice and police was L514 11_s._ sterling, and the total sum
+appropriated for the pay of the established officers, composing the
+various branches of the civil power, did not exceed L3809 8_s._
+sterling."--Heriot's _Travels in Canada_, p. 98.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "On the 1st January of this year England adopted the New
+Style, which had been long before in use among all civilized nations
+except Russia and Sweden. They, with England, still clung to the
+exploded system, for no better reason, apparently, than because it was a
+Pope who established the new. 'It was not, in my opinion,' writes
+Chesterfield, 'very honorable for England to remain in gross and avowed
+error, especially in such company.' The bill for the reformation of the
+calendar was moved by Lord Chesterfield in a very able, and seconded by
+Lord Macclesfield in a very learned speech, and it was successfully
+carried through both Houses. The bill had been framed by these two
+noblemen in concert with Dr. Bradley and other eminent men of science.
+To correct the old calendar, eleven nominal days were to be suppressed
+in September, 1752, so that the day following the 2d of that month
+should be styled the 14th. The difficulties that might result from the
+change, as affecting rents, leases, and bills of exchange, were likewise
+carefully considered and effectually prevented."--Lord Mahon's _History
+of England_, vol. iv., p. 23.]
+
+[Footnote 4: "He amassed, while governor of Canada, by commerce alone,
+more than a million livres, besides which, he had for many years sixty
+thousand livres from his appointments and pensions. Yet, notwithstanding
+his riches, his avarice was in many instances so extreme, that he denied
+himself the common necessaries of life. During his last illness, he
+ordered the wax tapers that were burning in his room to be changed for
+tallow candles, observing that 'the latter would answer every purpose,
+and were less expensive.'"--Smith's _Hist. of Canada_, vol. i., p. 223.]
+
+[Footnote 5: "While Britain claimed an indefinite extent to the west,
+France insisted on confining her to the eastern side of the Allegany
+Mountains, and claimed the whole country whose waters run into the
+Mississippi, in virtue of her right as the first discoverer of that
+river. The delightful region between the summit of those mountains and
+the Mississippi was the object for which these two powerful nations
+contended, and it soon became apparent that the sword alone could decide
+the contest."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 294;
+Belsham, vol. ii., p. 363, 364.
+
+"Thus France would have enjoyed, in time of peace, the whole Indian
+trade, and the English colonies, in time of war, must have had a
+frontier of 1200 miles to defend against blood-thirsty savages,
+conducted by French officers, and supported by regular troops. It was,
+in fact, to attempt the extinction of the British settlements, and yet,
+without such interior communication as was projected between Canada and
+Louisiana, the French settlements on the St. Lawrence and Mississippi
+could never, it was said, attain any high degree of consequence or
+security; the navigation of one of those rivers being at all seasons
+difficult, and that of the other blocked up with ice during the winter
+months, so as to preclude exterior support or relief. This scheme of
+usurpation, which is supposed to have long occupied the deliberations of
+the court of Versailles, was ardently embraced by M. de la Jonquiere,
+now commander-in-chief of the French forces in North America, and by La
+Galissoniere, a man of a bold and enterprising spirit, who had been
+appointed governor of New France in 1747. By their joint efforts, in
+addition to those of their predecessors, forts were erected along the
+Great Lakes, which communicate with the River St. Lawrence, and also on
+the Ohio and Mississippi. The vast chain was almost completed from
+Quebec to New Orleans, when the court of England, roused by repeated
+injuries, broke off the conferences relative to the limits of Nova
+Scotia."--Russell's _Modern Europe_, vol. iii., p. 273.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See Appendix, No. LXV.]
+
+[Footnote 7: "The governors of Canada, who were generally military men,
+had, for several preceding years, judiciously selected and fortified
+such situations as would give their nation most influence with the
+Indians, and most facilitate incursions into the northern English
+provinces. The command of Lake Champlain had been acquired by erecting a
+strong fort at Crown Point, and a connected chain of posts was
+maintained from Quebec up the St. Lawrence and along the Great Lakes. It
+was now intended to unite these posts with the Mississippi, by taking
+positions which should enable them to circumscribe, and at the same time
+annoy, the frontier settlements of the English. The execution of this
+plan was probably in some degree accelerated by an act of the British
+government. The year after the conclusion of the war with France,
+several very influential persons, both in England and Virginia, who
+associated under the name of the Ohio Company, obtained from the crown a
+grant for 600,000 acres of land, lying in the country which was claimed
+by both nations. Several opulent merchants, as well as noblemen and
+gentlemen, being members of this company, its objects were commercial as
+well as territorial; and measures were immediately taken to derive all
+the advantages expected from their grants in both these respects, by
+establishing houses for carrying on their trade with the Indians. The
+governor of Canada, who obtained early intelligence of this intrusion,
+as he deemed it, into the dominions of his Christian majesty, wrote
+immediately to the governors of New York and Pennsylvania, informing
+them that the English traders had encroached on the French territory by
+trading with the Indians, and warning them that, if they did not desist,
+he should be under the necessity of seizing them wherever they should be
+found. This threat having been disregarded, it was put in execution by
+seizing the British traders among the Twightwees,[55] and carrying them
+as prisoners to a fort on Lake Erie."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_,
+vol. i., p. 297.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "The country taken possession of by the French troops had
+actually been granted as a part of the territory of Virginia to the Ohio
+Company, who were, in consequence, commencing its settlement."--Marshall's
+_Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 298.]
+
+[Footnote 9: "Which was the less to be wondered at," remarks Major
+Washington, in his journal, "as the garrison of the fort consisted but
+of thirty-three effective men." They were commanded by Captain Trent.]
+
+[Footnote 10: This name was given in honor of the then governor of
+Canada, the Marquis du Quesne de Menneville. Fort Du Quesne is now
+called Pittsburg.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Smollett says that "Jumonville bore a summons to Colonel
+Washington, requiring him to quit the fort, which he pretended was built
+on ground belonging to the French or their allies. So little regard was
+paid to this intimation, that the English fell upon this party, and, as
+the French affirm, without the least provocation, either slew or took
+the whole detachment. De Villiers, incensed at these unprovoked
+hostilities...."--Smollett, vol. iii., p. 421.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "This skirmish, of small importance, perhaps, in itself,
+was yet among the principal causes of the war. It is no less memorable
+as the first appearance in the pages of history of one of their
+brightest ornaments--of that great and good man, GENERAL
+WASHINGTON."--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 65.
+
+"This event was no sooner known in England than the British embassador
+at Paris received directions to complain of it to the French ministry,
+as an open violation of the peace."--Smollett, vol. iii., p. 421.]
+
+[Footnote 13: "The capitulation was written in French, and as neither
+Mr. Washington nor any of his party understood that language, a
+foreigner was employed to read it to them in English. But, instead of
+acting the part of a faithful interpreter, when he came to the word
+'assassination,'[56] employed in the capitulation to designate M. de
+Jumonville's defeat and death, he translated it 'the defeat of M. de
+Jumonville.' This I have the best authority to assert; the authority of
+the English officers who were present. Indeed, the thing speaks for
+itself. It can not be supposed that these gentlemen should know so
+little of what they owed to themselves, both as men and as soldiers, as
+not to prefer any extremity rather than submit to the disgrace of being
+branded with the imputation of so horrid a crime. After all, had they
+been guilty of this charge, they could scarce have been worse used than
+they were."--_History of the late War in America_ by Major Thomas Mante,
+p. 14 (London, 1772).]
+
+[Footnote 14: "The coal measures of this part of Maryland are usually
+called the Cumberland coal-field, from Fort Cumberland, famous for the
+wars of the English with the French and Indians, in which General
+Washington took part before the American Revolution. The carboniferous
+strata are arranged geologically in a trough about twenty-five miles
+long from north to south, and from three to four miles broad. Professor
+Silliman and his son, who surveyed them, have aptly compared the shape
+of the successive beds to a great number of canoes placed one within
+another."--Lyell's _Geology_, vol. ii., p. 17.]
+
+[Footnote 15: "An able diplomacy in Europe exerted betimes would
+probably have allayed the rancor of these feuds in America. But, for our
+misfortune, we had then at Paris as embassador the Earl of Albemarle, an
+indolent man of pleasure."--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv.,
+p. 66. London, 1844.
+
+"Between you and me, for this must go no further, what do you think made
+Lord Albemarle, colonel of a regiment of Guards, governor of Virginia,
+groom of the stole, and embassador to Paris, amounting in all to L16,000
+or L17,000 a year? Was it his birth? No; a Dutch gentleman only. Was it
+his estate? No; he had none. Was it his learning, his parts, his
+political abilities and application? You can answer these questions as
+easily and as soon as I can ask them. What was it, then? Many people
+wondered, but I do not, for I know, and will tell you: it was his air,
+his address, his manners, and his graces."--_Lord Chesterfield to his
+Son_, May 27, 1752.
+
+Lord Albemarle died suddenly at his post in December, 1754. "You will
+have heard, before you receive this, of Lord Albemarle's sudden death at
+Paris. Every body is so sorry for him--without being so; yet as sorry as
+he would have been for any body, or as he deserved. Can any one really
+regret a man who, with the most meritorious wife and sons in the world,
+and with near L15,000 a year from the government, leaves not a shilling
+to his family, but dies immensely in debt, though when he married he had
+near L90,000 in the funds, and my Lady Albemarle brought him L25,000
+more."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Jan. 9, 1755.
+
+Lord Hertford was named to succeed Lord Albemarle as embassador to
+Paris, but war being soon declared between the two nations, he never
+went there.]
+
+[Footnote 16: "On the 6th of March, 1754, the calm and languid course of
+public business had been suddenly broken through by the death of the
+prime minister,[57] Mr. Pelham. 'Now I shall have no more peace!'
+exclaimed the old king, when he heard the news; and the events of the
+next few years fully confirmed his majesty's prediction. At the tidings
+of his brother's death--a death so sudden and unlocked for--the the mind
+of Newcastle was stirred with the contending emotions of grief, fear,
+and ambition. The grief soon passed away, but the fear and the ambition
+long struggled for the mastery. After a dishonest negotiation with Henry
+Fox (younger son of Sir Stephen Fox, a brother of the first Earl of
+Ilchester), the duke, finding him not sufficiently subservient, bestowed
+the seals of secretary upon Sir Thomas Robinson. It was certainly no
+light or easy task which Newcastle had thus accomplished: he had
+succeeded in finding a secretary of state with abilities inferior to his
+own.... The new Parliament met in November, 1754. Before that time a
+common resentment had united the two statesmen whom rivalry had hitherto
+kept asunder, Pitt and Fox. 'Sir Thomas Robinson lead us!' exclaimed
+Pitt to Fox: 'The duke might as well send his jackboot to lead us!' ...
+At length, in January, 1755, the Duke of Newcastle renewed his
+negotiations with Fox. The terms he offered were far less than those Fox
+had formerly refused, neither the head of the House of Commons nor the
+office of Secretary of State, but admission to the cabinet, provided Fox
+would actively support the king's measures in the House, and would in
+some sort lead without being leader.... The conduct of Fox to Pitt (in
+accepting these terms) seems not easy to reconcile with perfect good
+faith, while the sudden lowering of his pretensions to Newcastle was,
+beyond all doubt, an unworthy subservience. On one or both of these
+grounds he fell in public esteem. By the aid of Fox and the silence of
+Pitt the remainder of the session passed quietly. But great events were
+now at hand. The horizon had long been dark with war, and this summer
+burst the storm."--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 65;
+Belsham, vol. ii., p. 354, 355.]
+
+[Footnote 17: "The French have taken such liberties with some of our
+forts that are of great consequence to cover Virginia, Carolina, and
+Georgia, that we are actually dispatching two regiments thither. As the
+climate and other American circumstances are against these poor men, I
+pity them, and think them too many if the French mean nothing farther,
+too few if they do. Indeed, I am one of those that feel less resentment
+when we are attacked so far off: I think it an obligation to be eaten
+the last."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Oct. 6, 1754.
+
+"A detachment of fifty men of the regiment of artillery embarked with
+the 2d battalion, No. 44 and No. 48, under the command of Major-general
+Braddock, for America.... This detachment was mostly cut to pieces near
+Fort du Quesne, on the Monongahela, on the 9th of July, 1755."--_Memoirs
+of the Royal Regt. of Artillery_, 1743. MSS., Col. Macbean, R.A.
+Library, Woolwich.]
+
+[Footnote 18: The Duke of Cumberland was then at the head of the
+regency, during the absence of his father, George II., on the
+continent.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Officers were appointed for two regiments, consisting of
+two battalions each, to be raised in America, and commanded by Sir
+William Pepperel and Governor Shirley, who had enjoyed the same command
+in the last war.[58]]
+
+[Footnote 20: "Although the force to be employed was to be drawn almost
+entirely from Massachusetts, the command of the expedition was conferred
+on Lieutenant-colonel Monckton, a British officer, in whose military
+talents more confidence was placed than in those of any provincial. The
+troops of Massachusetts embarked at Boston on the 20th of May, 1755,
+together with Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments, commanded by
+Lieutenant-colonel Winslow, who was a major general of the militia, and
+an officer of great influence in the province. About four miles from
+Fort Lawrence they were joined by 300 British troops and a small train
+of artillery."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 310.]
+
+[Footnote 21: "In the obstinate conflict which was commencing between
+the French and English crowns, the continuance of the Acadians in Nova
+Scotia was thought dangerous on account of their invincible attachment
+to France; and to expel them from the country, leaving them at liberty
+to choose their place of residence, would be to re-enforce the French in
+Canada. A council was held, aided by the Admirals Boscawen and Morty,
+for the purposes of deciding on the destinies of these unfortunate
+people, and the severe policy was adopted of removing them from their
+homes and dispersing them among the other British colonies. This harsh
+measure was immediately put into execution, and the miserable
+inhabitants of Nova Scotia, banished from their homes, were in one
+instant reduced from ease and contentment to a state of beggary. Their
+lands and movables, with the exception of their money and household
+furniture, were declared to be forfeit to the crown; and to prevent
+their being able to subsist themselves, should they escape, the country
+was laid waste, and their habitations reduced to ashes."--Minot, quoted
+by Marshall, vol. i., p. 312.]
+
+[Footnote 22: "When the French were in possession of this garrison, they
+had no artillery; however, they were not at a loss to deceive their
+enemies at Fort Lawrence, for they provided a parcel of birch, and other
+hard, well-grown trees, which they shaped and bored after the fashion of
+cannon, securing them from end to end with cordage, and from one of
+these they constantly fired a morning and evening gun, as is customary
+in garrisons; but upon the reduction of the place, and a spirited
+inquiry after the cannon, they found themselves obliged to discover this
+ingenious device."--Knox's _Hist. Journal_, vol. i., p. 58.]
+
+[Footnote 23: "Captain, afterward Lord Howe, after an engagement in
+which he displayed equal skill and intrepidity, succeeded in taking the
+two French ships, the _Alcide_ and the _Lys_."--Lord Mahon's _History of
+England_, vol. iv., p. 68.]
+
+[Footnote 24: "At home, in the king's absence, our councils were most
+feeble and wavering.... A great difference appeared among the members of
+the regency. The Duke of Cumberland, always inclined to vigorous
+measures, wished to declare war at once, and to strike the first
+blow.... The Duke of Newcastle, trimming and trembling as was ever his
+wont, thought only of keeping off the storm as long as possible, and of
+shifting its responsibility from himself.... At length, as a kind of
+compromise, it was agreed that there should be no declaration of war;
+that our fleet should attack the French ships of the line, if it fell in
+with any, but by no means disturb any smaller men-of-war or any vessels
+engaged in trade. When, at the Board of Regency, these instructions came
+round to the bottom of the table to be signed by Fox, he turned to Lord
+Anson, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and asked if there were no
+objections to them. 'Yes,' answered Anson, 'a hundred; but it pleases
+those at the upper end of the table, and will signify nothing, for the
+French will declare war _next week, if they have not done it
+already_.'[59] While the prospects of peace grew darker and darker,
+there was also gathering a cloud of popular resentment and distrust
+against the minister. It was often asked whether these were times when
+all power could be safely monopolized by the Duke of Newcastle? Was
+every thing to be risked--perhaps every thing lost--for the sake of one
+hoary jobber at the Treasury?"--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol.
+iv., p. 72.]
+
+[Footnote 25: _MS. Journal of Major-general Braddock's Expedition
+against Fort du Quesne_, 1755. Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich.]
+
+[Footnote 26: "Mr. Franklin had observed that Sir John St. Clair's
+uniform (the quarter-master general) was of the hussar kind, and this
+gave him a hint which he immediately improved: he caused a report to be
+propagated among the Germans that, except 150 wagons could be got ready
+and sent to the general within a certain time, St. Clair, who was a
+hussar, would come among them, and take away what he found by force. The
+Germans, having formerly lived under despotic power, knew the hussars
+too well to doubt their serving themselves, and believing that General
+St. Clair was indeed a hussar, they provided, instead of 150, 200
+wagons, and sent them within the time that Franklin had limited. The
+Pennsylvanians also advanced a further sum above the king's bounty, and
+sent him 190 wagons more, laden with a ton of corn and oats, four wagons
+with provisions and wine for the officers, and 60 head of fine cattle
+for the army."--_Gentleman's Magazine_, August, 1755.]
+
+[Footnote 27: "Those who have experienced only the severities and
+dangers of a campaign in Europe can scarcely form an idea of what is to
+be done and endured in an American war. In an American campaign every
+thing is terrible--the face of the country, the climate, the enemy.
+There is no refreshment for the healthy nor relief for the sick. A vast
+inhospitable desert surrounds the troops where victories are not
+decisive, but defeats are ruinous, and simple death is the least
+misfortune that can happen to a soldier. This forms a service truly
+critical, in which all the firmness of the body and the mind is put to
+the severest trial, and all the exertions of courage and address are
+called out. If the actions of these rude campaigns are of less dignity,
+the adventures in them are more interesting to the heart, and more
+amusing to the imagination than the details of a regular war."--(Burke,
+_Annual Register_, 1763.) "Yet Adam Smith ventures to assert, in the
+plenitude of learned ignorance and ingenious error, that 'nothing can be
+more contemptible than an Indian war in North America.' ... Colonel
+Barre, who had served in America, declared, in his celebrated speech
+upon American taxation, in 1765, that the Indians were as enemies 'the
+most subtile and the most formidable of any people upon the face of
+God's earth.'"--Graham's _History of the United States_, vol. iv., p.
+448.]
+
+[Footnote 28: "You will see ... the condition of the troops in this
+country, particularly that of the infamous Free Companies of New
+York."--_Letter from General Braddock to Colonel Napier, Adjutant
+General._ Williamsburg, Feb. 24, 1754.]
+
+[Footnote 29: "The (Duke of Cumberland), who is now the soul of the
+regency, is much dissatisfied at the slowness of General Braddock, who
+does not march as if he was at all impatient to be scalped. It is said
+for him that he has had bad guides, that the roads are exceedingly
+difficult, and that it was necessary to drag as much artillery as he
+does. This is not the first time, as witness in Hawley, that the duke
+has found that brutality did not necessarily constitute a general.
+Braddock is a very Iroquois in disposition."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir
+H. Mann_, Aug. 21, 1755.]
+
+[Footnote 30: "Want of intelligence and reconnoitering parties was the
+sole cause of defeat."--General Kane's _Mil. Hist. of Great Britain to
+1757_.]
+
+[Footnote 31: "After the successful expedition against Fort du Quesne in
+1758, General Forbes resolved to search for the relics of Braddock's
+army. As the European soldiers were not so well qualified to explore the
+forests, Captain West, the elder brother of Benjamin West, the painter,
+was appointed, with his company of American Sharp-shooters, to assist in
+the execution of this duty; and a party of Indians were requested to
+conduct him to the places where the bones of the slain were likely to be
+found. In this solemn and affecting duty, several officers belonging to
+the 42d regiment accompanied the detachment, and with them Major Sir
+Peter Halket, who had lost his father and brother in the fatal
+destruction of the army. It might have been thought a hopeless task that
+he should be able to discriminate their remains from the common relics
+of the other soldiers; but he was induced to think otherwise, as one of
+the Indian warriors assured him that he had seen an officer fall near a
+remarkable tree, which he thought he could still discover; informing
+him, at the same time, that the incident was impressed on his memory by
+observing a young subaltern, who, in running to the officer's
+assistance, was also shot dead on his reaching the spot, and fell across
+the other's body. The major had a mournful conviction in his own mind
+that those two officers were his father and brother; and, indeed, it was
+chiefly owing to his anxiety on the subject that this pious expedition,
+the second of the kind that is on record, was undertaken. Captain West
+and his companions proceeded through the woods and along the banks of
+the river toward the scene of the battle. The Indians regarded the
+expedition as a religious service, and guided the troops with awe and in
+profound silence. The soldiers were affected with sentiments not less
+serious; and as they explored the bewildering labyrinths of those vast
+forests, their hearts were often melted with inexpressible sorrow, for
+they frequently found skeletons lying across the trunks of fallen trees:
+a mournful proof to their imaginations that the men who sat there had
+perished of hunger in vainly attempting to find their way to the
+plantations. Sometimes their feelings were raised to the utmost pitch of
+horror by the sight of skulls and bones scattered on the ground, a
+certain indication that the bodies had been devoured by wild beasts; and
+in other places they saw the blackness of ashes amid the relics, the
+tremendous evidence of atrocious rites. At length they reached a turn of
+the river, not far from the principal scene of destruction, and the
+Indian who remembered the death of the two officers stopped: the
+detachment immediately halted. He then looked round in quest of some
+object which might recall distinctly his recollection of the ground, and
+suddenly darted into the wood. The soldiers rested their arms without
+speaking; a shrill cry was soon after heard; and the other guides made
+signs for the troops to follow them toward the spot from which it came.
+In a short time they reached the Indian warrior, who, by his cry,
+announced to his companions that he had found the place where he was
+posted on the day of battle. As the troops approached, he pointed to the
+tree under which the officers had fallen. Captain West halted his men
+round the spot, and, with Sir Peter Halket and the other officers,
+formed a circle, while the Indians removed the leaves which thickly
+covered the ground (the leaves of three seasons). The skeletons were
+found, as the Indian expected, lying across each other. The officers
+having looked at them for some time, the major said that as his father
+had an artificial tooth, he thought he might be able to ascertain if
+they were indeed his bones and those of his brother. The Indians were
+therefore ordered to remove the skeleton of the youth, and to bring to
+view that of the old officer. This was done, and after a short
+examination, Major Halket exclaimed, "It is my father!" and fell back
+into the arms of his companions. The pioneers then dug a grave, and the
+bones being laid in it together, a Highland plaid was spread over them,
+and they were interred with the customary honors."--Galt's _Life of
+West_.]
+
+[Footnote 32: "The whole was in disorder, and, it is said, the general
+himself, though exceedingly brave, did not retain all the _sang froid_
+that was necessary."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir Horace Mann_, August 28,
+1755.]
+
+[Footnote 33: _MS. Journal of Major-general Braddock's Expedition
+against Forte du Quesne_, 1755. Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich.
+
+"He was borne off the field by some soldiers whom his aid-de-camp had
+bribed to that service by a guinea and a bottle of rum to each."--Lord
+Mahon's _Hist. of England_, vol. iv., p. 70.]
+
+[Footnote 34: "Among the rest, the general's cabinet, with all his
+letters and instructions, which the French court afterward made great
+use of in their printed manifestoes."--Smollett's _Hist. of England_,
+vol. iii., p. 448; Belsham, vol. ii., p. 369.]
+
+[Footnote 35: "Major Washington acquired on this occasion, in the midst
+of defeat, the honors and laurels of victory."--Belsham, vol. ii., p.
+369.
+
+"They had seen a chosen army from that country, which, reverencing as a
+mother, they had fondly believed invincible; an army led by a chief who
+had been selected from a crowd of trained warriors for his rare military
+endowments, disgracefully routed by a handful of French and Indians, and
+only saved from annihilation by the spirit and coolness of a Virginian
+boy, whose riper fame has since diffused itself with the steady influence
+of moral truth to the uttermost confines of Christendom."--_Last of the
+Mohicans._]
+
+[Footnote 36: "Though the enemy did not so much as attempt to pursue,
+nor even appeared in sight, either in the battle or after defeat. On the
+whole, this was, perhaps, the most extraordinary victory that ever was
+obtained, and the farthest flight that ever was made."--Smollett's
+_Hist. of England_, vol. iii., p. 440.]
+
+[Footnote 37: "I have already given you some account of Braddock; I may
+complete the poor man's history in a few more words. He once had a duel
+with Colonel Gumly, Lady Bath's brother, who had been his great friend.
+As they were going to engage, Gumly, who had good-humor and wit
+(Braddock had the latter), said, 'Braddock, you are a poor dog! here,
+take my purse; if you kill me, you will be forced to run away, and then
+you will not have a shilling to support you.' Braddock refused the
+purse, insisted on the duel, was disarmed, and would not even ask his
+life. However, with all his brutality, he has lately been governor of
+Gibraltar, where he made himself adored, and where never any governor
+was endured before. Adieu! Pray don't let any detachment from
+Pannoni's[60] be sent against us: we should run away."--Walpole's
+_Letters to Sir H. Mann_, August 28, 1755.]
+
+[Footnote 38: "The European troops, whose cowardice has thus injured
+their country, are the same that ran away at Preston Pans. To prevent,
+however, any unjust national reflections, it must be remarked, that,
+though they are called Irish regiments, they are not regiments of
+Irishmen, but regiments on the Irish establishment, consisting of
+English, Irish, and Scotch, as other regiments do. It is, however, said,
+that the slaughter among our officers was not made by the enemy; but as
+they ran several fugitives through the body to intimidate the rest, when
+they were attempting in vain to rally them, some others, who expected
+the same fate, discharged their pistols at them, which, though loaded,
+they could not be brought to level at the French. On the other hand, it
+is alleged that the defeat is owing more to presumption and want of
+conduct in the officers than to cowardice in the private men; that a
+retreat ought to have been resolved upon the moment they found
+themselves surprised by an ambuscade; and that they were told by the
+men, when they refused to return to the charge, that if they could see
+their enemy they would fight him, but that they would not waste their
+ammunition against trees and bushes, nor stand exposed to invisible
+assailants, the French and Indian rangers, who are excellent marksmen,
+and in such a situation would inevitably destroy any number of the best
+troops in the world."--_Gentleman's Magazine_, August, 1755.]
+
+[Footnote 39: "The American regulars, consisting of Shirley's and
+Pepperel's regiments, constituted the principal force relied on for the
+reduction of Niagara."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p.
+308.]
+
+[Footnote 40: "The fort of Niagara had been repaired by the French in
+1741, in consequence of the apprehension they felt that the
+trading-house at Oswego, just established by the English at the mouth of
+the Onondaga River, would deprive them of a profitable trade, and of the
+command of the Lake Ontario."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i.,
+p. 286.
+
+"This fort was in other respects a very important post, for the lakes
+are so disposed that, without a somewhat hazardous voyage, one can not,
+any otherwise than by Niagara Fort, pass from the northeast to the
+southwest of North America for many hundred miles."--_New Military
+Dictionary_, London, 1760.]
+
+[Footnote 41: "Bateaux are a kind of light, flat-bottomed boats, widest
+in the middle and pointed at each end, of about fifteen hundred weight
+burden, and managed by two men, called bateaux-men, with paddles and
+setting poles, the rivers being in many places too narrow to admit of
+oars."--Smollett's _Hist. of England_, vol. iii., p. 457.]
+
+[Footnote 42: "Mr. Burnet,[61] governor of New York and New Jersey,
+deemed it an object of great magnitude to obtain the command of Lake
+Ontario, and, in pursuance of this plan, he had, in 1722, erected a
+trading-house at Oswego, in the country of the Senecas, which soon
+became of considerable importance. After ineffectual remonstrances, both
+in America and in Europe, against the re-establishment of Niagara Fort,
+Governor Burnet, to countervail as much as possible its effects, erected
+at his own expense a fort at Oswego."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_,
+vol. iv., p. 287.]
+
+[Footnote 43: "The preparations for General Shirley's expedition against
+Niagara were not only deficient, but shamefully slow, though it was well
+known that even the possibility of his success must in a great measure
+depend upon his setting out early in the year, as will appear to any
+person who considers the situation of our fort at Oswego, this being the
+only way by which he could proceed to Niagara. Oswego lies on the
+southeast side of Lake Ontario, near 300 miles almost due west from
+Albany, in New York. The way to it from thence, though long and tedious,
+is the more convenient, as the far greater part of it admits of
+water-carriage by the Mohawk River, Wood's Creek, Lake Oneida, and the
+River Onondaga, which, after a course of twenty or thirty miles, unites
+with the River Seneca, and their united streams run into the Lake
+Ontario at the place where Oswego Fort is situated."--Smollett, vol.
+iii., p. 458.]
+
+[Footnote 44: "Though repeated advice had been received that the French
+had there at least 1000 men at their Fort of Frontenac, on the same
+lake; and, what was still worse, the new forts (that of Ontario, and a
+new fort bearing the same name as the old, Oswego) were not yet
+completed, but left to be finished by the hard labor of Colonel Mercer
+and his little garrison, with the addition of this melancholy
+circumstance, that if besieged during the winter, it would not be
+possible for his friends to come to his assistance."--Smollett's
+_England_, iii. p. 461.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Russell's _Modern Europe_, vol. iii., p. 279.
+
+"The justly celebrated Sir William Johnson held an office difficult both
+to define and execute. He might, indeed, be called the Tribune of the
+Five Nations; their claims he asserted, their rights he protected, and
+over their minds he possessed a greater sway than any individual had
+ever attained. He was an uncommonly tall, well-made man, with a fine
+countenance, which, moreover, had rather an expression of dignified
+sedateness, approaching to melancholy. He appeared to be taciturn, never
+wasting words on matters of no importance, but highly eloquent where the
+occasion called forth his powers. He possessed intuitive sagacity, and
+the most entire command of temper and of countenance. He did by no means
+lose sight of his own interest, but, on the contrary, raised himself to
+power and wealth in an open and active manner, not disdaining any
+honorable means of benefiting himself. He built two spacious and
+convenient places of residence on the Mohawk River, known afterward by
+the name of Johnson Castle and Johnson Hall. The Hall was his summer
+residence. Here this singular man lived like a little sovereign; kept an
+excellent table for strangers and officers, whom the course of their
+duty now frequently led into these wilds; and by confiding entirely in
+the Indians, and treating them with unwearied truth and justice, without
+ever yielding to solicitation that he had once refused, he taught them
+to repose entire confidence in him. So perfect was his dependence on
+those people, whom his fortitude and other manly virtues had attached to
+him, that when they returned from their summer excursions, and exchanged
+the last years furs for fire-arms, &c., they used to pass a few days at
+the Castle, when his family and most of his domestics were down at the
+Hall. There they were all liberally entertained by Sir William; and 500
+of them have been known for nights together, after drinking pretty
+freely, to lie around him on the ground, while he was the only white
+person in a house containing great quantities of every thing that was to
+them valuable or desirable. Sir William thus united in his mode of life
+the calm urbanity of a liberal and extensive trader, with the splendid
+hospitality, the numerous attendance, and the plain though dignified
+manners of an ancient baron."--_Memoirs of an American Lady_, vol. ii.,
+p. 61.
+
+Sir William Johnson was regularly appointed and paid by government as
+Superintendent of Indian Affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 46: "Few countries could produce such dexterous marksmen, or
+persons so well qualified for conquering those natural obstacles of
+thick woods and swamps, which would at once baffle the most determined
+European. Not only were they strong of limb, swift of foot, and
+excellent marksmen, the hatchet was as familiar to them as the musket;
+in short, when means or arguments could be used powerful enough to
+collect a people so uncontrolled and so uncontrollable, and when headed
+by a leader whom they loved and trusted, a well-armed body of New York
+Provincials had nothing to dread but an ague or an ambuscade, to both of
+which they were much exposed on the banks of the lakes, and amid the
+swampy forests they had to penetrate in pursuit of an enemy."--_Memoirs
+of an American Lady_, vol. i., p. 203.]
+
+[Footnote 47: "Our artillery then began to play on them, and was served,
+under the direction of Captain Eyre ... in a manner very advantageous to
+his character."--_Letter from General Johnson to the Governor of New
+York._ Camp at Lake George, Sept. 9th, 1755.]
+
+[Footnote 48: "Just arrived from America, and to be seen at the New York
+and Cape Breton Coffee-house, in Sweeting's Alley, from 12 to 3, and
+from 4 till 6, to the latter end of next week, and then will embark for
+America in the _General Webb_, Captain Boardman, a famous Mohawk Indian
+warrior! the same person who took M. Dieskau, the French general,
+prisoner, at the battle of Lake George, where General Johnson beat the
+French, and was one of the said general's guards. He is dressed in the
+same manner with his native Indians when they go to war; his face and
+body painted, with his scalping knife, tom-ax, and all other implements
+of war that are used by the Indians in battle: a sight worthy the
+curiosity of every true Briton.
+
+"Price one shilling each person.
+
+"*** The only Indian that has been in England since the reign of Queen
+Anne."--_Public Advertiser_, 1755.]
+
+[Footnote 49: "There are flying reports that General Johnson, our only
+hero at present, has taken Crown Point."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H.
+Mann_, Dec. 4, 1755.]
+
+[Footnote 50: "General Johnson complained that his troops seemed
+impressed with apprehensions of the enemy, from the boldness with which
+they had been attacked, and were unwilling, from the insufficiency of
+their clothing, want of provisions, and other causes, to proceed further
+on the enterprise; and, although urged by General Shirley, now
+commander-in-chief (since Braddock's death), to attempt Ticonderoga,
+even that object was abandoned."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol.
+i., p. 318.]
+
+[Footnote 51: "They erected a little stockaded fort at the nether end of
+Lake George, in which they left a small garrison as a future prey for the
+enemy, a misfortune which might have been easily foreseen."--Smollett,
+vol. iii., p. 456.
+
+This was Fort William Henry. Between Lake George and the River Hudson,
+twelve miles of high table-land intervened; at its extremity was the
+portage or carrying-place for the River Hudson. Here Fort Edward had
+been erected a few weeks before.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Crown Point was called Fort Frederic by the French. It was
+situated at the south end of Lake Champlain or Lake Corlaer. At fifteen
+miles' distance, at the north end of Lake George, the French were now
+beginning to fortify the post of Ticonderoga.]
+
+[Footnote 53: "Three days before the meeting of Parliament, November
+1755, Sir Thomas Robinson, secretary of state, from an honest and
+sincere consciousness of his incapacity to conduct the business of
+Parliament in the House of Commons, had resigned the seals, which were
+directly transferred to Mr. Fox, secretary at war, who unquestionably,
+in respect of political ability, had at this time no rival in the House
+of Commons, Mr. Pitt only excepted.... There had been vain attempts at a
+negotiation with Pitt during the summer, but his positive refusal to
+consent to 'a system of subsidies' threw the Duke of Newcastle into
+Fox's power, and the seals were now given to him upon his own
+terms."--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 379; Lord Mahon's _History of England_,
+vol. iv., p. 76, 77.
+
+"This session of Parliament was distinguished by an act of generosity
+and humanity, which conferred the highest honor upon the Parliament and
+nation. The city of Lisbon was almost totally destroyed by a tremendous
+earthquake on the 1st of November, 1755. A message from the throne
+informed both houses of this dreadful calamity, and the sum of L100,000
+was instantly and unanimously voted for the use of the distressed
+inhabitants.... Amid the millions and millions expended for the purposes
+of devastation and destruction, a vote of this description seems as a
+paradise blooming in the wild!"--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 381. See Lord
+Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 87; Southey's _Peninsular
+War_, vol. iii., p. 388, 8vo edition.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Smollett, vol. iii., p. 520.
+
+"The Earl of Loudon, an officer of reputation and merit."--Belsham, vol.
+ii., p. 370.
+
+"If it had been the wish or intention of the British ministers to render
+the guardian care of the parent state ridiculous, and its supremacy
+odious to the colonists, they could hardly have selected a fitter
+instrument for the achievement of this sinister purpose than Lord
+Loudon. Devoid of genius, either civil or military; always hurried and
+hurrying others, yet making little progress in the dispatch of business;
+hasty to project and threaten, but mutable, indecisive, and languid in
+pursuit and action; negligent of even the semblance of public virtue;
+impotent against the enemy whom he was sent to destroy, formidable only
+to the spirit and liberty of the people whom he was commissioned to
+defend, he excited alternately the disgust, the apprehension, and the
+contemptuous amazement of the colonists of America."--Graham's _History
+of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 4.]
+
+[Footnote 55: The Twightwees were Indians who lived on the banks of the
+Ohio.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Washington makes a labored defense of his conduct in the
+affair of M. de Jumonville, in the "Journal of his Expedition to the
+Ohio." In M. de Villiers's "Journal of his Campaign," he always uses the
+term "assassination" with reference to his brother's death. The only
+notice he takes of the broken terms of the capitulation is, "The
+consternation of the English was so great, when they heard the French
+savages laid claim to the pillage, that they ran away and left behind
+them even their flag and a pair of their colors."--_Translation of M. de
+Villiers's Journal_, July 4th, 1754.
+
+The following is the testimony of the Canadian historian, Garneau: "Le
+17 Mai (1754), au soir M. de Jumonville s'etait retire dans une vallon
+profond et obscur, lorsque des sauvages qui rodaient le decouvrirent et
+en informerent le Colonel Washington, qui arrivait dans le voisinage
+avec ses troupes. Celui-ci marcha toute la nuit pour le cerner, et le
+lendemain au point du jour il l'attaqua avec precipitation, marchant
+comme a une surprise a la tete de son detachment. Jumonville fut tue
+avec neuf hommes de sa suite. Les Francais pretendent que ce depute fit
+signe qu'il etait porteur d'une lettre de son commandant, que le feu
+cessa, et que ce ne fut qu'apres que l'on eut commence la lecture de la
+sommation que les assaillans se remirent a tirer. Washington affirme
+qu'il etoit a la tete de la marche, et qu'aussitot que les Francais le
+virent, ils coururent a leurs armes sans appeller, ce qu'il aurait du
+entendre s'ils l'avaient fait. Il est probable qu'il y a du vrai dans
+les deux versions: l'attaque fut si precipitee qu'il dut s'ensuivre une
+confusion qui ne permit pas de rien demeler; mais s'il n'y a pas eu
+d'assassinat, on se demandera toujours pourquoi Washington avec des
+forces si superieures a celles de Jumonville, montra une si grande
+ardeur pour le surprendre au point du jour comme s'il eut ete un ennemi
+fort a craindre? Ce n'etait point certainement avec 30 hommes que
+Jumonville etait en etat d'accepter le combat.... Tels sont les humbles
+exploits par lesquels le futur conquerant des libertes Americaines
+commenca sa carriere.... La victoire que M. de Villiers venoit
+d'obtenir, fut le premier acte de ce grand drame de 29 ans, dans lequel
+la puissance Francaise et Anglaise devait subir de si terribles echecs
+en Amerique."--_Histoire du Canada_, vol. ii., p. 541 (Quebec, 1846).]
+
+[Footnote 57: "Another revolution about this period (November, 1744)
+took place in the British cabinet. Lord Carteret, now become Earl of
+Granville, had insinuated himself so far into the good graces of his
+sovereign as to excite apprehension and dislike of the Duke of Newcastle
+and his brother Mr. Pelham. They therefore effected the downfall of this
+ambitious and haughty minister, whose power they envied, and whose
+talents they feared. Mr. Pelham, who, on the death of Lord Wilmington,
+had succeeded to the direction of the Board of Treasury, was now
+nominated Chancellor of the Exchequer, and may be considered from this
+period as first minister."--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 313.]
+
+[Footnote 58: "To reward Colonel Pepperel and Governor Shirley for the
+conquest of Louisburg in 1745, a regiment, to be raised in America, was
+bestowed on each."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 280.]
+
+[Footnote 59: War was not declared against France until May in the
+following year.]
+
+[Footnote 60: Pannoni's coffee-house of the Florentine nobility, not
+famous for their courage of note.--_Ibid._]
+
+[Footnote 61: He was the son of Bishop Burnet.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The campaign of 1755 had opened with evil promise for the cause of
+France in the Western world; four formidable armies were arrayed to
+check her progress, and turn back the tide of war upon her own
+territory. A powerful fleet, under the brave and vigilant Boscawen,
+swept the Atlantic coast, insulted her eastern harbors, and captured her
+re-enforcements and supplies. The doubtful allegiance of many of her
+Indian neighbors was far overbalanced by the avowed hostility of others
+no less numerous and powerful.
+
+But the close of the year presented results very different from those
+that might have been anticipated. Braddock was defeated and slain; the
+whole of that vast Valley of the Mississippi, whose unequaled fertility
+is now the wonder of mankind, had been freed from the presence of a
+British soldier by one decisive victory. Niagara was strengthened and
+unassailed; Crown Point had not been compromised by Johnson's partial
+success. The undisputed superiority upon Lake Ontario was upon the
+Canadian shore. From dangerous foes, or almost as dangerous friends, the
+forest tribes had generally become zealous allies, and thrown themselves
+with ready policy into the apparently preponderating scale; the ruined
+settlements and diminished numbers of the British frontier colonists
+marked the cruel efficiency of their co-operation. Notwithstanding the
+check of the Baron Dieskau's detachment, there still remained to the
+French more than 3000 regular troops, with a large force of the Canadian
+militia, who were in some respects even better qualified for forest
+warfare than their veteran brethren from the mother country. All these,
+united under one able chief, formed a much more formidable military
+power than the English colonies, with their jarring interests and
+independent commanders, could bring forward. Nova Scotia, again severed
+from the territories of New France, and the Acadian peasants reduced to
+British rule, formed but a slight offset to these hostile gains.
+
+The civil progress of the French colony was, however, far from
+satisfactory. For two years past the scarcity of grain and other
+provisions had almost amounted to famine. The inhabitants of the
+country, constantly employed in warfare against their English neighbors
+were forced to neglect the cultivation of the soil, till absence from
+their own homesteads was almost as ruinous to themselves as their
+destructive presence to the enemy. Although the scanty supply of corn
+was too well known, the intendant Bigot, with infamous avarice, shipped
+off vast quantities of wheat to the West Indies for his own gain and
+that of his creatures. The price of food rose enormously, and the
+commerce of the country, hampered by selfish and stupid restrictions,
+rapidly declined.
+
+The Marquis de Vaudreuil de Cavagnac, the successor of the Marquis du
+Quesne as governor, soon lost the confidence of his people. To him they
+had looked hopefully and earnestly for protection against the fatal
+monopolies of the Merchant Company, but they found that he readily
+sanctioned the oppression under which they suffered, and, indeed, rather
+increased its severity. Great stores of wheat had been purchased from
+the settlers by the company in anticipation of a scarcity; when they had
+obtained a sufficient quantity to command the market, they arranged with
+the intendant to fix the price at an immense advance, which was
+maintained in spite of the misery and clamors of the people. Again, the
+intendant pretended that the dearth was caused by the farmers having
+secreted their grain, and, in consequence, he issued an order that the
+city and troops should be immediately supplied at a very low rate, and
+those who would not submit to these nefarious conditions had their corn
+seized and confiscated without any remuneration whatever.
+
+Abuses and peculations disgraced every department of the public service;
+the example set in high places was faithfully followed by the petty
+officials all over the colony. The commissaries who had the supply of
+the distant posts enriched themselves at the cost of the mother country;
+and, to the detriment of the hardy and adventurous men occupying those
+remote and dreary settlements, boats were not allowed to visit them
+without paying such heavy fees that the venture became ruinous, and thus
+the trade was soon altogether confined to the commissaries.
+
+Vessels sent to Miramichi with provisions for the unfortunate Acadians,
+returned loaded with that people, who, faithful to their king and
+nation, had left their happy homes, refusing the proffered protection of
+their conquerors. When they reached Quebec they met with a cruel
+reception. The intendant gave to a creature named Cadet the office of
+ministering to their wants. This heartless man shamefully abused the
+trust, and only considered it as a means of selfish profit, providing
+them with unwholesome and insufficient food: thus many fell victims to
+his cruel avarice. Some, indeed, who settled on lands belonging to the
+governor or his favorites, were amply supplied, for the private
+advantage of the proprietors.
+
+Loud and constant were the complaints of the colonists against these
+shameful abuses of power; but they fell either upon ears determined not
+to hear, or were misrepresented and refracted by the medium through
+which they passed. The outer aspect of New France was bold and
+formidable, but within all was corruption, languor, and decay. The
+seignorial tenure[62] and the custom law of Paris fatally embarrassed
+agricultural improvement, and the monopoly of the Merchant Company
+paralyzed trade. The absolute system of government, and the intrusive
+exercise of imperial power in even the most trivial matters of colonial
+interest, cramped individual energy by the constraining force of
+centralization. The military[63] system of feudal organization turned
+the plow-shares and reaping-hooks of the most active among the
+population into weapons of war, and the settlements, that were little
+else than scattered barracks for troops, made but small progress in the
+truly glorious war against the desolation of the wilderness. While the
+hardy _voyageurs_ of the Ottawa and the farmers of the rich Valley of
+the St. Lawrence reaped the laurels of the bloody fight at Fort du
+Quesne, the canoes, once richly laden with the furs of the Western
+country, floated idly in the stream, and the exuberant soil by the banks
+of the Great River was overrun with a harvest of useless or noxious
+weeds. Thus it was that, while the military superstructure of this great
+French colony was strong and imposing, the social and political
+foundations were false and feeble.
+
+On the other hand, the dangerous British rivals had rapidly advanced to
+prosperity and to the possession of formidable resources. The State of
+Massachusetts alone mustered 40,000 men capable of bearing arms, by one
+third a greater number than all Canada could produce. The militia of
+Connecticut was 27,000 strong, and that of New Hampshire and Rhode
+Island also considerable. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other states were
+also in themselves powerful, but in military matters New England ever
+took the lead. The sturdy Nonconformists who first peopled that country
+had been long accustomed to encounter and overcome difficulties: they
+had continually waged a war of mutual extermination with the Indians.
+The unbending spirit of their ancestors lost nothing under such
+training. Each separate settlement possessed an independent vitality;
+the habit of self-government engendered a feeling of confidence in their
+own power, and they who had marched with steady step over the barriers
+of an almost impenetrable forest, and swept away the warlike hordes of
+its savage inhabitants, were no mean foes to match even against the
+brilliant chivalry of France.
+
+The peculiar and distinct institutions of these British colonies, while
+they fostered the development of individual energy and stimulated
+general prosperity, forbade, at the same time, that compact and
+centralized organization which rendered the external power of New
+France so formidable. It was difficult or impossible to unite all the
+different states in one great effort, and hopeless to induce them to act
+in concert. The borderers of Maine or Massachusetts heard with almost
+indifference of Indian massacres upon the banks of the Susquehanna, and
+the men of Virginia felt but little sympathy with the victors of the
+north. English colonization had already progressed to unheard of
+prosperity in its component parts, in spite of its utter want of large
+and comprehensive system, while that of France, planned on a scheme of
+magnificent ambition, had proved but a sickly exotic under the
+over-anxious care of the founders. In the one, powerful elements formed
+but a disjointed and unwieldy aggregate; in the other, indifferent
+materials were rendered strong by the firm frame-work in which they were
+united.
+
+The defensive power of the British colonies was, however, very great. In
+cases of real peril, when the farmer tore himself from his fields, the
+merchant from his store-house, and the hunter from the chase, a militia
+formidable in numbers and composition was at the service of the state,
+while the vast extent and the scattered situations of the settlements
+would have rendered complete conquest difficult, and occupation
+impossible.
+
+The campaign of 1756 opened with a partial success of the French arms.
+The Marquis de Vaudreuil had learned that the British had erected a
+chain of small forts to protect their route to Oswego, and that they
+purposed building ships at that port to command the navigation of Lake
+Ontario, and thus break up the chain of his communications. He therefore
+ordered a detachment of about 350 Canadians and Indians, under M.
+Chaussegros de Lery, to march to Montreal, from whence they proceeded
+westward on the 17th of March.
+
+After a harassing journey of great length through the wilderness, they
+came upon one of the small English forts on the Oswego route, garrisoned
+by Lieutenant Bull and twenty-five men. The British officer at once
+rejected the proposal of a capitulation, and prepared to offer a
+vigorous resistance; he was, however, speedily overpowered, and he and
+his little party, with the exception of two, were massacred and scalped
+by the Indians, whose ferocity could not be repressed; the fort was then
+blown up, and the ammunition destroyed.
+
+The French, fully alive to the danger of allowing their enemies to hold
+possession of the important position of Oswego, were determined to spare
+no efforts to drive them away. Another expedition was accordingly
+prepared to accomplish this grand object, consisting of 300 men, led by
+M. de Villiers. They proceeded to within a short distance of Oswego,
+where they constructed a small fort, placed among the dense woods in
+such a manner as to be unseen by the enemy: from this hiding-place they
+frequently intercepted parties with provisions destined for Oswego. When
+the Iroquois became aware of the designs of the French, they summoned
+Sir William Johnson, whom they greatly respected, to meet them in
+council, for the purpose of considering the means of diverting
+hostilities from their country. He strongly advised them, if possible,
+to prevent the attack upon the fort, and thus avoid a war that would
+deluge the frontier with blood. Pursuing this counsel, they dispatched
+thirty deputies to Montreal to assure M. de Vaudreuil that they wished
+to preserve the strictest neutrality, and to entreat him not to draw the
+sword in their country or interrupt their communications. The governor
+answered that he would seek his enemies wherever he could find them, but
+that the people of the Five Nations should be protected from every
+insult as long as they did not join the English.
+
+From this time the war was to assume a more important form, and new and
+more illustrious actors were to appear upon the stage. The British
+government[64] determined to increase its efforts in North America; and
+as the Earl of Loudon, lately appointed general-in-chief of the forces
+on that continent, was unavoidably detained in England for some time,
+Major-general Abercromby was ordered to precede him and hold command
+until his arrival. Lord Loudon was intrusted with extraordinary powers,
+to enable him to promote the essential object of union among the English
+colonies; he was also appointed governor of Virginia, and made colonel
+of a regiment of four battalions, chiefly officered by foreigners,
+called the Royal American.[65]
+
+In the mean time, the preparations were made in British America to
+forward the execution of the plans[66] recommended by the great council
+of war, and the militia of the several provinces were assembled at
+Albany, where they awaited the arrival of the English general.
+Abercromby did not reach the army till the latter end of June, 1756, and
+at that time only brought with him two regiments, the 35th and the 42d,
+or Murray's Highlanders. The British troops in North America at this
+time consisted of those two corps, the 44th and 48th of the line,
+Shirley's and Pepperel's battalions, eight independent companies from
+New York and Carolina, and a large body of the Provincial militia.
+
+General Abercromby considered the force under his command insufficient
+to carry out the extensive schemes recommended by the council at Albany;
+he was, however, cordially agreed with them upon the advantages to be
+gained by their execution. Desirous to avoid responsibility, he
+determined to await the arrival of the commander-in-chief, but in the
+mean time he marched the Provincial forces upon Fort William Henry,
+under the command of General Winslow,[67] who there awaited
+re-enforcements previous to his advance against Crown Point.
+
+In the West, however, British energy and courage found employment under
+the able and adventurous Lieutenant-colonel Bradstreet. He determined to
+execute, as far as in his power lay, the resolves of the council at
+Albany, and left Schenectady with about 300 boatmen, bearing supplies
+and military stores to strengthen the important post of Oswego. His
+detachment consisted of raw Irish recruits, utterly unacquainted with
+discipline, and unaccustomed to the sight of an enemy; but their native
+courage overcame all disadvantages, and they bravely did their duty, as
+their countrymen have ever done when striving for a good cause, and led
+by a worthy chief. Bradstreet passed in safety up the Onondaga River,
+reached Oswego, and accomplished his object. The French, being apprized
+of this expedition, collected in force some miles to the eastward of
+Oswego, and detached 700 men to intercept their enemy. Happily, however,
+they became embarrassed in the tangled wilderness, and lost their way:
+when, at last, after much difficulty, they reached the banks of the
+Onondaga, the English had already passed up the stream in safety. They
+well knew, however, that Bradstreet must soon return by the same route;
+they therefore patiently awaited their opportunity, concealed beneath
+the favoring cloak of the dense forests surrounding the river.
+
+The English chief--either informed of this ambuscade, or mistrusting the
+facility with which the dangerous navigation had been before
+accomplished--took the only precaution his difficult position permitted.
+To scour the neighborhood of the rapid stream with light troops would
+have been impossible, owing to the thick underwood every where arresting
+the human foot; and yet, from each dark clump of cedars, or from behind
+each projecting crag on the rugged banks, he might at any moment expect
+to see the deadly flash of the Canadian musket, and to hear the
+war-whoop of the savage. Bradstreet therefore determined on the
+precaution of proceeding in three divisions of canoes, within easy
+distances of each other; that thus, if any one were attacked, his stout
+boatmen might land from the others, and on equal terms encounter the
+assailants on the shore. He entered the first canoe; his gallant men
+followed with somewhat tumultuous good will. The day of their departure
+was the 3d of July; in that burning season the stream was low and
+difficult of navigation, and the stately trees and luxuriant underwood,
+rich in leafy honors, afforded complete concealment to the dangerous
+enemy.
+
+For nine miles the party forced their way up the Onondaga, laboriously
+but without interruption; at length they reached a spot where the waters
+flow in shallow rapids past a small island, and the dense woods throw
+their shade over the very margin of the stream. Suddenly, from the north
+shore, a loud volley, and a louder yell, broke through the silence of
+the wilderness. This first fire fell with deadly effect upon the leading
+division; but Bradstreet, with six of the survivors, forced their canoes
+quickly across the eddying current toward the island. Twenty of the
+enemy had at the same time plunged into the river, and, taking advantage
+of the ford, arrived before him; nevertheless, Bradstreet threw himself
+on shore, and with desperate courage faced the foe. After a sharp
+struggle, he even dislodged them from the island, and drove them back
+upon the main land. When the remaining canoes of the advanced division
+joined, his little force amounted to no more than twenty men. The
+French, enraged at their first repulse, vigorously renewed the attack
+with doubled numbers, but they were again beaten, and, leaving many of
+their foremost dead in the stream, returned to the shelter of the shore.
+A third time, however, the assailants, brave even in defeat, pushed
+across the ford with seventy men, and threw themselves upon the little
+knot of English. For nearly an hour, with fiery courage on the one side
+and stubborn resolution on the other, they fought among the rocks and
+trees, till the secluded spot, where perhaps human foot had never before
+trodden, was red with human blood. At length the French gave way, and,
+scattered and depressed, fell back upon the main body of their
+countrymen.
+
+While this stout fight was raging on the little island, the boatmen of
+the remaining divisions had landed in safety lower down on the southern
+shore, and moved in good order to the support of their hard-pressed
+comrades. The main body of the French pressed rapidly along the opposite
+bank toward another ford about a mile higher up the river, and many
+succeeded in crossing before Bradstreet's stout boatmen could intercept
+them. By this time, however, the British leader had arrived from the
+little island, and put himself at the head of his two last divisions.
+With prompt determination he threw himself upon the French advance, and,
+bravely supported by his followers, after a stubborn strife, forced it
+back into the river. Many of the conquered were struck down by the
+English marksmen in the close bush-fight, and even a greater number
+perished in their hurried passage of the stream.
+
+In Bradstreet's absence, another large body of the French swarmed across
+the ford by the little island where they had been before repeatedly
+repulsed, but this last effort was even more disastrous than the
+preceding. Before they could form in the tangled swamps, the boatmen and
+their gallant chief came down at a running pace, flushed with recent
+success. One short struggle on the woody bank, and the assailants were
+forced back in utter rout. The remainder of the enemy dispersed in the
+forest and attacked no more, but above 100 of their number had perished
+in the stream or had fallen by the sword, while seventy prisoners and a
+great quantity of arms rewarded the successful valor of the conquerors.
+Many of the French regular soldiers, strangers to the American
+wilderness, became bewildered in its mazes, and died miserably of
+starvation. On the other hand, no less than sixty of Bradstreet's
+boatmen were killed and wounded in this gallant action.[68]
+
+The English were too much fatigued and weakened by their hard-won
+victory to venture on pursuit, and prepared to rest that night upon the
+battle-field; they were, however, soon aroused by the approach of a body
+of troops, which, to their great joy, proved to be a detachment of their
+own grenadiers, on the march to Oswego, and the next morning 200 men
+also joined them from that garrison. But, in the mean time, the rain had
+poured down in torrents, and the stream of the Onondaga swelled to an
+angry flood; to cross and follow up their success was therefore
+impossible, and the remnant of the French found refuge in their vessels
+on the waters of Lake Ontario. After a time, when the subsiding flood
+permitted, the detachment and the grenadiers descended the river to
+Oswego, and the victorious boatmen, with their leader, pushed on for
+Schenectady, where they arrived in safety on the 14th of July. The
+following day Bradstreet set out for Albany to warn General Abercromby
+of the designs of the French against Oswego: the prisoners had informed
+him that a force of 1200 men was encamped on the shores of the lake, not
+far from the eastern fort of that port, where the thick covert of the
+forest concealed them from the British garrison. Abercromby at once
+ordered the remains of the 44th regiment, under Colonel Webb, to hasten
+to Oswego, but, owing to the interference of the Provincial
+governors,[69] a fatal delay intervened before this corps was put in
+motion.
+
+On the 26th of July Lord Loudon arrived at New York from Europe; on the
+29th he reached Albany, and assumed the command of the army. He found a
+body of nearly 3000 regular troops, besides a large Provincial force,
+under his orders at Albany[70] and Schenectady, including the survivors
+of the two unfortunate regiments which had been crippled and broken in
+Braddock's disaster.[71] In the fort of Oswego[72] were mustered 1400
+bayonets, principally of Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments, besides
+sailors and peasants,[73] and nearly 500 men, in scattered detachments,
+preserved the difficult communications through the Iroquois territories.
+
+On the other hand, the French held Crown Point and Ticonderoga with 3000
+veterans, and found means to assemble a still more formidable force at
+Fort Frontenac for the purpose of attacking Oswego.
+
+This year had arrived at Quebec from France a large body of regulars,
+under the command of the MARQUIS DE MONTCALM, with the Brigadier de
+Levi, and Colonel de Bourlemaque. Montcalm remained but a few days at
+Quebec, and then hastened on with his veteran re-enforcements to
+strengthen the force destined to act against Oswego. Rigaud de
+Vaudreuil, with a large body of Canadian militia raised at Montreal, was
+detached as the vanguard of the army, and arrived undiscovered on the
+9th of August within a mile and a half of the British position; on the
+night of the 10th the first division also arrived; on the 12th, at
+midnight, the second division joined. Then the French chief, having made
+all necessary preparations, opened his trenches before Fort Ontario,[74]
+which was situated at the opposite side of the river from the important
+position of Oswego.
+
+From break of day until six in the evening Montcalm kept up a heavy
+fire, which was vigorously replied to by the defenders; then, however,
+the resistance suddenly ceased. The unpardonable neglect of the British
+authorities had left this important post almost unprovided with
+ammunition, and in the hour of extremest need the scanty supply failed.
+Further defense was impossible; the survivors of the little garrison
+spiked their cannon, and retreated without interruption to the
+neighboring position of Fort Oswego, on the opposite side of the river.
+When the French perceived that the defenders had yielded the post, they
+quickly took possession, and turned such of the guns as in the hurry of
+retreat had been still left uninjured upon the walls of the remaining
+stronghold. The defenses of the feeble fort soon crumbled beneath the
+crushing fire from Montcalm's battering train and the now hostile guns
+of Fort Ontario. Colonel Mercer, the English chief, and many of his men,
+were struck down, and the remainder, hopeless of a successful defense,
+surrendered upon not unfavorable terms on the evening of the 14th of
+August.
+
+Seven armed vessels, mounting from 8 to 18 guns each, 200 bateaux, a
+vast quantity of provisions and warlike stores, with 1200
+prisoners,[75] were gained by the victors; and for a brief space,
+several British flags, the unwonted trophies of French conquest, decked
+with drooping folds the walls of the Canadian churches. This brilliant
+and important success was, however, stained by cruelty and doubtful
+faith.[76] Notwithstanding the terms of the capitulation, the savages
+were permitted to plunder all, and massacre many of the captives;[77]
+and, to the shame of Montcalm, the sick and wounded who had been
+intrusted to his protection were slain and scalped under the Indian
+knife. The remaining prisoners, however, were escorted to Montreal,
+where they were treated with kindness and consideration, and soon
+afterward exchanged.[78] The French, having demolished the works at
+Oswego, returned to the eastern part of the province.
+
+This conquest established Montcalm's already rising reputation. Canada
+rejoiced, and the British colonies were proportionately discouraged.
+The sad news was first carried to Albany by some French deserters, but
+remained unconfirmed for several days, till two sailors arrived who had
+escaped subsequently to the disaster. Indian rumor was also busy with
+the melancholy tale. It was for a time believed that the whole garrison
+of Oswego had been put to the sword,[79] and that the bodies of the
+slain were left unburied upon the desolate shores of Lake Ontario. A
+panic spread. Colonel Webb, with the 44th regiment, nearly 900 strong,
+and 800 boatmen, stopped short in his advance, now useless through
+culpable delay, and employed his whole force in felling trees to block
+up the navigation of the important passage of Wood Creek,[80] while the
+French, equally anxious to avoid collision, performed a similar labor
+higher up the river.
+
+The province of New York was the first to suffer by the unhappy loss of
+Oswego, and the pusillanimous retreat of Webb. The rich and beautiful
+settlements called the German Flats were speedily desolated by the
+Indians and the scarcely less vindictive Canadians; the crops were
+destroyed, the houses and homesteads burned, and such of the inhabitants
+as could not escape were captured, or slain and scalped.
+
+It has been before stated that all the resources of the British colonies
+were taxed to enable General Winslow to act against Crown Point, with a
+view to master the important navigation of Lake Champlain, and to
+demolish the French forts upon its shores,[81] but these preparations
+produced no results beyond that of strengthening Forts Edward and
+William Henry. No blow was struck,[82] notwithstanding the opportunity
+afforded by the withdrawal of nearly all the French regular troops from
+that neighborhood to aid the Oswego expedition. The inglorious campaign
+concluded by the retirement of the British regiments of the line to
+Albany, and the return of the Provincials to their several localities.
+
+But while the genius and good fortune of Montcalm raised the military
+reputation of New France and strengthened her external power, tyranny
+and corruption withered her budding prosperity, and blighted it with
+premature decay. The paltry peculations and narrow despotism of the
+petty magnates of colonial government are nauseous and ungrateful
+subjects. The "habitans" were oppressed and plundered, the troops were
+defrauded of their hard-earned stipend, traders were ground down under
+infamous extortions, and the unhappy Acadian refugees robbed of the
+generous bounties of the state. Eminent among the perpetrators of these
+shameless wrongs stood Bigot, the intendant; Cadet and others of his
+creatures were worthy of their principal. A scarcity almost amounting to
+famine, which inflicted the severest privations upon the colony, was
+again seized as an opportunity of gain by these relentless men, under
+the pretense of the general good; great stores of provisions were bought
+by them at a low, compulsory price, and resold at an enormous advance
+for their private benefit. Even the sacred calling of the missionaries
+did not in all instances preserve them from the taint of these unworthy
+acts; and where wealth, was thus largely and by such means increased,
+morals were naturally deteriorated.
+
+The loss of Oswego was in some degree compensated to the English by the
+progress of Colonel Lawrence in Acadia, but sad it is to say that the
+stain of cruelty tainted our success, as it had the victory of Montcalm.
+When the French settlers refused to acknowledge allegiance to the
+British crown and laws, they were pursued with fire and sword, their
+villages and farms destroyed, and at last many thousands were suddenly
+shipped off, and dispersed among the Atlantic colonies, where friends
+and kinsfolk might never meet again; thus, to use the language of the
+time, "establishing peace and tranquillity throughout the whole
+province." In the ensuing February, some of these ill-fated Acadians
+with a few allied Indians, about 300 in all, unexpectedly sallied out
+upon the new English settlements, driven by desperation from the snowy
+forests; but Lieutenant-colonel Scott promptly called together an equal
+force of Provincials, and drove them back, with heavy loss, upon the
+inhospitable wilderness.
+
+In the month of August of the year 1756, a small post on the borders of
+Pennsylvania, called Fort Granville, was surprised by a party of French
+and Indians, and the garrison carried into captivity. At the same time,
+the Moravian savages from the banks of the Ohio, rejoicing in the
+opportunity afforded by the contentions of the white men, suddenly burst
+upon the English western frontier, and massacred no less than 1000 of
+the scattered settlers. Then the thirst of vengeance burned among the
+hardy colonists. Infuriated rather than appalled by this horrid
+butchery, 280 men hastily assembled, and with untiring energy pushed on
+toward the rugged Alleganies to an Indian town called Kittaning, the
+rendezvous of the fierce marauders. The road was rude and difficult, the
+distance 150 miles, but the furious hatred of the pursuers spurred them
+forward, and on the morning of the fifth day the foremost scouts brought
+word that the Indian murderers were close at hand, celebrating their
+bloody triumph in songs and dances.
+
+When morning light first chased away the darkness of the forest, the
+English Provincials burst upon the Indian camp. Armstrong, their leader,
+offered quarter, but the savages, conscious of their unpardonable
+cruelties, dared not submit. Then ensued a terrible slaughter; the
+Indians were beaten down in furious rage, or shot in attempting to fly,
+or shut up in their wooden huts and burned to death; some were seized
+and scalped, in horrible imitation of their own ferocity, and not a few
+were blown up and destroyed by the stores of ammunition they had
+collected during their late incursion. Terrible as was this vengeance,
+it availed but little. On almost every other part of the British
+frontiers, parties of the Indians, and their almost equally savage
+French allies, swarmed among the woods, concealed in ambush during the
+day, and by night busied in their bloody work.
+
+In the mean time, the season had become too far advanced for the
+commencement of any important enterprise; the English colonies were
+divided in spirit, and all efforts for the general good were perpetually
+thwarted by jealousy and parsimony. Lord Loudon, with his armament, had
+not reached New York till the end of July; by that time little remained
+practicable but to strengthen some frontier forts, and push forward
+parties of observation into the French territories. Thus closed the
+campaign of 1756. England had a sorry account of her wasted blood and
+treasure in these Western wars; opportunities had been neglected,
+resources wasted, laurels lost.[83] The Indian trade and the commerce of
+the great lakes had been forfeited by the surrender of Oswego. To us
+only remained the barren boast of Bradstreet's gallant victory. The
+Indians were not slow to perceive the weakness of British councils, and
+Sir William Johnson's powerful influence was barely sufficient to
+restrain the politic Iroquois from openly declaring for the enemy.
+
+[Footnote 62: See Appendix, No. LXIII.]
+
+[Footnote 63: "Thus was introduced into America the feudal system, so
+long the ruin of Europe."--Raynal, vol. viii., p. 143.
+
+"Nothing has reduced the families of the ancient French seigneurs to
+misery more than the division and subdivision of their lands by their
+own law; a law which, though it appears at first to breathe more the
+spirit of democracy than of monarchy, yet in fact is calculated for a
+military government only, because nobles so reduced can and will only
+live by the sword."--Gray's _Canada_, p. 346.]
+
+[Footnote 64: "War was at length declared in form by Great Britain
+against France in May, 1756, and in the following month by France
+against Great Britain; and in the manifesto published by the latter,
+much pains were taken to contrast the moderation and equity of the court
+of Versailles with the intemperate violence of the court of London, and
+particularly stigmatizing the seizure of the French ships of war and
+commerce, before a declaration of war, as piracy and perfidy."--Belsham,
+vol. ii., p. 396.]
+
+[Footnote 65: "The next object of the immediate attention of Parliament
+in this session (1755--May, 1756) was the raising of a new regiment of
+foot in North America, for which purpose the sum of L81,178 16s. was
+voted. This regiment, which was to consist of four battalions of 1000
+men each, was intended to be raised chiefly out of the German and Swiss,
+who, for many years past, had annually transported themselves in great
+numbers to the British plantations in America, where waste lands had
+been assigned them upon the frontiers of the provinces; but, very
+injudiciously, no care had been taken to intermix them with the English
+inhabitants of the place, so that very few of them, even of those who
+have been born there, have yet learned to speak or understand the
+English tongue. However, as they were all zealous Protestants, and, in
+general, strong, hardy men, accustomed to the climate, it was judged
+that a regiment of good and faithful soldiers might be raised out of
+them, particularly proper to oppose the French; but to this end it was
+necessary to appoint some officers, especially subalterns, who
+understood military discipline and could speak the German language; and
+as a sufficient number of such could not be found among the English
+officers, it was necessary to bring over and grant commissions to
+several German and Swiss officers and engineers. But as this step, by
+the Act of Settlement, could not be taken without the authority of
+Parliament, an act was now passed for enabling his majesty to grant
+commissions to a certain number of foreign Protestants who had served
+abroad as officers or engineers, to act and rank as officers or
+engineers in America only. The Royal American Regiment is now the 60th
+Rifles."--Smollett's _History of England_, vol. iii., p. 483.]
+
+[Footnote 66: The northern colonies were enabled to comply, in some
+degree, with the requisitions made on them, by having received from the
+British government, in the course of the summer, a considerable sum of
+money as a reimbursement for the extraordinary expenses of the preceding
+year. One hundred and fifteen thousand pounds had been apportioned among
+them, according to their respective exertions,[84] and this sum gave new
+vigor and energy to their councils.]
+
+[Footnote 67: The command of the expedition against Crown Point was
+given to Major-general Winslow, whose conduct in Nova Scotia had very
+much increased both his reputation and his influence.--Marshall's _Life
+of Washington_, vol. i., p. 325.
+
+Mr. Beckford thus speaks of General Winslow in a letter to Mr. Pitt,
+dated Fonthill, Dec. 18, 1758: "There is a brave, gallant officer, by
+name Winslow, who has acted as general in North America, and done signal
+service. This man is in England, and is only a captain on half pay. I
+wish you would think of him; he might furnish you with useful
+hints."--_Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham_, vol. i., p. 378.]
+
+[Footnote 68: "Bradstreet had but three Indians of the Six Nations
+(Iroquois) with him at this attack. Of these, one took to his heels; a
+second fought bravely; but the third went over to the enemy, and
+assisted in pointing out our officers."--_A Review of the Military
+Operations in North America from 1753 to 1756._]
+
+[Footnote 69: "Mr. Shirley and the Provincial chiefs wanted that Webb's
+(the 44th) and my regiment (the 48th) should march to Forts Edward and
+William Henry, taking it for granted that Oswego was in no
+danger."--_Letter from General Abercromby_, dated Albany, 10th of
+August, 1756.
+
+"The detaching any troops to Oswego was strongly opposed by a party at
+Albany, who thought that while Crown Point remained in the hands of the
+French, there could be no security for the province of New York. General
+Winslow, who was to command an expedition against Crown Point, was
+already more than sufficiently strong for that purpose, yet this party
+insisted on his being re-enforced with two or three regiments of regular
+troops, and that an army should likewise remain at Albany to defend it,
+in case the troops sent against Crown Point should happen to be
+defeated. Nay, they strongly opposed the departure of the regiment which
+General Abercromby had already ordered for Oswego. Some of the New
+England colonies joined those of New York in this opposition, so that it
+was not without the greatest difficulty Lord Loudon, who did not think
+proper to do any thing material without their approbation, could so much
+as prevail on them to let Colonel Webb depart for Oswego; therefore it
+was the 12th of August before that officer could leave Albany; too late
+to save Oswego. Thus the public safety of the whole British empire in
+North America was made to yield to the private views of some leading
+people in the provinces of New England and New York."--Mante, p. 64.]
+
+[Footnote 70: "The Provincials do not exceed 4000, mostly vagabonds
+picked up by the New Englanders at random, by the high premium given
+them in order to save themselves from service."--_Letter from General
+Abercromby_, Albany, 30th of August, 1756.]
+
+[Footnote 71: The 44th (then Halket's, now Webb's) and the 48th (then
+Dunbar's, now Abercromby's). They were regiments that ran away at
+Preston Pans.]
+
+[Footnote 72: "The garrison of Oswego was insensibly increased to 1400
+men; only 700 had been left there by Mr. Shirley the autumn
+before."--Mante's _Hist. of the War_, p. 63.]
+
+[Footnote 73: "The greatest part of Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments
+is there.... By all account, Shirley's and Pepperel's are by much the
+worst corps on this continent. With such troops, what can we
+do?"--_Letter from General Abercromby_, Albany, 30th of Aug., 1756.]
+
+[Footnote 74: "General Shirley's troops, after the attack on Niagara was
+relinquished in the autumn of the preceding year, had been employed in
+the erection of two new forts, one of them 450 yards from the old Fort
+Oswego, and bearing the same name, the other on the opposite side of the
+Onondaga River, to be called Fort Ontario. They were erected on the
+south side of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Onondaga, and
+constituted a port of great importance. The garrison, as we have already
+observed, consisted of 1400 men, chiefly militia and new-raised
+recruits, under the command of Colonel Mercer, an officer of experience
+and courage; but the situation of the forts was very ill chosen, the
+materials mostly timber or logs of wood, the defenses wretchedly
+continued and unfinished, and, in a word, the place altogether untenable
+against any regular approach."--Smollett's _History of England_, vol.
+iii., p. 535.]
+
+[Footnote 75: "Such an important magazine, deposited in a place altogether
+indefensible, and without the reach of immediate succor, was a flagrant
+proof of egregious folly, temerity, and misconduct."--Smollett's _Hist.
+of England_, vol. iii., p. 536.]
+
+[Footnote 76: _Ibid._, p. 535.]
+
+[Footnote 77: "Montcalm, in direct violation of the articles, as well as
+in contempt of common humanity, delivered up above twenty men of the
+garrison to the Indians, in lieu of the same number they had lost during
+the siege."--_Ibid._]
+
+[Footnote 78: "The negligence and dilatoriness of our governors at
+home,[85] and the little-minded quarrels of the regulars and irregular
+forces,[86] have reduced our affairs in that part of the world (America)
+to a most deplorable state. Oswego, of ten times more importance even
+than Minorca, is so annihilated that we can not learn the
+particulars."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Nov. 4, 1756.]
+
+[Footnote 79: "The massacre at Oswego happily proves a romance. Part of
+the two regiments[87] that were made prisoners there are actually
+arrived at Plymouth, the provisions at Quebec being too scanty to admit
+additional numbers."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Nov. 13,
+1756.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Wood Creek was one of the streams that formed a nearly
+uninterrupted water communication between Albany, in New York, and the
+mouth of the River Onondaga, where Oswego was situated.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Crown Point, or Fort Frederic, and Ticonderoga, which had
+been lately fortified.]
+
+[Footnote 82: Abercromby writes from Fort Edward, 30th of September,
+1756; "Upon intelligence of the enemy's whole force being collected at
+Crown Point, in order to make an attempt on this fort or that of Fort
+William Henry, I arrived here the 26th with the Highlanders: to-morrow I
+shall have three regiments.... Our works here are far from being
+finished. However, though the fort is not finished we are throwing up
+lines, and shall be able to repel the enemy's force.--8th of Oct. Lord
+Loudon is now here: he has left Webb to take care of Otway's at Albany.
+General Winslow (he was at Fort William Henry) holds daily
+correspondence."]
+
+[Footnote 83: Every where. "I see it with concern, considering who was
+Newcastle's associate" (he alludes to his friend Fox); "but this was the
+year of the worst administration that I have seen in England, for now
+Newcastle's incapacity[88] was left to its full play."--Walpole's
+_Memoirs_, vol. ii., p. 54.
+
+"In the course of this unfortunate year, 1756, we were stripped of
+Minorca and Oswego (the East India Company, by the loss of Calcutta,
+received a blow which would have shaken an establishment of less
+strength to its foundation), we apprehended an invasion of Great Britain
+itself, our councils were torn to pieces by factions, and our military
+fame was every where in contempt."--_Annual Register._
+
+Burke was the writer of the "History of Europe" in the early volumes of
+the _Annual Register_.]
+
+[Footnote 84: To Massachusetts, L54,000; to Connecticut, L26,000; to New
+York, L15,000; to New Hampshire, L8000; to Rhode Island, L7000; to New
+Jersey, L5000,--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 328.]
+
+[Footnote 85: The ministry of the Duke of Newcastle and Fox, which was
+forced out of office by the public indignation at the loss of Minorca,
+and on the 13th of Nov., 1756, Pitt kissed hands as secretary of state.]
+
+[Footnote 86: "The regulations of the crown respecting rank had given
+great disgust in America, and rendered it extremely difficult to carry
+on any military operations which required a junction of British and
+Provincial troops. When consulted on this delicate subject, General
+Winslow assured General Abercromby of his apprehensions that, if the
+result of the junction should be placing the Provincials under British
+officers, it would produce very general discontent, and perhaps
+desertion. His officers concurred with him in this opinion. On the
+arrival of Lord Loudon, the subject was revived, and the colonial office
+gave the same opinion. The request that Lord Loudon would permit them to
+act separately was acceded to."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol.
+i., p. 327.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Shirley's and Pepperel's.]
+
+[Footnote 88: "A minister the most incapable though the most ambitious,
+the weakest though the most insolent, the most pusillanimous though the
+most presumptuous"--Mr. Potter's _Speech in the House of Commons_. "It
+would, however, be injustice not to allow the Duke of Newcastle the
+merit of disinterestedness as to the emoluments of office, and of zeal
+for the general interests of his country."--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 381.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Stimulated by the general success of their arms during the campaign of
+1756, the French suffered not their energies to slumber even through the
+chilly Canadian winter. With detachments of Indians and hardy
+"habitans," they scoured the northern frontiers of the British colonies,
+and gained intelligence of every movement. From information thus
+acquired, Montcalm determined to move a force suddenly on Fort William
+Henry,[89] at the southern extremity of Lake George,[90] where the
+English had formed a depot for a vast quantity of provisions and warlike
+stores, which was as yet unprotected by any sufficient garrison. Fifteen
+hundred men, of whom four hundred were Indians, led by Rigaud de
+Vaudreuil and the Chevalier de Longueuil, were dispatched to surprise
+and escalade the fort, and, in case of failure, to destroy the stores
+and buildings beyond the protection of its walls, and also the shipping
+and bateaux on the neighboring lake. On the 19th of March, at the dead
+of night, the French noiselessly approached the little fortress, but the
+vigilant sentries discovered them in time, and alarmed the defenders,
+who drove them back with a brisk fire of cannon and musketry. Having
+failed to surprise, they invested the place the following day, and twice
+again vainly attacked the fort. On the 21st they summoned the
+commandant, Major Eyres, to surrender, which demand he instantly
+refused. The French assailed the stronghold a fourth and even a fifth
+time; but, having been repulsed in every attack, contented themselves by
+destroying the undefended property without. Furthermore, they
+strengthened Ticonderoga and Crown Point with two battalions, and sent
+Captain Pouchot as commandant to Niagara, with orders to fortify that
+important post as he best might. They then returned to Montreal. Shortly
+afterward they gained an advantage of some value over a detachment of
+400 men, led by Colonel Parker, which had been sent by water to attack
+their advanced guard near Ticonderoga. By a cleverly devised ambuscade,
+and the opportune arrival of a re-enforcement, they completely
+overpowered the British troops, and slew or captured more than half the
+number.
+
+In the mean while the Earl of Loudon exerted himself to the utmost in
+collecting a sufficient force to strike a decisive blow. The favorite
+object of carrying Crown Point was laid aside, and the grander scheme of
+reducing the formidable stronghold of Louisburg, in Acadia, adopted
+instead.[91] There the naval power of England could be brought to bear,
+and the distracting jealousies of the several colonies might not
+interfere to paralyze vigorous action. Preparations for this enterprise
+were rapidly pushed on in England, and by the end of January, 1757,
+seven regiments of infantry and a detachment of artillery, all commanded
+by Major-general Hopson, were ordered to assemble at Cork, and await the
+arrival of a powerful fleet of fourteen line-of-battle ships, destined
+to bear them to America. June had nearly closed,[92] however, before
+this powerful armament, under Admiral Holborne, arrived at the place of
+rendezvous. Lord Loudon had arranged to meet the expedition at Halifax
+with all the force he could collect; to accomplish this transport, he
+was injudiciously led to lay an embargo on all the ships in the British
+North American ports. This arbitrary measure at once aroused a storm of
+indignation among the merchants and planters, whose trade it ruinously
+affected. The home government, ever jealous of commercial liberty,
+immediately disapproved the high-handed proceeding, and issued
+peremptory orders against its repetition.
+
+On the 20th of June, 1757, Lord Loudon had embarked at New York with a
+considerable force drawn from the protection of the vast colonial
+borders. Sir Charles Hardy commanded a fleet of four ships of war and
+seventy transports for the troops; each ship had orders, in case of
+separation, to make the best of her way to Halifax. On the 30th they all
+reached that port, where they found eight vessels of war and some
+artillery, with two regiments of infantry. The troops were landed as
+soon as possible, and busied in various and somewhat trivial
+occupations, while fast-sailing vessels were dispatched to examine the
+French strength at Louisburg, and also to watch for the arrival of the
+remainder of the English fleet under Holborne. By the 9th of July the
+whole of the enormous armament had assembled. Nineteen ships of the
+line, with a great number of smaller craft, and an army of thirteen
+battalions in high spirit and condition, were now at the disposal of the
+British leaders.
+
+Much valuable time was wasted at Halifax in unnecessary drills and silly
+sham fights; at length, however, on the 1st and 2d of August, the troops
+were embarked, with orders to proceed to Gabarus Bay, to the westward of
+Louisburg; but on the 4th, information received by a captured sloop that
+eighteen ships of the line and 3000 regular troops, with many
+militia-men and Indians, were prepared to defend the harbor, altered the
+views of the English chiefs. The attack was abandoned,[93] the troops
+were directed to land in various places on the Acadian peninsula, while
+the fleet was to cruise off Louisburg and endeavor to bring the French
+to action. About the middle of the month, a dispatch from Boston,
+containing the disastrous news of the loss of Fort William Henry,
+reached Lord Loudon; in consequence, his orders were again altered.[94]
+The luckless general himself, with a part of the troops and fleet, made
+sail for New York; the remaining regiments, not before landed, were
+directed upon the Bay of Fundy, and Admiral Holborne, with the bulk of
+this vast armament, bore away for the harbor of Louisburg.
+
+The objects of this cruise can hardly be even conjectured; some imagine
+that curiosity was Holborne's sole motive. It is obvious that he did not
+mean to engage the enemy; for, when he approached within two miles of
+the hostile batteries, and saw the French admiral's signal to unmoor, he
+immediately made the best of his way back to Halifax. Being re-enforced
+by four ships of the line about the middle of September, Holborne again
+sailed within sight of Louisburg, being then certain that the French
+would not leave the shelter of their batteries to encounter his superior
+strength, and thus risk unnecessarily the safety of their colony.
+
+While continuing this useless demonstration, a violent storm from the
+southwest assailed the British fleet on the 24th of October, at the
+distance of about forty leagues from the rock-bound coast. In twelve
+hours the ships were driven almost to within gunshot of the shore, when
+a happy shift of wind saved them from total destruction. But the
+Tilbury, a magnificent vessel of sixty guns, went to pieces on Cape
+Breton, and 225 of her crew perished in the waves; the Newark drove into
+Halifax crippled and damaged; others subsequently gained the same
+shelter, dismasted, and in a still more disastrous plight. When the
+weather moderated, Admiral Holborne made the best of his way for
+England with the remainder of the fleet, leaving, however, a small
+squadron, under Lord Colville, to protect the British traders in those
+northern seas.[95]
+
+While the main force of the British armies had been occupied in the
+ill-fated expedition against Louisburg, Colonel Stanwix had marched to
+protect the Western frontier with a detachment of regular troops, and
+nearly 2000 of the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia militia. At the
+same time, the borders of Carolina were intrusted to the care of Colonel
+Bouquet with a nearly similar force. But to the north, the province of
+New York and the New England states were feebly held by Colonel Webb
+with about 4000 men, and Colonel Monro with his garrison of Fort William
+Henry, against the able and vigilant Montcalm. Although Webb could not
+but be aware of the movements of his dangerous enemy, he unaccountably
+neglected to avail himself of the means of defense within his reach.
+With an indifference bordering on infatuation, he abstained from calling
+out the numerous and hardy militia of the surrounding states, in
+themselves a force sufficient to overpower his active antagonist. At
+length, when the white banner of France had actually been unfurled on
+the shores of Lake Champlain, Webb awoke from his lethargy, but only to
+make a precipitate and disgraceful retreat. He fell back upon Fort
+Edward the following day, leaving Colonel Monro, with about 2000 men, to
+bear the brunt of battle, and defend the post which he had thus
+shamefully abandoned.
+
+When Lord Loudon had put to sea with the main army, Montcalm instantly
+seized the opportunity of renewing his favorite project of gaining the
+command of Lake George, through the reduction of Fort William Henry. He
+rapidly concentrated his forces at Ticonderoga, including a considerable
+body of Indians, numbering altogether 8000 men, well appointed and
+provisioned, with a proportionate force of artillery, and, without
+delay, pushed on a large division of his army, under M. de Levi, along
+the shores of the lake. On the 1st of August he followed with the
+remainder, who, together with the heavy ordnance and warlike stores,
+were embarked in canoes and bateaux. On the night of the 2d, both
+divisions met in a bay near the English fort, and soon afterward the
+general learned from some prisoners, who were the survivors of a party
+surprised by the Indians, the retreat of Webb and the weakness of the
+British garrison. He immediately advanced upon the fort in three
+columns, sending M. de Levi, with all his savage allies, to scour the
+neighboring woods; these fierce warriors suddenly fell upon a small
+foraging party of the English, slew and scalped forty of their number,
+and carried off fifty head of cattle.
+
+Montcalm spent the 3d of August in reconnoitering the fort and
+neighborhood,[96] and in erecting batteries; but the Indians scorned the
+delays of regular warfare, and urged an immediate attack without waiting
+for the aid of artillery. The chief listened not unwillingly to this
+daring counsel; first, however, he determined to try the virtue of
+negotiation, and dispatched a peremptory summons to Colonel Monro,
+demanding an immediate surrender. The English chief, although but too
+well aware of his own weakness, returned a spirited answer to this
+haughty message: "I will defend my trust," said he, "to the last
+extremity."
+
+This bold reply quickened the ardor of the French: during the 4th and
+5th, day and night, their labors ceased not; they dug and delved into
+the earth with vindictive and untiring zeal, pushing on the trenches of
+the attack close to the ramparts of the fort. At daybreak on the 6th,
+ten guns and a large mortar broke the silence of the morning with a
+salvo upon the beleaguered garrison. The British paid back the deadly
+salute vigorously, but with far inferior power. Meanwhile, the Indians
+and some Canadian sharp-shooters swarmed around at every point; some
+hiding behind the stumps of the forest trees, others finding shelter in
+an adjoining garden, from their covert swept the works of the defenders
+with a murderous fire. The odds were great, but in a vain hope that Webb
+would not see him lost without an effort, Monro held out with stubborn
+courage. His loss was heavy, his defenses rapidly giving way under the
+crashing artillery of the French, yet still he resisted the threats and
+promises of the enemy. At length ammunition failed; the savages soon
+perceived this, and redoubled their fire, crowding closer round the
+failing defenders. While yet they strove to hold their ground, an
+intercepted letter from Webb to Monro was sent in by the French general;
+this destroyed the last remaining hope, for it stated that no timely
+relief could reach them, and advised that they should make the best
+terms in their power. Monro then no longer hesitated, and a capitulation
+was signed, with conditions such as a chivalrous conqueror should give
+to those who had nobly but unsuccessfully performed their duty.
+
+The sequel of this gallant defense is as sad as it is unaccountable. The
+Indians despised the rights of the conquered. When they saw the garrison
+march out on the following day with arms and baggage, and protected by a
+French escort, their rage knew no bounds; but with savage cunning they
+suffered their victims to proceed uninterruptedly till a place was
+reached favorable to their murderous designs, when suddenly, with
+horrible yells, they burst from the woods, upon the English column. This
+unexpected onslaught paralyzed with terror the men who but the day
+before had fought with dauntless bravery; few attempted to resist, some
+were instantly struck down by the tomahawks of the savages, others found
+tardy protection from the French escort, and about 600 dispersed among
+the woods, and finally reached Fort Edward in miserable plight.
+
+The endeavor to clear the memory of the illustrious Montcalm from the
+dark stain of connivance with this ferocious treachery is now a grateful
+task. While the dreadful story was fresh on the English ear, few voices
+were raised in his defense; the blood of the murdered men was laid at
+his door; the traitor to a soldier's faith was held in scornful
+detestation. But time, "that reverses the sentence of unrighteous
+judges,"[97] has served to clear away the cloud that shaded the
+brightness of the gallant Frenchman's fame. He may, indeed, still be
+censured for not having provided a sufficient escort for the surrendered
+garrison. Surely, however, he may well have deemed 2000 men, such as
+those who had before defended themselves with becoming bravery against
+his host, might hold their own against an inferior number of savages.
+When the onslaught began, he used his utmost endeavor to arrest it; he
+rushed into the bloody scene, and strove earnestly to stop its progress.
+Baring his breast, he called upon the savages to slay him, their father,
+but to spare the English for whom his honor was plighted. Then, finding
+his interference useless, he called upon the prisoners to defend
+themselves, and fire upon their pursuers; it was in vain, however, so
+overpowering were the terrors of the Indian tomahawk.[98] Montcalm's
+officers also threw themselves in the way of the vindictive savages, and
+some were even wounded in the attempt.[99]
+
+Immediately after the victory Montcalm demolished the fort, destroyed
+all the English vessels and boats upon the lake, triumphantly carried
+off the artillery, warlike stores, and baggage, 100 live oxen, and
+provisions for six months for a garrison of 5000 men. They did not
+endeavor to push further their important advantages, but once again
+retired within their own territories.[100]
+
+The Marquis de Vaudreuil took the earliest opportunity to inform the
+court of France that his gallant general's expedition had been thus
+eminently successful. He moreover accompanied the cheering news by
+earnest demands for aid in troops, artillery, and warlike stores, and
+prayed that he might be speedily informed of the intentions of the
+ministry, and their plans for the defense of the still endangered
+colony.[101]
+
+Meanwhile, peculation and corruption had frightfully increased among
+those intrusted with the Provincial administration. The Associates'
+Company cast aside all decent seeming of honesty, and robbed the
+government, the settlers, and the Indians with unblushing effrontery.
+The officers in command of outposts followed this infectious example.
+Under pretext of supplying the savages, they made frequent and large
+demands for goods, which, when obtained, were applied to their own use;
+and, not even content with this wholesale plunder, they gave
+certificates, amounting to large sums of money, for articles never
+furnished: from this source arose that immense amount of paper currency
+which deluged the colony at the time of the conquest, leaving no less
+than eighty millions of livres then unprovided for. This enormous
+dishonesty brought down its own punishment; agriculture and trade were
+paralyzed, loyalty shaken, while diminished resources and a discontented
+people hastened the inevitable catastrophe of British triumph.
+
+Immediately on Lord Loudon's return from the disgraceful expedition to
+Halifax,[102] he repaired to Fort Edward, which was the English advanced
+post in the direction of Canada since the loss of Fort William
+Henry.[103] As soon as he had given directions for its defense, he took
+up his winter quarters at Albany: thence he dispatched Captain Rogers,
+with a small party, to capture stragglers of the enemy, and gain
+intelligence of their movements. This officer succeeded in ascertaining
+that the important posts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been left
+insufficiently garrisoned. The English general formed designs, and even
+made extensive preparations to take advantage of the opportunity thus
+offered, but, with vacillating weakness, soon abandoned the project. In
+Acadia some ineffectual marching and counter-marching was performed by
+his orders, and the troops suffered considerably from privation and from
+the harassing enmity of the French and Indians.
+
+The feeble conduct and the contemptible results of this campaign
+demonstrated the inability of the English chief for military command;
+but Lord Loudon's merits in council should not be overlooked, while he
+stands condemned as a general. He aroused the different colonial
+governments from a dangerous apathy, induced them to unite, in some
+measure, their great but disjointed power, and exert for the general
+good the means which Providence had abundantly supplied. These favorable
+conditions were improved by the politic wisdom of his successors in the
+post of commander-in-chief in North America.
+
+The return of Holborne's shattered fleet and the news of the resultless
+maneuvers of Lord Loudon aroused a storm of indignation in England.
+Enormous preparations had proved fruitless, a vast force had warred only
+against the hardships of the wilderness or the dangers of the ocean.
+Twenty thousand regular troops, with a large Provincial army, had wasted
+the precious season of action in embarkations and disembarkations,
+disgraceful retreats, and advances almost equally disgraceful. Twenty
+magnificent ships of the line had left the British ports for the
+American shore in the pride of irresistible power, and, without firing a
+gun for the honor of their flag, returned to whence they came, or,
+maimed and dismantled, sought refuge in friendly ports. England had to
+lament her gallant children, her stately ships, her hard-earned
+treasures, and, above all, her military glory, lost in the Western
+deserts or swallowed up in the waters of the Atlantic.
+
+[Footnote 89: "In the French accounts of this transaction, Fort George
+is the name given to the fort. This was a strong position at a short
+distance from Fort William Henry. In the vicinity of the village of
+Caldwell is situated the site of the old Fort William Henry, and a short
+distance beyond the ruins of Fort George, which was built during the
+campaign of Amherst."--_Picturesque Tourist_, p. 104.]
+
+[Footnote 90: "Lake George, called by the Indians Horican, is justly
+celebrated for its romantic and beautiful scenery, and for the
+transparency and purity of its waters. They were exclusively selected by
+the Jesuit missionaries to perform the typical purification of baptism,
+which obtained for it the appropriate title of Lac Sacrament. The less
+zealous English thought they conferred sufficient honor on its unsullied
+fountains when they bestowed the name of their reigning prince, the
+second of the house of Hanover."--_Last of the Mohicans_, p. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 91: "The abandonment of the enterprise against Crown Point, on
+which they had securely relied, was a severe disappointment to the New
+England States."--Graham's _Hist. of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 5.
+
+"The attack on Louisburg was a scheme very favorable to the views and
+interests of France at this period, as it left M. de Montcalm entirely
+at liberty to prosecute his plans of conquest, and Louisburg was so
+strongly defended that little apprehension was entertained for its
+safety."--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 371.]
+
+[Footnote 92: "Upon our anchoring in Chebucto harbor, our commanding
+officer went ashore, and waited on his excellency the Earl of Loudon,
+who, with Major-general Abercromby, expressed great pleasure at our
+arrival, with the information they received of the fleet, and
+re-enforcements we had parted with at sea; and his lordship said, 'We
+had staid so long, he had almost despaired of us,' but being assured our
+delay proceeded principally from an obstinate set of contrary winds,
+that had retarded us in Ireland above two months after our arrival at
+the port of embarkation, his lordship seemed pleased. (As the fate of
+the expedition to Louisburg in this campaign depended, in a great
+measure, on the speedy sailing and junction of the fleet and forces from
+Europe with those of the Earl of Loudon, it was for this reason I judged
+it necessary to commence this work with the first orders to the troops
+in Ireland to march and embark for foreign service; and it will thereby
+appear that the earliest measures were taken at home to forward this
+enterprise, which, without doubt, would have succeeded, if the armament
+could have sailed when first intended)."--Knox's _Historical Journals of
+the Campaigns of North America_, vol. i., p. 14.
+
+The same cause--impossibility of exactly combining fleets and
+armies--had proved the ruin of every expedition, on a grand scale,
+undertaken by either French or English, in America, for years before.]
+
+[Footnote 93: "It was resolved, according to the custom of this war, to
+postpone the expedition to another opportunity."--Belsham, vol. ii., p.
+372.
+
+"I do not augur very well of the ensuing summer; a detachment is going
+to America under a commander whom a child might outwit or terrify with a
+pop-gun."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Feb. 13, 1757.]
+
+[Footnote 94: "It being now universally known at Halifax that the
+expedition against Cape Breton is laid aside for this season, the clerk
+of the Church, to evince his sentiments upon the situation of affairs,
+gave out and sung the 1st, 2d, 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, and 26th verses of
+Psalm xliv., of the New Version. A Jew merchant and another man were
+this morning committed to jail by the governor for circulating a false
+report of there being only five ships of war and three frigates at
+Louisburg; but the Earl of Loudon, being superior to such mean
+resentments, ordered them to be released in the evening."--Knox's
+_Historical Journal_, vol. i., p. 24.
+
+The extraordinary ardor of Major-general Lord Charles Hay, having made
+him much louder than others in condemning Lord Loudon's conduct, upon
+this occasion, a council of war was called to consider the tendency of
+his reflections, and the consequence was his being put under arrest.
+General Hopson's letter to Lord Loudon in October, three months
+afterward, mentions Lord Charles Hay being still under arrest, and
+complains of three regiments, with their commanding officers at their
+head, having gone "in corps" to wait upon him.]
+
+[Footnote 95: "Shortly after came letters from the Earl of Loudon, the
+commander-in-chief in North America, stating that he found the French
+21,000 strong, and that, not having so many, he could not attack
+Louisburg, but should return to Halifax. Admiral Holborne, one of the
+sternest condemners of Byng, wrote at the same time that he, having but
+seventeen ships and the French nineteen, dared not attack them. There
+was another summer lost! Pitt expressed himself with great vehemence
+against the earl, and we naturally have too lofty ideas of our naval
+strength to suppose that seventeen of our ships are not a match for any
+nineteen others."--Walpole's _George II._, vol. ii., p. 231.
+
+"Admiral Holborne declined to attack the French, because, while he had
+seventeen ships of the line, they had eighteen, and a greater WEIGHT OF
+METAL, 'according to the new sea phrase,' says Chesterfield,
+indignantly, 'which was unknown to Blake!' (_Letter to his Son_, Sept.
+30, 1757.) He adds, 'I hear that letters have been sent to both
+(Holborne and Loudon) with very severe reprimands.'"--Lord Mahon's
+_History of England_, vol. iv., p. 168.
+
+"The recent fate of Admiral Byng, who was shot on the 14th of March,
+1757, for incapacity in a naval engagement, is supposed to have
+paralyzed the energy of many British officers at this juncture."--Graham's
+_United States_, vol. iv., p. 6.
+
+"Dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de tems en tems un amiral pour
+encourager les autres."--_Candide_, ch. xxiii.
+
+"The miserable consequences of our political divisions (in 1757)
+produced a general unsteadiness in all our pursuits, and infused a
+languor and inactivity into all our military operations; for while our
+commanders abroad knew not who would reward their services or punish
+their neglects, and were not assured in what light even the best of
+their actions would be considered (having reason to apprehend that they
+might not be judged of as they were in themselves, but as their
+appearances might answer the end of some ruling faction), they naturally
+wanted that enterprising resolution, without which the best capacity,
+and intentions the most honest, can do nothing in war."--_Annual
+Register._]
+
+[Footnote 96: "Directly on the shore of the lake, and nearer to its
+western than to its eastern margin, lay the extensive earthen ramparts
+and low buildings of William Henry. Two of the sweeping bastions
+appeared to rest on the water, which washed their bases, while a deep
+ditch and extensive morasses guarded its other side and angles. The land
+had been cleared of wood for a reasonable distance around the work, but
+every other part of the scene lay in the green livery of nature, except
+where the limpid water mellowed the view, or the bold rocks thrust their
+black and naked heads above the undulating outline of the mountain
+ranges. In its front might be seen the scattered sentinels who held a
+weary watch against their numerous foes.... Toward the southeast, but in
+immediate contact with the fort, was an intrenched camp, posted on a
+rocky eminence, that would have been far more eligible for the work
+itself.... But the spectacle which most concerned the young soldier was
+on the western bank of the lake, though quite near to its southern
+termination. On a strip of land, which appeared from its stand too
+narrow to contain such an army, but which, in truth, extended many
+hundreds of yards from the shores of Lake George to the base of the
+mountain, were to be seen the white tents and military engines for an
+encampment of 10,000 men."--_Last of the Mohicans_, p. 144.]
+
+[Footnote 97: "I was a little child when this transaction took place,
+and distinctly remember the strong emotions which it every where
+excited, and which hitherto time has not been able to efface."--Dwight.
+The _Last of the Mohicans_ has given an immortal interest to the fate of
+Fort William Henry.--Graham's _United States_, vol. iv., p. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 98: " ... Committing a thousand outrages and barbarities, from
+which the French commander endeavored in vain to restrain them. All this
+was suffered by 2000 men, with arms in their hands, from a disorderly
+crew of savages."--Burke, _Annual Register for the year 1758_.]
+
+[Footnote 99: "Montcalm says in his letter to Monro, August 3d, 1757, 'I
+am still able to restrain the savages, and to oblige them to observe a
+capitulation, as none of them have been killed; but this control will
+not be in my power under other circumstances.'"--Russell's _Modern
+Europe_.
+
+"Of the scene of cruelty and bloodshed that took place at Fort William
+Henry, the accounts which have been transmitted are not less uniform and
+authentic than horrible and disgusting. The only point which is wrapped
+in obscurity is _how far_ the French general and his troops were
+voluntarily or unavoidably spectators of the violation of the treaty
+which they stood pledged to fulfill. According to some accounts, no
+escort whatever was furnished to the British garrison. According to
+others, the escort was a mere mockery, both in respect of the numbers of
+the French guards, and of their willingness to defend their civilized
+enemies against their savage friends. It is certain that the escort, if
+any, proved totally ineffectual; and this acknowledged circumstance,
+taken in conjunction with the prior occurrences at Oswego, is sufficient
+to stain the character of Montcalm with a suspicion of treachery and
+dishonor."--Graham's _History of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 100: "Webb, roused at length from his lethargy by personal
+apprehension, had hastily invoked the succor of the states of New
+England. The call was promptly obeyed, and a portion of the militia of
+Massachusetts and Connecticut was dispatched to check the victorious
+progress of the French. Montcalm, whether daunted by this vigorous
+demonstration or satisfied with the blow which he had struck, and
+engrossed with the care of improving its propitious influence on the
+minds of the Indians, refrained from even investing Fort Edward, and
+made no further attempt at present to extend the circle of his
+conquests."--Graham's _History of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 101: "Mais malgre les instantes demandes des Canadiens, le
+gouvernement de Madame da Pompadour ne songeoit point a leur envoyer des
+secours. M. Pitt, au contraire, apportant une meme vigueur dans tous les
+departemens de la guerre, avoit destine des forces considerables, a
+subjuguer dans toutes les parties de l'Amerique les Francois, qui
+abandonnes a eux-memes ne pouvoient tarder plus long tems a
+succomber."--Sismondi's _Hist. des Francais_, vol. xxix., ch. liv.]
+
+[Footnote 102: "We had a torrent of bad news yesterday from America.
+Lord Loudon has found an army of 20,000 French, gives over the design on
+Louisburg, and retires to Halifax. Admiral Holborne writes that they
+have nineteen ships to his seventeen, and that he can not attack them.
+It is time for England to slip her own cables, and float away into some
+unknown ocean!--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Sept. 3, 1757.
+
+"To add to the ill-humor, our papers are filled with the new loss of
+Fort William Henry, which covered New York. That opulent and proud
+colony, between their own factions and our folly, is in imminent danger;
+but I will have done--nay, if we lose another dominion, I think I will
+have done writing to you; I can not bear to chronicle so many
+disgraces."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Oct. 12, 1757.
+
+"When intelligence of these new losses and disgraces reached England,
+the people, already sufficiently mortified by their losses and disgraces
+in Europe,[104] sank into a general despondency; and some moral and
+political writers, who pretended to foretell the ruin of the nation, and
+ascribed its misfortunes to a total corruption of manners and
+principles, obtained general credit. Of these writers the most
+distinguished was Dr. Brown, whose _Estimate of the Manners and
+Principles of the Times_, abounding with awful predictions, was bought
+up and read with incredible avidity, and seemed to be as much confided
+in as if he had been divinely inspired."--Russell's _Modern Europe_,
+vol. iii., p. 324.]
+
+[Footnote 103: The lengthened sheet of Lake Champlain stretched from the
+frontiers of Canada nearly half the distance between Canada and New
+York. On the Canada side the River Richelieu formed a communication with
+the River St. Lawrence; on the New York side Lake George extended the
+water communication twelve leagues further to the south, and then a
+portage of twelve miles over the high land, which interposed itself to
+the further passage of the water, conducted the traveler to the banks of
+the Hudson, at a point where the river became navigable to the
+tide.[105] It was this almost uninterrupted water communication between
+the rival states of Canada and New York that rendered the forts on Lake
+Champlain[106] and Lake George[107] such important objects of attack or
+defense.]
+
+[Footnote 104: The capitulation of Closterseven, or Convention of Stade,
+was signed in September of this year.]
+
+[Footnote 105: Here Fort Edward was situated.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Ticonderoga and Fort Frederick, or Crown Point.]
+
+[Footnote 107: Fort William Henry.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+During the disastrous campaign of 1757, a strife of greater importance
+than that on the American continent was carried on in the English House
+of Commons. In the preceding year, the falsehood and incompetency of the
+Duke of Newcastle, prime minister of England, had aroused a storm of
+indignation, to which the shameful losses of Minorca and Oswego had
+given overwhelming force. Mr. Fox, the only commoner of character and
+ability who still adhered to the ministry, determined to lend his name
+no longer to the premier's policy, and in the month of October resigned
+the seals of office. This blow proved fatal for the tottering cabinet.
+To the almost universal joy of the people, the Duke of Newcastle did not
+dare the encounter with his gifted rival in the approaching session of
+Parliament, and reluctantly yielded up those powers the exercise of
+which, in his hands, had led the nation to embarrassment and shame.
+
+By the wish of the king, Mr. Fox endeavored to induce Mr. WILLIAM PITT
+to join him in the conduct of the national councils. The "Great
+Commoner," however, decisively rejected this overture.[108] The Duke of
+Devonshire, lord lieutenant of Ireland, a man more remarkable for
+probity and loyalty than for administrative capacity, next received the
+royal commands to form a ministry; he sacrificed his personal
+predilections toward Mr. Fox to the public good, and at once appointed
+Pitt Secretary of State, with Legge as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Most
+of the subordinate members of the cabinet retained their places, but
+several of Pitt's relatives received appointments to important offices.
+
+Almost the first step of the new cabinet was to apply to Parliament for
+the means of aiding the King of Prussia against "the vindictive designs
+of France." Notwithstanding the great popularity of the ministry, and
+the general confidence in its capacity and integrity, the apparent
+contrast between this proposition and former protestations against
+continental interference excited the hostility of many, and the
+observation of all. The supplies, however, were voted to the full extent
+demanded by the minister.
+
+Despite these concessions to the king's Hanoverian interests, nothing
+could overcome the personal dislike of his majesty to Pitt, and to his
+brother-in-law Lord Temple. The appointment of the Duke of Cumberland to
+command the British force on the Continent gave opportunity for the
+manifestation of this royal hostility. The duke refused to undertake his
+duties while such an anti-Hanoverian as Pitt remained as virtual head of
+the ministry. The king's love for his son, and hatred of his gifted
+servant, combined to prompt him to the decided step of dismissing the
+great minister from his councils. An interval of nearly three months
+elapsed in vain attempts to form a cabinet from which Pitt should be
+excluded. There was, however, another party interested in these
+arrangements, which neither prerogative nor parliamentary influence
+might long venture to oppose--the British nation. As with one voice, all
+ranks and classes spoke out their will that Pitt should hold the helm.
+His rivals saw that it was impossible to stem the stream, and wisely
+counseled the king to yield to the wishes of his people. In June the
+patriot minister was once again the ruler of England's destiny.[109]
+
+This illustrious man knew no party but the British nation, acknowledged
+no other interest. To exalt the power and prosperity of his country, and
+to humble France, was his sole aim and object. Personally disagreeable
+to the highest power in the state, and from many causes regarded with
+hostility by the several aristocratic confederacies, it needed the
+almost unanimous voice of his countrymen, and the unacknowledged
+confidence of those powerful men whose favor he neither possessed nor
+desired, to sweep away these formidable difficulties, and give to
+England in the hour of need the services of her greatest son.
+
+For the remainder of the campaign of 1757, however, the energy and
+wisdom of Pitt were too late brought to the council, and the
+ill-conducted schemes of his predecessors bore, as has been shown, the
+bitter fruit of disaster and disgrace. But no sooner was he firmly
+established in office, and his plans put in execution, than the British
+cause began to revive in the Western hemisphere, and, although still
+checkered with defeat, glory and success rewarded his gigantic efforts.
+He at once determined to renew the expedition against Cape Breton, and,
+warned by previous failures, urged upon the king the necessity of
+removing both the naval and military officers who had hitherto conducted
+the operations. With that admirable perception which is one of the most
+useful faculties of superior minds, he readily discerned in others the
+qualities requisite for his purpose--his judgment ever unwarped and his
+keen vision unclouded by personal or political considerations. In
+Colonel Amherst he had discovered sound sense, steady courage, and an
+active genius; he therefore recalled him from the army in Germany, and,
+casting aside the hampering formalities of military rule, promoted him
+to the rank of major-general, and to the command of the troops destined
+for the attack of Louisburg.[110] At the same time, from the British
+navy's brilliant roll, the minister selected the Hon. Edward Boscawen as
+admiral of the fleet, and gave him also, till the arrival of General
+Amherst, the unusual commission of command over the land forces. With
+vigorous zeal the equipments were hurried on, and on the 19th of
+February a magnificent armament sailed from Portsmouth for the harbor of
+Halifax on the Acadian peninsula. The general was delayed by contrary
+winds, and did not reach Halifax till the 28th of May, where he met
+Boscawen's fleet coming out of the harbor; the admiral, impatient of
+delay, having put all the force in motion, with the exception of a corps
+1600 strong left to guard the post. No less than 22 ships of the line
+and 15 frigates, with 120 smaller vessels, sailed under his flag; and 14
+battalions of infantry, with artillery and engineers, in all 11,600,
+almost exclusively British regulars, were embarked to form the army of
+General Amherst. The troops were told off in three brigades of nearly
+equal strength, under the brigadier-generals Whitmore, Lawrence, and
+JAMES WOLFE.[111]
+
+At dawn on the 2d of June the armament arrived off Cape Breton, where
+the greatest part of the fleet came to anchor in the open roadstead of
+Gabarus Bay. Amherst entertained a strong hope to surprise the garrison
+of Louisburg, and with that view issued an order to forbid the slightest
+noise, or the exhibition of any light, on board the transports near the
+shore; he especially warned the troops to preserve a profound silence as
+they landed. But the elements rendered these judicious orders of no
+avail. In the morning a dense fog shrouded the rocky shore, and as the
+advancing day cleared away the curtains of the mist, a prodigious swell
+rolled in from the Atlantic, and broke in impassable surf upon the
+beach. Nevertheless, in the evening the general, with Lawrence and
+Wolfe, approached close to the dangerous shore, and reconnoitered the
+difficulties which nature and the enemy might oppose to their landing.
+They found that the French had formed a chain of posts for some distance
+across the country, and that they had also thrown up works and batteries
+at the points where a successful debarkation seemed most probable. The
+next morning the sea had not abated, and for six successive days the
+heavy roll of the ocean broke with undiminished violence upon the rugged
+shore. During this interval the enemy toiled day and night to strengthen
+their position, and lost no opportunity of opening fire with guns and
+mortars upon the ships.
+
+On the 8th the sea subsided into calm, and the fog vanished from the
+shore. Before daybreak the troops were assembled in boats, formed in
+three divisions; at dawn Commodore Durell examined the coast, and
+declared that the landing was now practicable. When his report was
+received, seven of the smaller vessels at once opened fire, and in about
+a quarter of an hour the boats of the left division began to row in
+toward the shore: in them were embarked twelve companies of Grenadiers,
+550 Light Infantry men, with the Highlanders and a body of Provincial
+Rangers: Brigadier-general Wolfe was their chief. The right and center
+brigades, under Whitmore and Lawrence, moved at the same time toward
+other parts of the shore, and three sloops were sent past the mouth of
+the harbor to distract the attention of the enemy.
+
+The left division was the first to reach the beach, at a point a little
+eastward of Fresh-water Cove, and four miles from the town.[112] The
+French stood firm, and held their fire till the assailants were close in
+shore; then, as the boats rose on the dangerous surf, they poured in a
+rattling volley from every gun and musket that could be brought to bear.
+Many of the British troops were struck down, but not a shot was
+returned. Wolfe's flag-staff was shivered by a bar-shot, and many boats
+badly damaged; still, with ardent valor, the sailors forced their way
+through the surging waves, and in a very few minutes the whole division
+was ashore, and the enemy flying in disorder from all his intrenchments.
+The victors pressed on rapidly in pursuit, and, despite the rugged and
+difficult country, inflicted a heavy loss on the fugitives, and took
+seventy prisoners. At length the cannon of the ramparts of Louisburg
+checked their further advance. In the mean time the remaining British
+divisions had landed, but not without losing nearly 100 boats and many
+men from the increasing violence of the sea.
+
+During the two following days the fury of the waves forbade all attempts
+to land the artillery and the necessary stores for the attack of the
+hostile stronghold; on the 11th, however, the weather began to clear,
+and some progress was made in the preparations. Hitherto the troops had
+suffered much from want of provisions and tents; now their situation was
+somewhat improved.
+
+Louisburg is a noble harbor: within is ample shelter for the largest
+fleets England or France have ever sent from their shores. A rugged
+promontory, on which stood the town and somewhat dilapidated
+fortifications, protects it from the southwest wind; another far larger
+arm of the land is its shelter to the southeast. About midway across the
+entrance of this land-locked bay stands Goat Island, which at that time
+was defended by some works, with a formidable array of guns; a range of
+impassable rocks extends thence to the town. From an elevation to the
+northwest of the harbor, the grand battery showed a threatening front to
+those who might seek to force the entrance of the Sound. For the defense
+of this important position, M. de Drucour, the French chief, had at his
+disposal six line-of-battle ships; five frigates, three of which he
+sank, to impede the entrance of the harbor; 3000 regular troops and
+burgher militia, with 350 Canadians and Indians.
+
+On the 12th the French withdrew all their outposts, and even destroyed
+the grand battery that commanded the entrance of the harbor,
+concentrating their whole power upon the defense of the town. Wolfe's
+active light troops soon gave intelligence of these movements, and the
+following day the brigadier pushed on his advance round the northern and
+eastern shores of the bay, till they gained the high lands opposite Goat
+Island with little opposition; there, as soon as the perversity of the
+weather would permit, he mounted some heavy artillery, but it was not
+till the 20th that he was enabled to open fire upon the ships and the
+land defenses. On the 25th the formidable French guns on Goat Island
+were silenced. Wolfe then left a detachment in his battery, and hastened
+round with his main force to a position close to the town, where he
+erected works, and from them assailed the ramparts and the shipping.
+
+For many days the slow and monotonous operations of the siege continued,
+under great difficulties to the assailants, the marshy nature of the
+ground rendering the movement of artillery very tedious. The rain poured
+down in torrents, swamping the labors of the engineers; the surf still
+foamed furiously upon the shore, embarrassing the landing of the
+necessary material and impeding the communication with the fleet. On the
+night of the 9th of July, the progress of the besiegers was somewhat
+interrupted by a fierce and sudden sally; five companies of light
+troops, supported by 600 men, burst upon a small English work during the
+silence of the night, surprising and overwhelming the defenders. The
+young Earl of Dundonald, commanding the grenadiers of the 17th, who held
+the post, paid for this want of vigilance with his life; his lieutenant
+was wounded and taken, and his men struck down, captured, or dispersed.
+Major Murray, however, with the Grenadiers of the 22d and 28th, arrived
+ere long, and restored the fight. After a time the French again betook
+themselves to the shelter of their walls, having left twenty of their
+men dead upon the scene of strife, and eighty more wounded or prisoners
+in the hands of the besiegers.
+
+Meanwhile the British generals pushed on the siege with unwearied zeal,
+and, at the same time, with prudent caution, secured their own camp by
+redoubts. Day and night the batteries[113] poured their ruinous shower
+upon the ramparts, the citadel, and shipping. On the 21st, three large
+vessels of war took fire in the harbor from a live shell, and the
+English gunners dealt death to those who sought to extinguish the
+flames. The next day the citadel was in a blaze; the next, the barracks
+were burned to the ground, and Wolfe's trenches were pushed up to the
+very defenses of the town. The French could no longer stand to their
+guns. On the night of the 25th, two young captains, La Forey and
+Balfour, with the boats of the fleet, rowed into the harbor under a
+furious fire, boarded the two remaining vessels of war, and thus
+destroyed the last serious obstacle to British triumph.[114] The
+following morning, M. de Drucour surrendered at discretion.
+
+In those days, the taking of Louisburg was a mighty triumph for the
+British arms: a place of considerable strength, defended with skill and
+courage, fully manned, and aided by a powerful fleet, had been bravely
+won; 5600 men, soldiers, sailors, and marines were prisoners; eleven
+ships of war taken or destroyed; 240 pieces of ordnance, 15,000 stand of
+arms, and a great amount of ammunition, provisions, and military stores,
+had fallen into the hands of the victors, and eleven stand of colors
+were laid at the feet of the British sovereign: they were afterward
+solemnly deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral.
+
+But while the wisdom and zeal of Amherst, and the daring skill of
+Wolfe,[115] excite the gratitude and admiration of their countrymen, it
+must not be forgotten that causes beyond the power and patriotism of man
+mainly influenced this great event. The brave admiral doubted the
+practicability of the first landing.[116] Amherst hesitated, and the
+chivalrous Wolfe himself, as he neared the awful surf, staggered in his
+resolution, and, purposing to defer the enterprise, waved his hat for
+the boats to retire. Three young subaltern officers, however, commanding
+the leading craft, pushed on ashore, having mistaken the signal for what
+their stout hearts desired--the order to advance; some of their men, as
+they sprung upon the beach, were dragged back by the receding surge and
+drowned, but the remainder climbed up the rugged rocks, and formed upon
+the summit. The brigadier then cheered on the rest of the division to
+the support of this gallant few, and thus the almost desperate landing
+was accomplished.
+
+Nor should due record be omitted of that which enhances the glory of the
+conquerors--the merit of the conquered. To defend the whole line of
+coast with his garrison was impossible; for nearly eight miles,
+however, the energetic Drucour had thrown up a chain of works, and
+occupied salient points with troops; and when at length the besiegers
+effected a landing, he still left no means untried to uphold the honor
+of his flag. Hope of relief or succor there was none; beyond the waters
+of the bay the sea was white with the sails of the hostile fleet. Around
+him, on every side, the long red line of British infantry closed in from
+day to day. His light troops were swept from the neighboring woods; his
+sallies were interrupted or overwhelmed. Well-armed batteries were
+pushed up to the very ramparts; a murderous fire of musketry struck down
+his gunners at their work; three gaping breaches lay open to the
+assailants;[117] his best ships burned or taken; his officers and men
+worn with fatigue and watching; four fifths of his artillery disabled;
+then, and not till then, did the brave Frenchman give up the trust which
+he had nobly and faithfully held. To the honor of the garrison, not a
+man deserted his colors through all the dangers, privations, and
+hardships of the siege, with the exception of a few Germans who served
+as unwilling conscripts. This spirited defense was in so far successful
+that it occupied the bulk of the British force, while Abercromby was
+being crushed by the superior genius and power of Montcalm. By thus
+delaying for seven weeks the progress of the campaign, the season became
+too far advanced for further operations, and the final catastrophe of
+French American dominion was deferred for another year.[118]
+
+On the 7th of August detachments were sent, under Major Dalling and Lord
+Rollo, to take possession of the other settlements in Cape Breton, and
+of the Isle de St. Jean, now Prince Edward's Island. This latter
+territory had long been an object of great importance to Canada; the
+fertility of the soil, the comparative mildness of the climate, and the
+situation commanding the navigation of the Great River, rendered it
+invaluable to the settlers of New France.
+
+On the 15th the French prisoners were dispatched to Europe in
+transports. On the 28th, Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, with seven ships of
+the line and three frigates, conveying a force of some Artillery, and
+three battalions of Infantry, was sent round to the Gulf of St.
+Lawrence. The object of this expedition was to destroy the French
+settlements at Miramichi, the Baye de Chaleurs, Gaspe, and as far up the
+banks of the Great River as the season might permit; then to disperse or
+carry away the inhabitants: by this it was hoped that the troublesome
+marauders on the English frontier might be chastised and kept in check,
+and that a portion of the enemy's strength might be diverted from
+Abercromby's front. The execution of this painful duty was committed to
+Brigadier-general Wolfe.
+
+These stern orders were punctually obeyed, but as much humanity as was
+possible tempered the work of destruction. All the Acadian villages on
+the northeastern coast were laid in ruins: some hundreds of the
+inhabitants were borne away to captivity, and the rest driven from
+their blackened hearths and desolated farms to the grim refuge of the
+wilderness. Among the settlements devastated by this expedition was the
+flourishing fishing station of Mont Louis.[119] The intendant in charge
+of the place offered a ransom of 150,000 livres to save the stores and
+provisions his people's industry had created, but the relentless law of
+retribution took its course, and the hoarded magazines of corn, fish,
+and other supplies for their own use and for the market of Quebec, were
+totally destroyed. Colonel Monckton, with three other battalions, was
+sent on a similar errand to the Bay of Fundy and to the River St. John,
+and in like manner fulfilled his task.
+
+It may, perhaps, be partial or unjust to single out one tale of woe from
+among the crowded records of this war's gigantic misery to hold up in
+the strong light of contrast with the glory of the recent victory. But
+we may not hear, without a blush of shame and sorrow, how the simple
+Acadian peasantry were made to pay the penalties of banishment and ruin
+for the love of France and for loyalty to their king, at a time when
+Pitt was the minister, Amherst the general, and Wolfe the lieutenant.
+
+Having executed his orders, Wolfe repaired to Halifax and assumed the
+command of the troops in garrison. Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst
+came to a conclusion that for that season nothing more could be effected
+by them against the power of France. They therefore agreed, although
+their instructions did not extend to any part of the continent beyond
+Nova Scotia, that it would be advisable to detach a portion of the army
+to strengthen Abercromby, and assist him to repair his disaster, of
+which they were informed. Accordingly, Amherst sailed for Boston on the
+30th of August with five battalions, arrived on the 13th of September,
+and the next day landed his troops. Despite the interested
+remonstrances of the local authorities, he soon pushed on through the
+difficult district of the Green Woods, by Kinderhook Mills, and through
+Albany to Lake George. Having there held counsel with the unfortunate
+Abercromby, and delivered over his seasonable re-enforcement, he
+returned to Boston, and finally to Halifax, where he had been instructed
+to await orders from the English government.
+
+[Footnote 108: "But though Pitt desired high office, he desired it only
+for high and generous ends. He did not seek it for patronage like
+Newcastle, or for lucre like Fox. Glory was the bright star that ever
+shone before his eyes, and ever guided him onward--his country's glory
+and his own. 'My lord!' he once exclaimed to the Duke of Devonshire, 'I
+am sure that I can save this country, and that no one else can.'"--Lord
+Mahon's _Hist. of England_, vol. iv., p. 77.]
+
+[Footnote 109: At this period commenced the brilliant era justly called
+MR. PITT'S ADMINISTRATION, in which he became the soul of the British
+councils, conciliated the good-will of the king, infused a new spirit
+into the British nation, and curbed the united efforts of the house of
+Bourbon.
+
+The following picture of affairs at the moment when Pitt became
+secretary of state (29th of June, 1757) is contained in a letter from
+Lord Chesterfield to Mr. Dayrolles: "Whoever is in or whoever is out, I
+am sure we are undone both at home and abroad: at home, by our increasing
+debt and expenses; abroad, by our ill luck and incapacity.... The French
+are masters to do what they please in America. We are no longer a nation.
+I never yet saw so dreadful a prospect."--_Correspondence of the Earl of
+Chatham_, edited by William Stanhope Taylor, Esq., vol. i., _note_,
+p. 238.]
+
+[Footnote 110: "What alarms me most, is the account Lady Hester brought,
+of some men-of-war, a few, very few, being got into Louisburg; because,
+upon the issue of that attempt I think the whole salvation of this
+country and Europe does essentially depend," (Letter of Earl Temple to
+Mr. Pitt, Stowe, July 3, 1758.)--_Chatham Correspondence_, vol. i., p.
+325.]
+
+[Footnote 111: See Appendix, No. LXIV.]
+
+[Footnote 112: The place where the British troops landed, near
+Fresh-water Cove, before the successful siege of Louisburg, was called
+Cormoran Creek.]
+
+[Footnote 113: "It may not be amiss to observe that a cavalier, which
+Admiral Knowles had built, at enormous expense to the nation, while
+Louisburg remained in the hands of the English during the last war, was
+in the course of this siege entirely demolished by two or three shots
+from one of the British batteries; so admirably had this piece of
+fortification been contrived and executed, under the eye of that
+profound engineer."--Smollett, vol. iv., p. 303.]
+
+[Footnote 114: "The renowned Captain Cook, then serving as a petty
+officer on board of a British ship of war, co-operated in this exploit,
+and wrote an account of it to a friend in England. That he had honorably
+distinguished himself may be inferred from his promotion to the rank of
+lieutenant in the royal navy, which took place immediately
+after."--Graham's _United States_, vol. iv., p. 28.]
+
+[Footnote 115: "Brigadier Wolfe has performed prodigies of valor.... We
+could not land before the 8th, which we fortunately effected after
+encountering dangers that are almost incredible." (Letter from the camp
+before Louisburg.)--Knox's _Historical Journal_, vol. i., p. 144.]
+
+[Footnote 116: "Captain Ferguson, an old, brave, and distinguished navy
+officer, earnestly prayed the admiral not to put the fate of the
+expedition on the uncertain chances of a council of war,[120] but at
+once to attempt the landing, despite all difficulties. His spirited
+appeal was successful."--_The Field of Mars_; Article, Louisburg.
+London, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 117: So ruinous were the fortifications, that "General Wolfe
+himself was obliged to place sentinels upon the ramparts, for the
+private men and the sutlers entered through the breaches and gaps with
+as much ease as if there had only been an old ditch."--_Translation of a
+Letter from M. de Drucour to M. ----_, dated Andover, October 1, 1758,
+when he was a prisoner in England.]
+
+[Footnote 118:
+
+"DEAR WOLFE,
+
+"Camp, August 8, 1758.
+
+"I have your letter this morning, to which I can say no more to you than
+what I have already done: that my first intentions and hopes were, after
+the surrender of Louisburg, to go with the whole army (except what is
+absolutely necessary for Louisburg) to Quebec, as I am convinced it is
+the best thing we could do, if practicable. The next was, to pursue my
+orders as to future operations; and this affair unluckily happening at
+Ticonderoga, I quitted the thoughts of the future operations in part, as
+ordered, to assist Major-general Abercromby by sending five or six
+regiments to him, which I told Brigadier Lawrence he should command, in
+case we could not go to Quebec.... I have proposed this to the admiral
+for the day after the surrender of the town, and I am thoroughly
+convinced he will not lose one moment's time in pursuing every thing for
+forwarding and expediting the service.... Whatever schemes you may have,
+or information that you can give to quicken our motions, your
+communicating of them would be very acceptable, and will be of much more
+service than your thoughts of quitting the army, which seem by no means
+agreeable, as all my thoughts and wishes are confined at present to
+pursuing our operations for the good of his majesty's service; and I
+know nothing that can tend more to it than your assisting in it.
+
+"I am, dear sir, your most obedient humble servant,
+
+"JEFF. AMHERST."
+
+--_Chatham Correspondence_, vol. i., p. 332.]
+
+[Footnote 119: "The Bay of Mont Louis is situated upon the southern side
+of the River St. Lawrence, bounded on one side by the inaccessible
+mountains of Notre Dame. It is nearly half way between Quebec and the
+sea, and all the vessels that ascend to Quebec pass within
+view."--Charlevoix, tom. iii., p. 325.]
+
+[Footnote 120: "Lord Clive declared to the Parliamentary Committee of
+Inquiry, instituted A.D. 1773, that 'he never called a council of war
+but once, which was previous to his passing the Ganges on his famous
+expedition to Moorshedabad; and if he had then followed the decision of
+the council, the company had been undone.'"--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 401.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+From the brilliant successes on the island of Cape Breton, it is now
+necessary to turn to the painfully checkered course of events on the
+American continent, where the execution of Pitt's magnificent
+designs[121] was unhappily intrusted to very different men from the
+conquerors of Louisburg. The great minister's plan of operations had
+embraced the whole extent of French American dominions, from the
+embattled heights of Louisburg and Quebec, to the lone but luxuriant
+wilderness of the West. By the protracted defense of the loyal and
+skillful Drucour, the overwhelming forces of Amherst and Boscawen were
+delayed till the advancing season had rendered impossible, for that
+year, their descent upon the Valley of the St. Lawrence.
+
+The next British expedition in order and in importance was directed
+against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. By the possession of these
+strongholds the French had long been enabled to harass the English
+frontier almost with impunity, and to command the navigation of the
+extensive lakes which formed the high road to the heart of Canada.
+
+The third army was destined to march upon Fort du Quesne, of disastrous
+memory, and to establish the British power in the Valley of the Ohio,
+for the possession of which the sanguinary war had commenced, and the
+spot where blood had first been shed. By the success of this object, all
+communication between the French of Canada and Louisiana would be
+effectually cut off, and the countries watered by the St. Lawrence and
+the Mississippi left at the mercy of England's naval power.
+
+The same express that bore the tidings of Lord Loudon's recall, conveyed
+a circular letter from Mr. Pitt to the colonial governors, declaring the
+determination of the British cabinet to repair, at any cost, the losses
+and disasters of the last campaign.[122] To encourage the vigorous
+co-operation of the colonists, they were informed that his majesty would
+recommend Parliament to grant the several provinces such compensation
+for the expenses which they might incur as their efforts should appear
+to justly merit, and that arms, ammunition, tents, provisions, and boats
+would be furnished by the crown. At the same time, the colonial
+governors were required to raise as numerous levies of Provincial
+militia as their districts would supply, to pay and clothe them, and
+appoint their officers. Inspired by the energy of the great minister,
+and excited to a generous emulation with the awakened spirit of the
+parent state, the American colonies came nobly forward in the common
+cause, and used their utmost efforts to strengthen, by their
+co-operation, the promised armament from England. Massachusetts raised
+7000 men, Connecticut 5000, and the thinly-peopled State of New
+Hampshire 900; the numbers of the Rhode Island, New York, and New
+Jersey levies have not been specified. These troops were ordered to take
+the field early in May, but the muster proceeded slowly and irregularly,
+insomuch that no movements were made toward the scenes of action until
+the middle of June, 1757.
+
+The largest European army ever yet seen on the American continent was
+assembled at Albany and in the neighborhood, under the command of
+Abercromby, the general-in-chief since Lord Loudon's recall. A
+detachment of the Royal Artillery, and seven strong battalions of the
+line, amounting altogether to 6350 regulars, with 9000 of the Provincial
+militia, composed this formidable force. Their object was the
+destruction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Toward the end of June they
+broke up from Albany, and encamped upon the ground where the melancholy
+ruins of Fort William Henry still remained. On the 5th of July, the
+cannon, ammunition, and stores arrived, and on that day the army
+embarked on the waters of Lake George: 1035 boats conveyed this powerful
+expedition, and a number of rafts, armed with artillery, accompanied
+them, to overcome any opposition that might be offered to the landing.
+
+The armament continued its progress steadily through the day. When
+evening fell, Abercromby gave the signal to lie to at a place called
+Sabbath Point, on the shores of the lake: there the troops landed for a
+time, and lighted large fires to distract the attention of the enemy. In
+the dead of night they were suddenly re-embarked, and hurried on to the
+Narrows, where the waters contract into the stream that communicates
+with Wood Creek:[123] there they arrived at five o'clock the following
+morning. An advanced guard of 2000 men was thrown ashore at first dawn
+under the gallant Bradstreet, and these having encountered no enemy, the
+remainder of the army was rapidly landed. As the troops disembarked they
+were formed into four columns, some Light Infantry were sent on to scour
+the line of march, and the advance was sounded. They soon reached a
+small encampment which had been occupied by a detachment of the regiment
+of Guienne, but found it abandoned, the ammunition and provisions
+destroyed, the camp itself in flames.
+
+Ticonderoga,[124] the first object of the British attack, was a fort of
+some strength, situated on the most salient point of the peninsula
+between Lakes George and Champlain. To the eastward the rugged shore
+afforded sufficient protection; to the west and north regular lines of
+defense had been erected by the French engineers, and an extensive
+swamp, spreading over nearly all the landward face, embarrassed the
+approaches of an enemy. The neighboring country was a dense and tangled
+forest.
+
+Early in the summer of this year, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor of
+Canada, had received intelligence of Abercromby's extensive preparations
+to gain the positions of Ticonderoga and Crown Point,[125] and with them
+the command of the important chain of waters leading to the River St.
+Lawrence and the heart of the French possessions. The governor saw the
+necessity of defeating this enterprise at any cost. He called to his aid
+Montcalm, already famous by deserved success, and placed at his disposal
+all the troops that could be spared from every part of the colony: on
+the 20th of June they reached the position, they were directed to
+defend.
+
+On the first of July Montcalm sent an advance of three regiments, under
+M. de Bourlemaque, along the northwestern shores of Lake George; he
+himself followed with three regiments, and the second battalion of Berry
+to a place called the Falls, at the head of the lake, where he encamped.
+The following day, two active and intelligent officers, Captains de
+Bernard and Duprat, with some light troops, were pushed on over the
+mountains toward the lower end of the lake where Abercromby's army lay.
+When the boats of the English force covered the waters on the morning of
+the 5th of July, these French detachments signalized to their general
+that the time for action was come. M. de Bourlemaque immediately
+dispatched 300 men, under the command of Captain de Trepeze, to watch
+the hostile armament from the shore, and, if possible, to oppose its
+landing. The next day, however, when the British disembarked, they were
+in such force as to render opposition hopeless; this corps of
+observation therefore fell back upon M. de Bourlemaque, and he too
+retired toward the main body, under the command of Montcalm.
+
+So difficult and tangled were the woods on their retreat, that, in spite
+of their knowledge of the country, one French column of 500 men lost
+their way, fell into confusion, and in their bewilderment almost
+retraced their steps. The English pressed rapidly on in pursuit, and,
+from the ignorance of the guides, their divisions also became
+confounded, and mixed up together in alarming disorder. The officers
+vigorously exerted themselves to restore the broken ranks, but, in the
+midst of their efforts, the right center column, led by the good and
+gallant Lord Howe, was suddenly fronted by the body of the enemy who had
+gone astray in the forest. They joined in bitter strife: almost hand to
+hand, in the swamps, or from tree to tree on the hill side, the stout
+Frenchmen held their own against the British troops, and, nothing
+daunted by the unexpected danger, disdained to yield.[126] At the first
+shock many of Howe's Light Infantry went down; he himself, hurrying to
+the front, was struck by a musket ball in the breast, and instantly
+expired.[127] His men, infuriated by the loss of their beloved
+leader,[128] swarmed on through the thick woods, and finally overpowered
+or destroyed the enemy; not, however, till four fifths of the French
+were wounded, slain, or taken, and some of the conquerors killed and
+disabled, did they yield their ground.
+
+That night the victors occupied the field of battle; to this their
+advantage was confined, for the disorganization of the troops had
+frightfully increased during the unpropitious march, in the hard-fought
+skirmish, and by the loss of their best and most trusted chief. The
+vigor and spirit of Abercromby's army seemed to pass away with Lord
+Howe. This gallant man, from the time he had landed in America, had
+wisely instructed his regiment for the peculiar service of that
+difficult country: no useless incumbrance of baggage was allowed; he
+himself set the example, and encountered privation and fatigue in the
+same chivalrous spirit with which he faced the foe. Graceful and kind in
+his manners, and considerate to the humblest under his charge, his
+officers and soldiers heartily obeyed the chief because they loved the
+man. At the fatal moment when he was lost to England, her glory and
+welfare most needed his aid. He lived long enough for his own honor, but
+not for that of his country.
+
+The price of this slight advantage was ruinous to the English army. From
+the unhappy moment when Lord Howe was slain, the general lost all
+resolution, and, as a natural consequence, the troops lost all
+confidence. Order and discipline were no longer observed, and the
+after-operations can only be attributed to infatuation. At dawn on the
+day subsequent to the combat, Abercromby actually marched his forces
+back to the place where they had disembarked the day before, through the
+dreary and almost impassable wilderness, traversed with the utmost
+difficulty but a few hours before. However, on the return of the army to
+the landing place, a detachment was sent to gain an important post held
+by the French at some saw-mills, two miles from Ticonderoga. Colonel
+Bradstreet was selected for this duty; with him were sent the 44th
+regiment, six companies of the 60th, some Rangers, and a number of
+boatmen; among them were those who had forced the passage of the
+Onondaga River: altogether nearly 7000 men.
+
+The point to be assailed was approachable only by one narrow bridge;
+this the French destroyed, and, not caring to encounter a very superior
+force, fell back toward their stronghold. Bradstreet was not to be
+deterred by difficulties. Accustomed to the necessity of finding
+resources, the stream was soon spanned by a temporary arch. With
+unwearied zeal he urged on the exertions of his men, and that very
+night, not only his own command, but the whole British army, was once
+more advanced across the stream, and established in an advantageous
+position near Ticonderoga.
+
+At earliest light, Colonel Clark, chief engineer, and several officers
+of rank, reconnoitered the enemy's position to the best of their power.
+They could discover but little: a dense forest and a deep morass lay
+between them and Ticonderoga. They observed, indeed, a breast-work, with
+some felled trees in front, rising out of the only accessible part of
+the dreary swamp, but as to its nature, strength, and disposition for
+defense, their military skill and experience could afford them no light.
+Their report included a variety of opinions: some treated the defenses
+as slight and inconsiderable, and presenting only a deceptive show of
+strength; others, and they far better qualified to judge, acknowledged
+their formidable strength. Abercromby unfortunately adopted the former
+opinion, and rashly resolved to attack without waiting the essential aid
+of his artillery: his penalty was severe.
+
+Prisoners informed the English chief that his enemies had assembled
+eight battalions, with some Canadians and Indians, and that they
+mustered altogether a force of 6000 men. They were encamped at a place
+called Carillon, in front of the fort, and busily occupied in
+strengthening their position, that they might make good their defense
+till the arrival of M. de Levi, who hastened to their aid, with 3000
+men, from the banks of the Mohawk River, where he had been making an
+incursion against the British Indian allies. General Abercromby was
+determined by this information, which, however, subsequently proved much
+exaggerated. M. de Levi's force had in fact already arrived, and was
+only 800 strong, and the French regular troops in the position barely
+reached 3000 men, although battalions of the splendid, but then much
+reduced regiments of La Reine, La Sarre, Bearn, Guienne, Berry,
+Languedoc, and Royal Roussillon were present in their camp.
+
+On the morning of the 8th of July the French garrison was called to
+arms, and marched into the threatened intrenchments. The regiments of
+Bearn, La Reine, and Guienne, under M. de Levi, occupied the right of
+the defenses; those of La Sarre, Languedoc, and two strong detachments
+under M. de Bourlemaque, the left. In the center Montcalm held under his
+own command the regiments of Berry, Royal Roussillon, and the light
+troops. The colonial militia and Canadian irregulars, with the Indians,
+were posted behind some field-works in the plain on the flanks of the
+main defense, supported by a small reserve. The French intrenchment
+presented in front, as was too late discovered, an almost impassable
+barrier: a solid earthen breast-work of eight feet in height protected
+the defenders from the hostile shot, and the gradual slope from its
+summit was covered for nearly 100 yards with abattis of felled trees
+laid close together, the branches sharpened and turned toward the foe.
+However, on either flank this grim position was open; no obstacle
+presented itself that could have stopped the stride of an English
+grenadier. Of this the hapless Abercromby was ignorant or unobservant.
+The French chief knew it well, and gave orders that, in case of the
+assailants appearing on either of these weak points, his troops should
+abandon the field and retreat to their boats as they best might.
+
+With the rashness that bears no relation to courage, the British general
+determined to throw the flower of his force upon the very center of the
+enemy's strength. While the army was forming for the ill-starred attack,
+Sir William Johnson arrived with 440 Indians, who were at once pushed
+forward into the woods to feel the way and occupy the enemy. The
+American Rangers formed the left of Abercromby's advance, Bradstreet's
+boatmen were in the center, and on the right some companies of Light
+Infantry. Behind these, a line of the Massachusetts militia extended its
+ranks on either side toward Lake Champlain and Lake George. Next were
+ranged the British battalions of the line, with the 42d, Murray's
+Highlanders,[129] and the 55th, the corps trained by Lord Howe, in
+reserve: on them fell the brunt of this desolating day. A numerous mass
+of the Connecticut and New Jersey Provincial regiments formed the rear
+guard. Strict orders were issued that no man should fire a shot till he
+had surmounted the breast-work; then the arrangements were complete.
+During these formations and through the forenoon, some French
+detachments came forward and skirmished with the advance, but they were
+always overpowered with ease, and driven hurriedly back to shelter.
+
+At one o'clock, when the mid-day sun poured down its burning rays upon
+the scene of strife, Abercromby gave the fatal order to attack. As his
+advance felt the fire, the light troops and the militia were moved
+aside, and the regular battalions called to the front. The Grenadier
+companies of the line led the way, Murray's Highlanders followed close
+behind. With quick but steady step, these intrepid men pressed on
+through the heavy swamp and tangled underwood, their ranks now broken by
+the uneven ground, now shattered by the deliberate fire of the French:
+impeded, though not confused, they passed the open ground, and, without
+one faltering pause or random shot, the thinned but unshaken column
+dashed against the abattis.
+
+Then began a cruel and hopeless slaughter. With fiery valor the British
+Grenadiers forced themselves through the almost impenetrable fence; but
+still new obstacles appeared; and while, writhing among the pointed
+branches, they threatened the inaccessible enemy in impotent fury, the
+cool fire of the French from behind the breast-work smote them one by
+one. The Highlanders, who should have remained in reserve, were not to
+be restrained, and rushed to the front; they were apparently somewhat
+more successful; active, impetuous, lightly clad and armed, they won
+their way through the felled trees, and died upon the very parapet;[130]
+ere long, half of these gallant men[131] and nearly all their officers
+were slain or desperately wounded. Then fresh troops pressed on to the
+deadly strife, rivaling the courage and sharing the fate of those who
+had led the way. For nearly four hours, like the succeeding waves of an
+ebb tide, they attacked again and again, each time losing somewhat of
+their vantage-ground, now fiercely rushing on, unflinchingly enduring
+the murderous fire, then sullenly falling back to re-form their broken
+ranks for a fresh effort. It was vain at last as it was at first: the
+physical difficulties were impassable, and upon that rude barrier--which
+the simplest maneuver would have avoided, or one hour of well-plied
+artillery swept away[132]--the flower of British chivalry was crushed
+and broken. The troops that strove with this noble constancy were surely
+worthy of a better fate than that of sacrificing their lives and honor
+to the blind presumption of such a general.
+
+An accident at length arrested this melancholy carnage. One of the
+British columns, in a hurried advance, lost their way, and became
+bewildered in the neighboring forest. When, after a time, they emerged
+upon the open country, a heavy fire was perceived close in front, as
+they thought, from the French intrenchments. With unhappy promptitude,
+they poured a deadly volley upon the supposed enemy; but when a breeze
+from the lake lifted the curtain of the smoke from the bloody scene,
+they saw that their shot had fallen with fatal precision among the red
+coats of their countrymen. Then indeed hesitation, confusion, and panic
+arose in the English ranks; their desperate courage had proved vain; a
+frightful loss had fallen upon their best and bravest; most of their
+officers were struck down; the bewildered general gave them no orders,
+sent them no aid; their strength was exhausted by repeated efforts under
+the fiery sun; and still, from behind the inaccessible breast-work, the
+French, steady and almost unharmed, poured a rolling fire upon their
+defenseless masses. The painful tale must now be told: the English
+Infantry turned and fled. The disorder in a few minutes became
+irretrievable; those who had been foremost in the fierce assault were
+soon the first in the disgraceful flight. Highlanders and Provincials,
+Rangers and Grenadiers, scarce looked behind them in their terror, nor
+saw that no man pursued. In this hour of greatest need, General
+Abercromby remained at the saw-mills, nearly two miles from the field
+of battle.[133]
+
+When the fugitives found that the French did not venture to press upon
+their rear, they in some measure rallied upon a few still unbroken
+battalions that were posted around the position occupied by the general.
+Scarcely, however, had any thing of confidence been restored, when an
+unaccountable command[134] from Abercromby, to retreat to the
+landing-place, renewed the panic. The soldiers instantly concluded that
+they were to embark with every speed to escape the pursuit of the
+victorious enemy, and, breaking from all order and control, crowded
+toward the boats. Happily, the brave Bradstreet still held together a
+small force, like himself, unshaken by this groundless terror: with
+prompt decision, he threw himself before the landing place, and would
+not suffer a man to embark. To this gallant officer may be attributed
+the preservation of Abercromby's army: had the disordered masses been
+allowed to crowd into the boats, thousands must have perished in the
+waters of the lake. By this wise and spirited step, regularity was in a
+little time again restored, and the troops held their ground for the
+night.
+
+The loss remains to be recorded: 1950 of the English army was slain,
+wounded, and missing; of these, 1642 were regular troops, with a large
+proportion of officers. The French had nearly 390 killed and disabled;
+but, as their heads only were exposed above the breast-work, few of
+those who were hit recovered. It is unnecessary to speak of their
+admirable conduct and courage, or of the merit of their chief: their
+highest praise is recorded with the deeds of those they conquered.[135]
+
+The sad story of Ticonderoga is now seldom told and almost forgotten;
+the disasters or triumphs of that year's campaign have left upon its
+scene no traces more permanent than those of the cloud and sunshine of
+an April day. In the eventual century since passed, our country has
+emerged from the direst strife that ever shook the world, triumphant by
+land and sea, great in power and in wisdom, proudest among the nations
+of the earth, still humblest in reverence of Heaven. The memory of this
+remote disaster can not now, even for a moment, dim the light of
+"England's matchless glory." But such records give a lesson that may not
+be forgotten. Men bearing the same name have each at different periods
+played important parts in British military history; though both have
+long since passed away, their examples are still before us.[136] The
+British soldier, in time of danger, will not hesitate to elect between
+the fate of Abercromby who survived the shameful rout of Ticonderoga,
+and that of the stout Sir Ralph who fell upon the Egyptian plains.[137]
+
+On the 9th the troops were ordered to embark and retire to Fort William
+Henry, which place they reached that night. Even when there the general
+did not consider his army safe till he had strengthened the defenses.
+Still diffident, he sent the artillery and ammunition on to Albany, and
+afterward even to New York. By this defensive attitude he neutralized
+the advantage which his greatly superior strength gave him over the
+enemy, and thus for another year was deferred the acquisition of the
+"Gates of Canada"--the Lakes George and Champlain, and the Richelieu
+River.
+
+When Abercromby was fully secured in his old position, and discipline in
+a measure re-established in the army, he hearkened to the earnest
+solicitations of the indefatigable Bradstreet, that a force might be
+sent to revenge on Fort Frontenac the ruin of Oswego, and thus to gain
+the command of Lake Ontario. The carrying out of this plan was worthily
+committed to him who had designed it, and a detachment of Artillery, and
+two companies of regulars, with 2800 Provincial militia and boatmen,
+were allotted for the task. The pusillanimous destruction of the
+navigation of Wood Creek by General Webb in 1756 proved a most vexatious
+and harassing difficulty in this expedition. But the resolution and
+energy of Bradstreet overcame every obstacle; with immense labor and
+hardship, his men removed the logs from the river, and at length
+rendered it navigable. On the 13th of August the artillery and stores
+were embarked, and the same day the army moved by land to the Oneida
+Lake; thence, by the stream of the Onondaga, past the scene of their
+leader's brilliant victory, to the waters of Lake Ontario, where they
+again embarked.
+
+On the 25th, Bradstreet landed without opposition within a mile of Fort
+Frontenac; he found this famed position[138] weakly fortified and worse
+garrisoned, through the unaccountable negligence of the Marquis de
+Vaudreuil. After the victory at Ticonderoga, the French governor had
+dispatched the Chevalier de Longueuil, with immense presents, to meet
+the chiefs of the Iroquois at Oswego, with a view of gaining their
+important alliance, and of inducing them to abandon all relations with
+the English, by representing their cause as ruined through Abercromby's
+defeat. He in some measure succeeded in his mission; the Indian deputies
+assured him of their attachment, but said that, as all their brethren
+had not been consulted, they must communicate with them before giving a
+decisive answer. When the conference ended, the chevalier returned to
+Montreal by Fort Frontenac, where he stopped for a day, and informed M.
+de Noyan, the commandant, of the danger that threatened his position
+from Bradstreet's advance. Every thing was speedily done to strengthen
+the fort which the limited means at hand permitted; but De Noyan, well
+aware that without aid resistance would be vain, urged upon De Longueuil
+to send him re-enforcements as soon as he could reach the governor. This
+the chevalier neglected, and Fort Frontenac and its worthy commandant
+were left to their fate. When too late indeed, the Marquis de Vaudreuil
+dispatched M. de Plessis Fabiot, with 1500 Canadian militia, toward Lake
+Ontario, but by the time they reached La Chine intelligence arrived that
+caused the greater part of the force to return to whence they came.
+
+Bradstreet at first threw up his works at 500 yards from the fort.
+Finding that the distance was too great, and the fire of the enemy
+little to be feared, he pushed closer on, and gained possession of an
+old intrenchment near the defenses, whence he opened fire with vigor and
+effect. A little after seven o'clock on the morning of the 27th, the
+French surrendered, being without hope of succor, and of themselves
+alone utterly incapable of a successful defense. The garrison,
+consisting of only 120 regular soldiers and forty Indians, became
+prisoners of war; and sixty pieces of cannon, sixteen mortars, an
+immense supply of provisions, stores, and ammunition, with all the
+shipping on the lake, fell into the hands of the victors. Among the
+prizes were several vessels richly laden with furs, to the value, it is
+said, of 70,000 louis d'ors. The attacking army had not to lament the
+loss of a single soldier.[139]
+
+The fort thus easily won was a quadrangle, each face about 100 yards in
+length; thirty pieces of cannon were mounted upon the walls, and the
+rest of the artillery was in reserve, but the garrison was altogether
+insufficient for the defense of the works. The very large amount of
+stores, ammunition, and provision which were thus left exposed were of
+vital importance to the supply of the distant Western forts, and the
+detachments on the Ohio, at Fort du Quesne and elsewhere. In obedience
+to an unaccountable order of General Abercromby, Bradstreet had no
+choice but to burn and destroy the artillery, provisions, and stores of
+every kind, and even the shipping, except two vessels which were
+retained to convey the valuable peltries to the southern shores of the
+lake. The fort was also ruined and abandoned; however, M. du Plessis
+Fabiot sent on a detachment from La Chine, with M. de Pont le Roy, the
+engineer, who speedily restored it. At the same time, another body of
+troops was sent to strengthen the distant post of Niagara. In the mean
+while, Bradstreet re-embarked his force and returned to the British
+colonies by the same route as he had advanced.[140]
+
+At this time Fort Frontenac was the general rendezvous of all the
+Northern and Western Indian nations, the center of trade not only with
+the French, but also among themselves. Thither they repaired from all
+directions, even from the distance of 1000 miles, bearing with them
+their rich peltries, with immense labor, to exchange for European goods.
+The French traders had learned the art of conciliating these children of
+the forest, and among them attachment and esteem overcame even the force
+of interest. It was notorious that the British merchants at Albany could
+supply far better and cheaper articles, and actually forwarded large
+stores of all kinds to furnish the warehouses of their Canadian rivals;
+yet the savages annually passed by this favorable market, and bore the
+spoils of the chase to the French settlement on the distant shores of
+Lake Ontario.
+
+These annual meetings of the Red Men, however, had another object
+besides that of commerce; the events of the preceding year were related
+and canvassed, and council held upon the conduct of the future. Here
+feuds were reconciled by the good offices of neutral tribes, old
+alliances were strengthened, and new ones arranged. In these assemblies,
+the actual presence of the French gave them an important influence over
+the deliberations, and colored, to a considerable extent, the policy of
+the Indian nations. On every account, therefore, the destruction of Fort
+Frontenac was a great gain to the British cause.
+
+It now remained for the Marquis de Vaudreuil to announce the loss of
+Fort Frontenac to the court of France, and to endeavor to make it appear
+that he was free from blame in the unfortunate transaction. He
+determined at all hazards to conceal the fact that his neglecting to
+forward the required re-enforcements was the direct cause of the
+disaster. The only mode of escape which suggested itself to his mean
+mind was to throw the blame upon another; the unhappy commandant, De
+Noyan, was selected as the victim of his falsehood. To prevent that
+officer from forwarding to France his own statement of the case, the
+treacherous governor himself undertook to represent the affair in a
+light that could not fail to clear De Noyan of all responsibility. The
+snare was successful; the brave commandant, guileless himself, doubted
+not the honor of his chief, and blindly trusted him. De Vaudreuil,
+unmindful alike of truth and justice, threw the whole weight of blame
+upon his subordinate, and ascribed without scruple the loss of the fort
+to the pusillanimity of the defenders. De Noyan, when too late, found
+that he had been cruelly deceived; he appealed in vain, again and again,
+to the court for redress, and at length retired from the service in
+which he had met only with treachery and injustice.
+
+While Abercromby's intrenchments afforded him complete security, the
+presence of his great but now useless army gave no protection to the
+English frontier. The ever active and vigilant Montcalm lost no
+opportunity of harassing outposts, assailing remote settlements, and
+intercepting convoys. On the 17th of July, a party of twenty
+Provincials, with three officers, was destroyed by the French light
+troops in the neighborhood of Half-way Brook, and ten days afterward,
+near the same place, 116 wagoners, with their escort of sixteen Rangers,
+were surprised and horribly massacred, in spite of the late severe
+warning. At length the general was aroused to exertion: he selected
+Major Rogers, already famous in partisan warfare, and, with a force of
+700 men, sent him to seek the marauders; they, however, effected their
+escape unharmed. When the British were returning from this vain pursuit,
+a dispatch arrived from head-quarters, directing them to scour the
+country to the south and east of Lake Champlain, and retire by the route
+of Fort Edward.
+
+According to these orders, Rogers pursued his difficult march, without,
+however, much success in distressing the enemy, as, from the superior
+information furnished to the French by the Indians, they always managed
+to avoid the unequal combat. On the 8th of August, however, they
+assembled a force of about 500 men, and, choosing a favorable situation,
+in some measure surprised the British detachment, despite the unsleeping
+caution of its able chief. Rogers's strength had been by this time,
+through hardship, desertion, and other causes, reduced almost to a level
+with that of his present opponents, and it was not without extreme
+difficulty that he succeeded in holding his ground. In the first onset a
+major and two lieutenants fell into the hands of the enemy, and several
+of his advance guard were slain. However, under his brave and skillful
+conduct, the British soon, in turn, won the advantage, and, after a
+sharp and sanguinary combat of an hour's duration, the assailants
+abandoned the field, leaving no less than 190 of their men killed and
+wounded. Although the victors lost only forty of their number, fatigue,
+and the cautions observed by the enemy during the retreat forbade
+pursuit. Rogers therefore continued his march homeward, and arrived at
+head-quarters without any thing further worthy of record having
+occurred.
+
+Brigadier-general Stanwix had been detached, with a considerable force
+of Provincial troops, to erect a fort in a favorable position on the
+important carrying place between Wood Creek, at the Oneida Lake, and the
+Mohawk River, with a view to encourage and protect the friendly Indians
+in those districts from the enmity of the French and their allies. He
+performed this valuable but unostentatious service with ability and
+success; the works which he there established and garrisoned still bear
+his name.[141]
+
+We must now return to the third expedition of the campaign against Fort
+du Quesne, led by General Forbes. Although this chief had put his army
+in motion before Abercromby marched upon the Northern Lakes, he had not
+been able to get his last division out of Philadelphia till the 30th of
+June: 350 of the 60th, or Royal American regiment, 1200 of the 77th,
+Montgomery's Highlanders,[142] and upward of 5000 Provincials, composed
+his force.
+
+The march over the Alleganies was long and difficult; the defiles,
+forests, swamps, and mountains were in themselves formidable obstacles,
+had there even been no hostile force in front. But the judicious
+arrangements of the general overcame alike the impediments and the
+perils of the advance, and some dangerous attacks of the Indians were
+repelled with vigorous alacrity. When the army reached Raystown,[143] a
+place about 90 miles from Fort du Quesne, Forbes halted his main body,
+and detached Lieutenant-colonel Bouquet, with 2000 men, to take post in
+advance of Loyal Hanning, while he constructed a new road, being
+determined not to avail himself of the route used by Braddock.
+
+Bouquet was unfortunately fired with ambition to reduce the hostile
+stronghold before the arrival of his chief, and accordingly he detached
+Major Grant and 800 Highlanders to reconnoiter the works of Fort du
+Quesne. The major, probably with a similar ambition to that of his
+chief, endeavored to induce the French to give battle, and drew up his
+men on a neighboring height, beating a march as a challenge. The combat
+was accepted; the garrison sallied out, and, after a very severe action,
+routed the Highlanders with loss, and took 300 prisoners, including the
+commander. The broken remnant of Grant's force fell back in great
+disorder upon their comrades at Loyal Hanning.[144]
+
+Cautioned, but not dispirited, by this untoward occurrence, Forbes
+advanced with his whole army as rapidly as the rugged country and
+unfavorable weather would permit, although so debilitated from illness
+that he was obliged to be borne on a litter. Several parties of French
+and Indians endeavored to impede his march, but were always repulsed;
+once, however, in a night attack, some loss and confusion were
+occasioned by the Highlanders and the Virginian Provincials firing upon
+each other through mistake. The French were not sufficiently elated by
+their victory over Grant to venture any serious opposition to Forbes's
+advance, and the loss of Fort Frontenac, from whence they had been
+expecting a supply of provisions and warlike stores, rendered successful
+resistance hopeless: M. de Lignieres, their leader, therefore dismantled
+and abandoned the celebrated fort, and dropped down the stream of the
+Ohio to the friendly settlements on the Mississippi. The following day,
+the 25th of November, the British took possession of the deserted
+stronghold, and at once proceeded to put it in repair. Under the new
+owners, Pittsburg[145] was substituted for the former name of disastrous
+memory--Fort du Quesne.[146]
+
+This advantage was of considerable importance to the British; the
+respect for their power among the Indians, which recent disasters in
+that country had much shaken, was fully restored, and most of the
+Western native tribes sent to offer aid, or, at least, neutrality.
+Brigadier-general Forbes lived but a brief space to enjoy the credit
+gained by this success; his naturally weak constitution was broken by
+the hardships of the expedition, and he died soon afterward at
+Philadelphia, in honor, and regretted by all who knew him.
+
+With this expedition concluded the campaign of the year 1758. Although
+its events were checkered with disaster and disgrace, the general result
+was eminently favorable to England, and honorable to the illustrious
+minister who then directed her councils. The reduction of Louisburg and
+its dependencies would have been of itself sufficient to reward the
+sacrifices so freely made by her patriotic people. Now in possession of
+a magnificent harbor--the key of the River St. Lawrence, it would be an
+easy task to intercept any succor which France might endeavor to send to
+prop her tottering sway in Canada. The reduction of the Forts Frontenac
+and du Quesne had paralyzed the enemy's power in the West, and given to
+England all the territory for the possession of which the war had
+arisen. Abercromby's defeat had been solely a negative event; his
+overwhelming force still hung like a thunder-cloud upon the shores of
+the lakes, and Montcalm well knew that he owed his brilliant victory to
+the incapacity of the British general, not to the want of military
+virtue in the British troops. The men--whose desperate valor had been
+wasted against the impassable barrier at Carillon--burning with ardor to
+avenge their defeat under an abler chief, were still straining, like
+bloodhounds on a leash, by the Canadian frontier.
+
+With the full accord of the British king and people, the great minister
+distributed honor and punishment to the principal actors in the
+important events of the past campaign. General Abercromby was superseded
+in his command,[147] and Amherst, the conqueror of Louisburg, appointed
+chief of the American armies in his place. Immediately on receiving this
+commission, the new general embarked at Halifax for Boston, and thence
+proceeded to New York, where he arrived on the 12th of December, and
+assumed the command of the forces. On the 24th of January following, the
+unhappy Abercromby sailed for England in the Remmington man-of-war.
+Brigadier-general Wolfe accompanied him, in consequence of permission
+granted in his original order of service to return when the expedition
+had succeeded. Colonel Monckton was left in command at Nova Scotia.
+
+[Footnote 121: "Le Comte de Chatam, Guillaume Pitt, genie vaste,
+audacieux, intrepide, procure en peu d'annees a l'Angleterre des succes
+si prodigieux, que l'evenement seul en prouvoit la possibilite."--Millot,
+tom. v., p. 47.]
+
+[Footnote 122: "An immediate conquest of the settlements of the French
+seemed to be requisite to the vindication of British power. How far such
+conquest, if effected, ought in policy to be preserved, was a more
+perplexing question; and, on the whole, the British minister was rather
+animated to prosecute hostilities than fixed in decisive purpose with
+regard to their ultimate issue.... From the extent and precision of
+political information for which Pitt was so justly renowned, it is
+impossible to suppose that he was unacquainted with the doubts which had
+been openly expressed, both in Britain and America, of the expediency of
+attempting the entire conquest of the French settlements in the New
+World; and a conviction prevailed with many American politicians that
+this conquest would destroy the firmest pledge which Britain possessed
+of the obedience of her transatlantic colonies."--Graham's _Hist. of the
+United States_, vol. iv., p. 24-26.]
+
+[Footnote 123: The Wood Creek connected with Lakes George and Champlain
+is to be distinguished from the Wood Creek more frequently mentioned in
+these wars, which was situated between the Mohawk River and Oneida
+Lake.]
+
+[Footnote 124: "This place was originally called Che-on-der-o-ga by the
+Indians, signifying, in their language, _noise_. Its name was afterward
+slightly changed by the French into its present appellation, which it
+has borne ever since it was first occupied and fortified by them in
+1756. It was sometimes called Fort Carillon. This fortification cost the
+French a large sum of money, and was considered very strong both by
+nature and art. Its ruins are situated in the town of Ticonderoga, Essex
+county, they are among the most interesting in the country, and are
+annually visited by a great number of travelers."--_Picturesque
+Tourist,._ p. 209.]
+
+[Footnote 125: "The ruins of the old fortifications of Crown Point
+present an interesting object from the water. The embankments are
+visible, and indicate an immense amount of labor expended to make this
+place invulnerable to an approaching foe, either by land or water. Crown
+Point is eighteen miles north of Ticonderoga."--_Picturesque Tourist_,
+p. 113.]
+
+[Footnote 126: Graham, whose authority is always questionable where the
+comparative merits of the British regulars and Provincials[148] are
+concerned, asserts that "the French party consisted of regulars and a
+few Indians; and, notwithstanding their surprise and inferiority of
+numbers, displayed a promptitude of skill and courage that had nearly
+reproduced the catastrophe of Braddock.... The suddenness of their
+assault, the terror inspired by the Indian yell, and the grief and
+astonishment created by the death of Lord Howe, excited a general panic
+among the British regulars; but the Provincials, who flanked them, and
+were better acquainted with the mode of fighting practiced by the enemy,
+stood their ground and soon defeated them."--Graham's _Hist. of the
+United States_, vol. iv., p. 30.]
+
+[Footnote 127: "He was," says General Abercromby, "the first man that
+fell; and as he was, very deservedly, universally beloved and respected
+throughout the whole army, it is easy to conceive the grief and
+consternation his untimely fall occasioned."--_Letter from the Right
+Honorable G. Grenville to Mr. Pitt_, Wotton, August 23d, 1758.
+
+"The great number of officers and men in the regular troops killed and
+wounded, and particularly the grievous loss we have sustained in the
+death of Lord Howe, are circumstances that would cloud a victory, and
+must therefore aggravate our concern for a repulse. I was not personally
+acquainted with Lord Howe, but I admired his virtuous, gallant
+character, and regret his loss accordingly. I can not help thinking it
+peculiarly unfortunate for his country and his friends that he should
+fall in the first action of this war, before his spirit and his example,
+and the success and glory which, in all human probability, would have
+attended them, had produced their full effect on our own troops and
+those of the enemy. You have a melancholy task indeed, affected as you
+justly are with this public and private sorrow, to communicate the death
+of Lord Howe to a brother that most tenderly loved him.
+
+ "I am ever your most affectionate brother,
+ "GEORGE GRENVILLE."
+
+--_Chatham Correspondence._
+
+Even Graham admits that "Lord Howe exhibited the most promising military
+talents, and his valor, virtue, courtesy, and good sense, had
+wonderfully endeared him both to the English and to the Provincial
+troops. He was the first to encounter the danger to which he conducted
+others, and to set the example of every sacrifice which he required them
+to incur. He was the idol and soul of the army."--Vol. iv., p. 29. See
+Smollett's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 306.
+
+"Lord Howe's memory was honored by a vote of the Assembly of
+Massachusetts for the erection of a superb cenotaph at the expense of
+the province, among the heroes and patriots of Britain, in the
+collegiate church of Westminster."--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 205.
+
+"The popularity of his name has been, perhaps, impaired by the
+circumstance that his brother, Sir William Howe, commanded the British
+army in the Revolutionary war in America. It is still doubtful whether
+Lord Howe fell by the fire of the enemy, or by a misdirected shot from
+some unhappy hand among his own confused and startled soldiers."--Graham's
+_History of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 30.
+
+Lord Howe was succeeded in his title by his brother Richard, afterward
+the celebrated admiral. He had already distinguished himself by the
+capture of the Alcide and the Lys.]
+
+[Footnote 128: See Appendix, No. LXV.]
+
+[Footnote 129: "The 42d regiment was then in the height of deserved
+reputation; in it there was not a private man that did not consider
+himself as rather above the lower class of people, and peculiarly bound
+to support the honor of the very singular corps to which he belonged.
+This brave, hard-fated regiment was then commanded by a veteran of great
+experience and military skill, Colonel Gordon Graham,[149] who had the
+first point of attack assigned to him: he was wounded at the first
+onset. How many this regiment, in particular, lost of men and officers,
+I can not now exactly say; what I distinctly remember having often heard
+of it since is, that of the survivors, every one officer retired wounded
+off the field. Of the 55th regiment, to which my father had newly been
+attached, ten officers were killed, including all the field officers. No
+human beings could show more determined courage than this brave army
+did."--_Memoirs of an American Lady_, vol. ii., p. 81.]
+
+[Footnote 130: "Captain John Campbell and a few men forced their way
+over the breast-work, but were instantly dispatched with the
+bayonet."--Stewart's _Sketches of the Highlanders_, vol. ii., p. 61.]
+
+[Footnote 131: It was at this period that Pitt commenced his bold, yet,
+as it proved, most safe and wise policy of raising Highland regiments
+from the lately disaffected clans. I have already alluded to this
+measure by anticipation. Let me now add only the glowing words which
+Chatham himself applied to it in retrospect. "My lords, we should not
+want men in a good cause. I remember how I employed the very rebels in
+the service and defense of their country. They were reclaimed by this
+means; they fought our battles; they cheerfully bled in defense of those
+liberties which they had attempted to overthrow but a few years
+before."--Lord Chatham's _Speech in the House of Lords_, December 2d,
+1777, quoted by Lord Mahon, _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 133.]
+
+[Footnote 132: "So misinformed or so presumptuous was General
+Abercromby, that he expected to force this strong position by musketry
+alone, and had resolved to commence the attack without awaiting his
+artillery, which, for want of good roads, was yet lagging in the
+rear."--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 203.]
+
+[Footnote 133: Entick's _Hist._, vol. iii., p. 258; Mante's _Hist. of
+the War_, p. 151.]
+
+[Footnote 134: "How far Mr. Abercromby acquitted himself in the duty of
+a general, we shall not pretend to determine; but if he could depend
+upon the courage and discipline of his forces, he surely had nothing to
+fear, after the action, from the attempts of the enemy, to whom he would
+have been superior in number, even though they had been joined by the
+re-enforcement which he falsely supposed they expected. He might,
+therefore, have remained on the spot, in order to execute some other
+enterprise, when he should be re-enforced in his turn, for General
+Amherst no sooner heard of his disaster than he returned with the troops
+from Cape Breton to New England, having left a strong garrison in
+Louisburg,"--Smollett's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 309; Smith's
+_History of Canada_, vol. i., p. 265.
+
+"The British army, still amounting to nearly 14,000 men, greatly
+outnumbered the enemy; and if the artillery had been brought up to their
+assistance, might have overpowered with little difficulty the French and
+their defenses at Ticonderoga. Next to the defeat of Braddock, this was
+the most disgraceful catastrophe that had befallen the arms of Britain
+in America."--Graham's _History of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 32.]
+
+[Footnote 135: Letter from the Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt:
+
+"August 20, 1751.
+
+"MY DEAR FRIEND--I feel most sensibly this cruel reverse, and the loss
+of so many gallant men; but when I reflect on the part they have acted,
+I congratulate my country and my friend on the revival of that spirit
+which in former times was so conspicuous in this island. I think this
+check, my dear Pitt, affects you too strongly. The general (!!) and the
+troops have done their duty, and appear by the numbers lost to have
+fought with the greatest intrepidity; to have tried all that men could
+do to force their way. The commander seems broken-hearted at being
+forced (!!) to a retreat.
+
+"Adieu, my dear Pitt, your ever most affectionate
+
+"BUTE."
+
+--_Chatham Correspondence_, vol. i., p. 336.]
+
+[Footnote 136: "Thus does history transmit the virtues of one age to
+another, and thus does it hold forth warning of shame."--Bolingbroke.]
+
+[Footnote 137: See Appendix, No. LXVII.]
+
+[Footnote 138: "M. de Courcelers originated the design of building the
+fort at Catarocouy, but, being recalled before it could be carried into
+execution, M. de Frontenac carried out his plans in 1672, and gave his
+name to the fort. Lake Ontario also, for a long time afterward bore the
+name of Frontenac."--Charlevoix, tom. ii., p. 245.
+
+"This fort was rebuilt by Frontenac in 1695, against the orders of M. de
+Pontchartrain. The after importance of this celebrated position fully
+justified Frontenac's opposition to the wishes of the French minister.
+The connection between Canada and Louisiana mainly depended upon the
+possession of Fort Frontenac, as was manifest upon its loss by the
+French. Kingston stands on the site of old Fort Frontenac; next to
+Quebec and Halifax, it is considered the strongest military position in
+British America."--_Picturesque Tourist_, p. 222.]
+
+[Footnote 139: Extract of a letter from an officer in Albany to a member
+of Parliament here (London), dated Sept. 13, 1758: "Frontenac (called
+here Cadaraque) was of great consequence to the French, both as to their
+influence on the Indians, by keeping up a communication between Fort du
+Quesne and Canada, and annoying us on the Mohawk River.... Colonel
+Bradstreet is a captain in our regiment.... He is a man of great spirit
+and activity; has been most of his life in this country, and understands
+things very well.... Col. Bradstreet has been near three years pressing
+the commanding general in North America to let him go against this fort,
+but they thought the undertaking too desperate, which he has now
+accomplished without the loss of a man, and at a very critical
+juncture.... Thus the French expedition against the German Flats, and
+probably this very town, is happily prevented; their shipping on the
+Lake Ontario, which made them so formidable, is destroyed; they have no
+vessels to send provisions into the other forts, and their fort, which
+kept the Indians so much in their interest, is destroyed; and the Six
+Nations (who, all but the Mohawks, would have left us) will now be more
+in our interest than ever. The taking of Frontenac gave more joy to the
+inhabitants of this place than even Louisburg itself, for it more nearly
+concerned them, and they say there will be now no more scalping."--_The
+Public Advertiser_, Jan. 20, 1759.]
+
+[Footnote 140: Extract of a letter from New York, dated Nov. 20, 1758:
+"Our army is gone into winter quarters, and I hope, when we make an
+attack again, to succeed; but we must first have more regulars from
+England. Our militia are not fit for a campaign. Our English soldiers
+will kill ten Provincials in point of fatigue. The affair of Colonel
+Bradstreet was a brave thing for us, but not one in five could go
+through that tiresome affair; for, after the place was taken, they
+buried thirty and forty in a day at Schenectady."--_The Public
+Advertiser_, Feb. 3, 1759.]
+
+[Footnote 141: "The village of Rome, fourteen miles west of Utica, is
+situated near the head waters of the Mohawk: it stands on the site of
+old Fort Stanwix, which was an important post during the Revolutionary
+and French wars."--_Picturesque Tourist_, p. 139.]
+
+[Footnote 142: "Several soldiers of this and other regiments fell into
+an ambush, and were captured by the Indians. Allan Macpherson, seeing
+his comrades horribly tortured to death, and knowing that the same fate
+awaited him, told the savages, through an interpreter, that he knew a
+wonderful secret of a certain medicine, which, if applied to the skin,
+would render it proof against any weapon. His tale was believed by the
+superstitious Indians, and, anxious to see the proof, they allowed him
+to gather herbs, and, having mixed and boiled them, to apply the
+concoction to his neck; he then laid his head upon a block, and
+challenged the strongest man to strike. A warrior came forward, and, to
+prove the virtue of the medicine, struck a blow with his tomahawk at
+full strength; the head flew off several yards. The Indians stood at
+first amazed at their own credulity, but were afterward so pleased at
+the Highlander's ingenuity in escaping the torture, that they refrained
+from inflicting further cruelties on their surviving victims."--Stewart's
+_Sketches of the Highlanders_, vol. ii., p. 61.
+
+Some of the Highland regiments sent to America were newly raised, and
+still, in a great degree, retained the wildness of their Celtic
+countrymen, as the following anecdote illustrates: "A soldier of another
+regiment, who was a sentinel detached from an advanced guard, seeing a
+man coming out of the wood with his hair hanging loose, and wrapped up
+in a dark-colored plaid, he challenged him repeatedly, and, receiving no
+answer (the weather being hazy), fired at him and killed him. The guard
+being alarmed, the sergeant ran out to know the cause, and the unhappy
+sentinel, strongly prepossessed that it was an Indian, with a blanket
+about him, who came skulking to take a prisoner, or a scalp, cried out,
+'I have killed an Indian! I have killed an Indian!' but upon being
+undeceived by the sergeant, who went to take a view of the dead man, and
+being told that he was one of our own men and a Highlander, he was so
+oppressed with grief and fright that he fell ill, and was despaired of
+for some days. In consequence of this accident, most of these young
+soldiers being raw and inexperienced, and very few of them conversant in
+or able to talk English (which was particularly his case who was
+killed), these regiments were ordered to do no more duty for some
+time."--Knox's _Historical Campaign_, vol. i., p. 48.]
+
+[Footnote 143: Raystown is near Bedford.]
+
+[Footnote 144: Loyal Hanning, when fortified by General Forbes, on his
+return to Philadelphia, was called Fort Ligonier.]
+
+[Footnote 145: "With the unanimous concurrence of his officers, he
+altered the name of Fort du Quesne to Pittsburg, a well-earned
+compliment to the minister who had planned its conquest."--Lord Mahon's
+_History of England_, vol. iv., p. 203.]
+
+[Footnote 146: "New York, Dec. 13. Early on Monday last an express
+arrived hither from the westward, and brought sundry letters which gave
+an account that General Forbes was in possession of Fort du Quesne; one
+of those letters said: 'Fort du Quesne, Nov. 26, 1756. I have now the
+pleasure to write to you from the ruins of the fort.... We arrived at
+six o'clock last night, and found it in a great measure destroyed. There
+are two forts about twenty yards distant; the one built with immense
+labor, small, but a great deal of strong works collected into little
+room, and stands at the point of a narrow neck of land at the confluence
+of the two rivers: it is square, and has two ravelins, gabions at each
+corner, &c. The other fort stands on the bank of the Allegany, in the
+form of a parallelogram, but not near so strong as the other. They
+sprung a mine, which ruined one of their magazines; in the other we
+found sixteen barrels of ammunition, &c., and about a cart-load of
+scalping-knives. A boy, who had been their prisoner about two years,
+tells us ... that they had burned five of the prisoners they took at
+Major Grant's defeat, on the parade, and had delivered others to the
+Indians, who were tomahawked on the spot. We found numbers of dead
+bodies within a quarter of a mile of the fort, unburied, so many
+monuments of French humanity. Mr. Bates is appointed to preach a
+thanksgiving sermon for the remarkable superiority of his majesty's
+arms. We left all our tents at Loyal Hanning, and every conveniency,
+except a blanket and a knapsack.' Another letter mentions that 'only
+2500 picked men marched from Loyal Hanning ... that 200 of our people
+were to be left at Fort du Quesne, now Pittsburg--100 of the oldest
+Virginians, the others of our oldest Pennsylvanians.... The French
+judged rightly in abandoning a fort, the front of whose polygon is only
+150 feet, and which our shells would have destroyed in three days. We
+have fired some howitzer shells into the face of the work, which is made
+of nine-inch plank, and rammed between with earth, and found that, in
+firing but a few hours, we must have destroyed the entire face."--_The
+Public Advertiser_, Jan. 20, 1757.]
+
+[Footnote 147: "He was a person of slender abilities, and utterly devoid
+of energy and resolution, and Pitt too late regretted the error he had
+committed in intrusting a command of such importance to one so little
+known to him, and who proved so unfit to sustain it."--Graham, vol. IV.,
+p. 19.]
+
+[Footnote 148: "It was a circumstance additionally irritating and
+mortifying to England, that the few advantages which had been gained
+over the French were exclusively due to the colonial troops, while
+unredeemed disaster and disgrace had attended all the efforts of the
+British forces (1757)."--Graham's _Hist. of the United States_, vol.
+iv., p. 16.]
+
+[Footnote 149: Graham, in his "History," falls into the mistake of
+supposing that Lord John Murray commanded the 42d regiment, because it
+bore his name.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+It will now be advisable to consider the state of the two great rival
+races on the North American continent, before entering upon the relation
+of the eventful campaign which was but the crisis of a surely
+approaching fate. Although the decisive blow that forever crushed the
+power of France was doubtless dealt by the immortal Wolfe upon the
+Plains of Abraham, the slow but certain conquest of Canada had
+progressed for many a previous year; with the wisdom and rectitude of
+the counselor, with the ax and plow of the settler, with the thrift and
+adventure of the merchant, with the sober industry of the mechanic, and
+the daring hardihood of the fisherman, was the glorious battle won.
+Against weapons such as these the chivalry of Montcalm and of his
+splendid veteran regiments vainly strove. To them victory brought glory
+without gain, inaction danger, and disaster ruin. Despite their courage,
+activity, and skill, the rude but vigorous British population, like
+surging waves, gained rapidly on every side, and at length burst the
+opposing barriers of military organization, and poured in a broad flood
+over the dreary level of an oppressed and spiritless land.
+
+In the year 1759, the population of Canada had only reached to 60,000
+souls, and it was found to have decreased during the last twenty years
+of war and want; of these, 6700 dwelt under the protection of the
+ramparts of Quebec, 4000 at Montreal, and 1500 at the little town of
+Three Rivers. The greater part of the remainder led a rural life on the
+fertile banks of the St. Lawrence and its tributaries, while a few
+wandered with gun and rod among Indian tribes scarcely more savage than
+themselves, over the prairies, and on the shores of the great lakes and
+rivers of the West. The settlements on both shores below Quebec were
+then almost as advanced as now: small white houses, dainty in the
+distance, stretched in rows for many miles along the level banks, or
+dotted the hill side in picturesque irregularity. Here and there, neat
+wooden churches, of a peculiarly quaint architecture, stood the centers
+of hamlets and knots of farms. In their neighborhood this encumbering
+forest was usually cleared away with careful industry, and each fertile
+nook and valley, and the borders of each stream, were rich with waving
+corn. Through these lower settlements a sort of rude track extended for
+many miles by the water side. On the large and beautiful island of
+Orleans many thousand acres of corn and pulse were sown, the farms
+carefully separated by wooden paling, and intersected with tolerable
+roads.
+
+Between Quebec and Montreal, the banks of the Great River were hardly in
+so advanced a state as those toward the sea; the churches were fewer and
+more distant, the houses ruder and more scattered. There were many
+miles, indeed, where no traces of human industry greeted the traveler's
+eye. The shores of the great lakes, or, rather, expansions of the
+stream, were dreary swamps and thickets, and the slopes of the distant
+hills still bore the primeval forest. On the sandy flats of Three
+Rivers, in a scattered village, dwelt a population more numerous than
+that of the present day; a small surrounding district was cleared and
+cultivated, but the main occupation and support of the inhabitants was
+the fur trade with the Indians, who resorted thither from the unknown
+north by the waters of the broad streams here uniting with the St.
+Lawrence.
+
+The rich and fertile island of Montreal was already generally cleared,
+and extensively but thinly peopled. The city, at times called Ville
+Marie in old maps, ranged somewhat irregularly for more than a mile
+along the river side, and was even then remarkable for the superiority
+of its public buildings over those of its colonial neighbors.
+
+The Fathers of the Sulpician Order, by virtue of a grant in the year
+1663, were proprietors of the whole of this rich district. They had
+established three courts of justice in the city, and erected a stately
+church of cut stone at a great expense. The Knights Hospitallers also
+possessed a very handsome building. A large, solid rampart of heavy
+beams, with eleven separate redoubts, protected the landward face of
+Montreal, and two platform batteries commanded the streets from end to
+end.
+
+Here was the great depot of the northwestern fur trade, and here, also,
+the best market for the plentiful crops of the adjoining island, of the
+prairie, and of the Richelieu district.
+
+In the month of June the savages came hither in canoes from places even
+at 500 miles' distance, to exchange their peltries for guns, ammunition,
+clothes, weapons, and utensils of iron and brass. The meeting or fair
+lasted for nearly three months, and during that time the town presented
+a strange and sometimes fearful spectacle; motley groups of fierce and
+hostile Indians occupied the streets, now engaged in bloody strife,
+again sunk in brutal intoxication. The French used every effort to
+prevent the sale of ardent spirits, but in vain, although sentinels were
+posted night and day to forbid the supply of the maddening liquor, and
+to preserve something of order in the wild gathering: all precautions
+proved ineffectual, and the drunkard frequently became also a murderer.
+At one time the little town of Chambly rivaled Montreal in the gainful
+but dangerous traffic; however, in 1759, there only remained a fort to
+prevent the English from enjoying the doubtful advantage of this trade.
+At Sorel, the entrance of the Richelieu River, an agricultural village
+had also arisen, rather beyond the neighboring settlements in extent and
+population.
+
+Southwest of Montreal there was no town of any consideration. Near where
+the modern Kingston stands, a few poor hamlets were indeed grouped round
+Fort Frontenac, but on the shores of the sheltered Bay of Toronto, where
+20,000 British subjects now ply their prosperous industry, myriads of
+wild fowl then found undisturbed refuge from the stormy waters of the
+lake. At Niagara there was a small village round the fort; there were
+trading posts at Detroit, Michillimackinac, and elsewhere; but the
+splendid tract of country lying between the northern shores of Erie and
+Ontario was almost unknown, save to the wandering Indian.
+
+At this period, the first in importance, as well as population, among
+the settlements of New France, unquestionably was Quebec, the seat of
+government and of the supreme tribunals of justice. From its lofty
+headland the successors of the wise Champlain looked down upon the
+subject stream of the St. Lawrence, and held the great highway of Canada
+as if by a gate. No doubtful or hostile vessel could elude their
+vigilance; more than one powerful fleet had already recoiled shamed and
+crippled from before their embattled city. Here were deposited the
+public records, with most of the arms, ammunition, and resources of the
+colony; here, too, the principal establishments of religion, law, and
+learning were first founded and best sustained. The citizens and
+neighboring peasantry were less lowered by Indian intercourse than their
+other countrymen, and among them the refreshing immigration from the
+fatherland produced its most invigorating effect.
+
+On the summit of the rocky height, a number of large and somewhat
+imposing public buildings, grouped irregularly together, with the
+well-built private dwellings of the wealthier inhabitants, formed the
+upper town. The lofty spires of no less than nine large ecclesiastical
+edifices arose within this comparatively limited space.
+
+There were the bishop's palace, the courts of judicature, and the house
+of the Knights Hospitallers, the latter built of stone, extensive,
+handsome, and adorned with two stately pavilions. There, also, in a
+commanding situation, stood the Jesuits' college and their church, which
+was almost magnificent in the interior decorations. The governor's
+palace, however, erected in 1639, was the proudest ornament of the
+colonial capital.
+
+Southwest of the Upper Town, on the crest of the headland, was the
+citadel, a large, imperfectly quadrangular fort, with flanking defenses
+at each corner, only protected, however, by a wall on the inner side.
+Further on, a large work of great design, but not yet finished, crowned
+the height of Cape Diamond:[150] from the northern angle of this work,
+an irregular line of bastioned defenses ran across the whole promontory
+to the River St. Charles. Some rude and imperfect field-works, with
+redoubts, strengthened the front toward the Plains of Abraham.
+
+The Lower Town covered the beach of the Great River under the cliffs of
+the promontory: the dwellings, stores, and offices of the merchants,
+many of them handsome and solid, filled up this narrow space. The only
+edifice of note, however, was the church of Notre Dame de Victoire,
+built to commemorate Phipps's defeat in 1690. The defense of this part
+of the city was a large platform battery on the most salient point of
+the shore, placed scarcely above the level of the waters. The access
+from the Lower to the Upper Town was steep, narrow, and difficult, and
+protected by flanking loop-holed walls.
+
+There was also a considerable suburb called St. Roch's, on the side of
+the River St. Charles, where dwelt the chief part of the laboring
+population, in irregular streets of mean and temporary houses. A large
+portion of the now valuable space was unoccupied, and here and there the
+rocky hill side remained as nature had made it. A few of the primeval
+forest trees still ornamented the gardens and terraces of the city, and
+clothed the neighboring cliffs.
+
+In the wide plain lying by the banks of the River St. Charles, many
+handsome country houses and pleasant seats, with well-cultivated gardens
+and rich orchards, met the eye, and, on the slopes beyond, the trim
+villages of Charlesburg, Lorette, and Beauport; the distant mountain
+range, with its forest covering, formed, as now, the background of the
+broad and beautiful picture.
+
+From the Falls of Montmorency[151] to Quebec, a continuous chain of
+intrenchments defended the northern bank of the St. Lawrence. A large
+boom lay across the mouth of the River St. Charles, and the bridge,
+about a quarter of a mile high up the stream, was protected by a "tete
+du pont." All these various works and fortifications were, however, rude
+and imperfect; the strength, as well as the beauty, of this magnificent
+position, was chiefly due to the bountiful hand of Nature.
+
+The cultivation of the fertile Canadian soil was of a very rude
+description; but even the feeble industry of the "habitan" was generally
+repaid by rich and plentiful crops. The animals of the chase, and the
+inexhaustible supplies of fish in their lakes and rivers, were resources
+that better suited the thriftless and scanty population than the
+toilsome produce of the field. Tillage was neglected; they cared not to
+raise more grain than their own immediate wants demanded. The
+unparalleled monopolies of the colonial government deprived labor of the
+best stimulant--the certain enjoyment of its fruits. The farmer hardly
+cared to store up his superabundant harvest, when his haggard was
+exposed to the licensed plunder of cruel and avaricious officials, or
+served but as a sign where the domineering soldiery of Old France might
+find free quarters. He that sowed the seed knew not who might reap the
+crop. Often, when the golden fields were almost ripe for the sickle, the
+war-summons sounded in the Canadian hamlets, and the whole male
+population were hurried away to stem some distant Indian onslaught, or
+to inflict on some British settlement a ruin scarcely more complete than
+their own. In the early wars with the fierce Iroquois, this rude militia
+had ever answered their leaders' call with ready zeal, and fought with
+worthy courage; when the haughty savage was subdued and humbled, and a
+new and more dangerous foe arose in the hereditary enemies of their
+fatherland, the Canadians again took the field, strong in the spirit of
+national hatred. But as, year after year, the vain strife continued,
+and, despite their valor and even success, the British power hemmed them
+more closely in, their hearts sickened at the hopeless quarrel, and they
+longed for peace even under a stranger's sway. Their fields desolate,
+their villages deserted, their ships driven from the seas, what cared
+they for the pride of France, when its fruit to them was ruin,
+oppression, and contempt![152] What cared they for the Bourbon lily,
+when known but as the symbol of avarice and wrong!
+
+The manufactures of this neglected though splendid colony scarcely merit
+even a passing notice. Flax and hemp were worked only sufficiently to
+show how much was lost in their neglect, and the clothing of this simple
+peasantry was chiefly of a coarse gray woollen stuff, the produce of
+their own wheels and looms. At the forges of St. Maurice, near Three
+Rivers, indeed, iron works were carried on with some skill, and profit
+to the employed, if not to the employers.
+
+The commercial spirit of the French, such as it was, the fur trade
+almost wholly engrossed; the fisheries were never carried on with any
+vigor by the colonists; some adventurers, indeed, from the home ports,
+bore the produce of the northern waters, with Canadian timber and
+provisions, to the tropical islands, but even this limited trade was
+monopolized by a privileged few, through the corrupt connivance of the
+authorities. In the official returns of the colonial customs, there
+appears every year an enormous surplus of imports over exports, which
+can only be accounted for by the clandestine shipment of great
+quantities of furs and other goods, to restore in some measure the
+necessary balance of exchange. The sole view of the local officials was
+rapidly to accumulate wealth at the expense of the state or of their
+Canadian fellow-subjects; such of their books and accounts as fell into
+the hands of the English were so confused and irregular that it was
+difficult or impossible to discover the exact nature of their undoubted
+dishonesty.
+
+The French East India company enjoyed the exclusive privilege of
+exporting the valuable furs of the beaver; they had therefore an agent,
+director, and controller in each separate government of Montreal, Three
+Rivers, and Quebec. A stated price was fixed for each skin, and on the
+hunter presenting it at the store, he received a receipt which became
+current in the colony as money, and was held to the last in higher
+estimation than the notes of the royal treasury. It has already been
+stated that bills of exchange to an immense amount on the government of
+France were afloat in the colony at a considerable depreciation; in the
+emergency of the year 1759, they ceased to be negotiable at any price.
+
+Although the Canadian population was at this time poor, rude, and
+dispersed, it presented in some respects features usually characteristic
+of older and more prosperous communities. The emigration from whence it
+mainly sprung contained within itself the embryo forms of organization;
+nobility, clergy, merchants, and peasants were sent out from the
+fatherland, and commissioned especially for their several offices. No
+voluntary influx of ambitious, truculent, but energetic men swelled the
+population or disturbed the fatal repose of the young nation; no free
+development was permitted to its infant form, but, clothed in the
+elaborate garments of maturer years, the limbs were cramped, and the
+goodly proportions of nature dwarfed into a feeble frame. No
+safety-valve offered itself to the quick spirit of the young Canadian;
+military rank was limited to the favorites of the powers at home;
+mercantile success was debarred by vile and stupid monopolies;
+territorial possessions were unattainable but by interest or wealth:
+here the proud man, for a time, chafed and murmured, and at length
+strode away to the Far West, and sought the irresistible attractions of
+free and savage life.
+
+No colony was ever governed by a succession of more able and excellent
+men than that of New France, perhaps none (except Algiers) has been
+apparently so much indebted to the mother country in tender infancy;
+none ever exhibited more thorough failure. A fertile soil, invigorating
+climate, and unsurpassed geographical advantages also offered themselves
+to the men of France; royal liberality and power lent them every aid;
+but, clogged by the ruinous conditions of their ecclesiastic and feudal
+organization, healthy action was impeded, and the seed, thus freely sown
+and carefully tended, grew up into a weak and sickly exotic. Experience
+has amply proved, as wisdom might have suggested, that in colonies,
+certainly, "the best government is that which governs least." When bold
+and vigorous men struggle forth from among the crowded thousands of the
+old communities, let them start in a fair race in the land of their
+adoption; the difficulties are great, let high hope cheer them; Nature
+there only opens her rich stores and bestows her treasures to brave and
+patient industry; the uncertain seasons, the Indian, and the wolf, are
+check and tax sufficient. The fatal error of despotic restraint cost
+France Canada by conquest, and cost us the noblest land God ever gave to
+man, by the deeper disgrace of a deserved and violent divorce.
+
+The Canadian nobility, or rather gentry, were descended from the civil
+and military officers who from time to time settled in the country;
+through their own influence or that of their ancestors, this privileged
+class was altogether supported by royal patronage. Some enjoyed grants
+of extensive seigneuries;[153] others were speedily enriched by an
+appointment to the command of a distant post, where ample opportunities
+of dishonest aggrandizement were afforded and improved. Even the largest
+and least fortunate class were provided for by the less profitable favor
+of commissions in the colonial corps.
+
+These favorites of power were generally vain and indolent men; they
+disdained trade and agriculture alike as beneath their high-born
+dignity; but they did not scruple to grasp at every convenient
+opportunity of easy profit, whether lawful or contraband; and they
+exacted, frequently with unequal justice, a large portion of the fruits
+of the earth from their peasant vassals. The feeble complaints of
+poverty against oppression were seldom loud enough to awake the
+attention of judges who were themselves often as guilty as the accused.
+From the especial favor enjoyed by the Canadian gentry under the rule of
+France, they were stanch to the last to her and to their own interests,
+and, as far as they went, were the most effective garrison in the
+colony: to them the prospect of British conquest was hateful and
+ruinous; with it must end their reign of corruption and monopoly.
+
+At the time of the first settlement of Canada, the feudal system existed
+in the mother country in all its Gothic rigor, and thus it was naturally
+established in spirit and in letter as the basis of the new society.
+Every territorial possession in New France was originally held by grants
+under the strictest form of these iron laws; but, as the country became
+more populous and of increasing importance, a variety of modifications
+was gradually introduced, tending to curb the exorbitant power of the
+seigneurs, and proportionally to elevate the condition of their vassals.
+By degrees, many of the more obnoxious features of feudalism were
+effaced; and the nature of the tenure became to a certain extent adapted
+to the peculiar circumstances of the colony. The independent holdings by
+"free and common soccage" were not, however, effectually introduced till
+thirty years after the conquest.
+
+The favored classes of the Canadians were devoted to social amusements;
+excursions by day, parties for gaming, and the dance at night, occupied
+their summer; and in winter, sleighing, skating, snow-shoeing, and
+evening reunion, turned that dreary time into a season of enjoyment.
+Lively, free, and graceful in manners, their vanity and want of
+education were little noticeable in the intercourse of daily life.[154]
+They were inclined to ostentation and extravagance;[155] the means,
+often unscrupulously procured, were squandered with careless profusion,
+and they generally endeavored to keep up an appearance of wealth beyond
+that which they really possessed. Henri de Pont Brian, bishop of Quebec,
+in his remarkable address to the Canadian people immediately before the
+conquest, draws a dark picture of the religious and moral condition of
+the inhabitants at the time, and attributes the threatened danger to the
+"especial wrath of Heaven for the absence of pious zeal--for the profane
+diversions--the insufferable excesses of games of chance--the contempt
+of religious ordinances--open robberies--heinous acts of
+injustice--shameful rapines. The contagion is nearly universal." Making
+every allowance for the worthy ecclesiastic's probable exaggeration of
+the causes which excited his indignation, the evidence of their own
+spiritual pastor must bear heavily against the reputation of the French
+colonists.
+
+The clergy were usually classed in the second rank of Canadian
+precedence; in actual importance, however, they had no superior. Those
+holding the higher offices of the Church were chiefly or exclusively of
+French origin, and some among them were men of high talents and
+attainments; the parochial ministers and curates were generally
+colonists, sprung from the humble orders of society, locally educated,
+and limited in their ideas. Nevertheless, their influence over the still
+simpler parishioners was very great. These inferior clergy were placed
+under the absolute control of their bishops, by them promoted, removed,
+or dispossessed at pleasure; a certain degree of jealousy, therefore,
+not unnaturally mingled itself with the curate's reverend awe of his
+alien prelate, whose lessons of humility were often less strongly
+inculcated by example than by precept. Although many of the country
+priests exerted themselves zealously against the English, under the
+impression that a heretic conquest would be the ruin of their Church,
+they were not altogether contented with the intimacy of the connection
+that bound them to France. The idea had arisen, increased, and ripened
+among them, that from their own body a discriminating government could
+have selected wise and holy men upon whose heads the apostolic miter
+might have been judiciously placed. The arrival of a new bishop or other
+ecclesiastical dignitary from France was no more a matter of rejoicing
+to the reverend fathers of Canada than that of a Parisian collector or
+intendant to the provincial merchant and farmer. In the year 1759,
+however, the Bishop of Quebec, the Abbe de la Corne, was of Canadian
+origin; notwithstanding which, he was at that critical time in France.
+When the Bishopric of Quebec was erected by Louis XIV. in 1664, he
+endowed the new see with the revenues of the two abbacies, Benevent and
+l'Estrie; subsequently these were resigned to a general fund for the
+increase of small livings, from which a yearly income of 8000 livres was
+allowed instead for the colonial bishopric. The chapter was also
+enriched by a royal pension and an abbey in France, together valued at
+12,000 livres annually.
+
+Besides some liberal allowances from the French crown, the Hotel de
+Ville, and other external sources, no less than one fourth of all the
+granted lands was bestowed upon the Church establishment, and the
+several religious, educational, and charitable institutions of the
+colony, and a tithe of a twenty-sixth part of all the produce of the
+fields was also appropriated to the support of the parochial clergy.
+
+First in establishment, and beyond all compare foremost in importance
+among the religious orders in the colony, was that of the Jesuits: to
+their particular care were intrusted the education of youth and the
+Indian missions. Here, as in all other countries where that mysterious
+and once terrible brotherhood had taken root, the traces of their
+vampire energy were plainly and painfully visible. We can not, however,
+but regard with admiration the courage and unquenchable zeal of these
+extraordinary men; their union of strange and contradictory qualities
+astounds us: the strong will of the tyrant, the enterprise of the
+freeman, and the discipline of the slave. With variety and versatility
+of power, but singleness of purpose, they pursued their appointed
+course; whether warping the minds of their civilized pupils in the chill
+tranquillity of the cloister, or denouncing idols among the fiercest of
+the heathen, ever devoted and unwearied.
+
+The mission of the Jesuit priests was to bring the savage, on any terms,
+within the pale of the visible Church; not to advance him in
+civilization, but to tame him to the utmost possible docility. They
+overleaped the tedious difficulties of conversion, and proselyted whole
+tribes in a single day. At times they even adapted the forms of
+Catholicism to the ferocious customs of the Indians. On one occasion,
+when the Christian Hurons were about to torture and slay some heathen
+Iroquois taken in battle, the missionary, by bribes and prayers, gained
+permission to baptize the victims, but made no intercession to save them
+from an agonizing death: while under the torments of the fire and the
+knife, they recited their new creed instead of chanting the last
+war-song. The Jesuit historian of this dreadful scene calls on his
+readers to rejoice in the providential mercy that brought the captured
+Iroquois within the blessed fold of the Church. In the triumph of
+Christianizing the heathen, he despised the task of humanizing the
+Christian.
+
+Even the wise and benevolent Charlevoix seemed to have forgotten that
+Christianity is "the religion of civilized man," and that its doctrine
+and practice are utterly incompatible with the habits of savage life.
+He, in common with his Jesuit brethren, ever exhibited a jealous
+hesitation and dislike to the enlightenment of the Indians by secular
+instruction, or to the improvement of their physical condition; any
+effort made by others with this object caused them deep uneasiness.
+When, in 1667, M. de Talon, the intendant, urged by the far-sighted
+Colbert, endeavored to introduce the language and civilization of Europe
+among the savages, he was defeated by the determined opposition of the
+missionaries, who alone at that time exercised influence over the red
+children of the forest. Nearly twenty years afterward the same policy
+was pressed upon M. de Denonville, and by him attempted; but, as
+Charlevoix complacently says, when the French were brought into contact
+with the Indians for this purpose, "the French became savages instead of
+the savages becoming French." This readiness in adapting themselves to
+the habits of the natives, which for a time gained them great power and
+popularity,[156] was ultimately fatal to their success as colonists. The
+Anglo-Americans, on the other hand, despising their Indian neighbors,
+and, in return, hated and feared by them, were seldom or never infected
+by the contagion of savage indolence.
+
+M. de Frontenac writes, in the year 1691, that "the experience of twelve
+years' residence in Canada has convinced me that the Jesuit missions
+ought not to be separated as they are from the settlements of the
+French, but that free intercourse should be encouraged between the
+Indians and Europeans; thus they might become '_francise_' at the same
+time that they are Christianized, otherwise more harm than good will
+accrue to the king's service."
+
+But on this question of the improvement of the Indians, the civil and
+the military authorities of the colony were at perpetual issue with the
+formidable brotherhood; the Canadian people generally concurred with
+their temporal rulers on this point, hence it resulted that in later
+years the Jesuits were little loved or esteemed in the colony.
+
+More than a century after the missionaries first penetrated the Indian's
+country, their writers describe his condition as disgusting and
+degraded, rather with contentment than with regret. From their
+observations we may learn the views of the Jesuits, and in a measure see
+the result of their practice. "It must nevertheless be confessed that
+things have somewhat changed on this point (native civilization) since
+our arrival in this country; some of the Indians already begin to
+provide for future wants in case of the failure of the chase, but it is
+to be feared that this may go too far, and by creating superfluous
+wants, render them more unhappy than they now are in their greatest
+poverty. The missionaries, however, can not be blamed for causing this
+danger; they well know that it is morally impossible to keep the 'juste
+milieu,' and provide the proper restraint; they have rather desired to
+share with the Indian the hardships of his lot, than to open his eyes to
+the dangerous means of its amelioration."
+
+When at one time the Christianized Iroquois had remained at peace for
+the unusual period of six months, they almost forgot the neighborhood of
+deadly and implacable enemies; the missionaries could not prevail upon
+their careless disciples to take the necessary precautions for defense;
+they therefore redoubled their endeavors to sanctify, and prepare for
+the worst fate, those whom they could not preserve from it. In this
+respect the Indian proved perfectly docile, and became readily imbued
+with the sentiments suitable to his perilous position: he was, in
+consequence, soon reduced to a degree of indolence and indifference
+which has perhaps no parallel in history. Enthusiasts in the cause, the
+Jesuits, Charlevoix says, regarded "every simple Indian who perished as
+an additional intercessor above for them and their labor of charity."
+
+Almost the only civilization, and permanent religious faith and
+practice, was established among the Indians by the labors of Protestant
+missionaries. They, from the beginning, sought to cherish habits of
+industry and forethought, and to give their converts a taste for the
+comforts of life. In every instance of successful effort in the cause of
+civilization, from the earliest time to the present day, the native
+population has increased in numbers, and become gradually exempt from
+that mysterious curse of decay which seems to cling to all the rest of
+their savage brethren.[157]
+
+The descendants of the now neglected Jesuit converts are in no wise
+distinguishable from other savages. By the labors of the brotherhood no
+permanent impression was stamped upon the Indians; they yielded
+themselves up in a great measure to the guidance of their missionary,
+who, in return, taught them the outward form and ceremony of his faith,
+but nothing more. He was the mind and the soul of the community; he
+alone exercised forethought, guarded against danger, and measured out
+enjoyment; to a certain extent he improved the temporary circumstances
+of his disciples, but he robbed them of their native energy, and crushed
+all freedom of thought and of individual action: he being removed, the
+body remained deprived of all directing intellect: the condition of the
+Christianized but uninstructed savage soon became almost the lowest of
+human existence, till weakness, hardship, and famine swept him away from
+the scene of earthly suffering.
+
+A very able writer on colonization ascribes the rapid decay in numbers
+of all Jesuit congregations, whether in the snows of Canada, or the
+burning sunshine of Paraguay, to the unnatural restraint in which they
+live. No vigilant superintendence, moral instruction, and physical
+well-being can compensate for the loss of freedom of action and the
+habit of self-guidance. The necessity of taking thought for himself, and
+living by the sweat of his brow, seems indispensable to the healthy
+action of man's nature. It can not be denied that many of these
+communities have held together for generations free from the corroding
+cares and corrupting vices of civilization; amply supplied (superstition
+apart) with religious instruction, and free from crime and punishment;
+and many may be tempted favorably to contrast the feeble innocence of
+this theocracy with the turbulent passions and vices which deform more
+advanced societies, and to forget that the man whose mind is thus
+enslaved is sunk below the level of his kind: his contentment and
+simplicity are apathy and ignorance, and his obedience is degradation.
+
+Although the evident aim of the brotherhood is to paralyze intellectual
+life in others, nothing is left undone to give vitality to their own.
+The Jesuit regards his society as the soul or citadel of Catholic
+theocracy, and sacrifices to it every social tie, his free will, and his
+life: fired with its gigantic ambition and its pride, they become his
+faith and morals; his constant idea is the hope of his order's universal
+sway; in darkness and secrecy, with patience and invincible
+perseverance, he works on at the labor of centuries, devoted to the one
+great purpose, the fulfillment of which his dilating eye sees through
+the vista of unborn generations. Yet this wonderful organization holds
+the eternal passion of its deep heart riveted upon an object ever
+unattainable; for the Jesuit seeks not to rear the supremacy of his
+Church upon the firm foundations of virtue, truth, and reason; his
+earnest toil is wasted on the shifting quicksands of ignorance and
+superstition; the loftier the building, the more complete and extensive
+must be the ruin. Nevertheless, through failure and success alike, his
+faith's somber fire burns unceasingly upon the inward altar of his soul.
+
+The merchants of Canada were chiefly of French, the retail dealers of
+native birth. From the nature of the colonial system, trade conferred
+neither wealth nor respect, except to the favored few enjoying
+monopolies. Every one in business was deeply involved by the depreciated
+bills of exchange upon the home government, and their only hope of
+ultimate payment rested upon the maintenance of the connection with the
+parent state. The trading classes may therefore be counted as generally
+hostile to the British power, but their importance was very small; like
+all the French race, they were more inclined to small trading
+transactions than those on a larger scale, and preferred enterprise to
+industry. It has been seen that one of the leading objects in the
+establishment of the colony was the trade in fur, especially that of the
+beaver; but the very abundance of this commodity ultimately proved of
+great detriment: the long and frequent journeys for the purpose of
+obtaining it gave the Canadians idle and wandering habits, which they
+could not shake off even when the low value of the now over-plentiful
+fur rendered their enterprises almost unprofitable.
+
+The Canadian peasantry, or "habitans," were generally a healthy, simple,
+and virtuous race, but they were also extremely ignorant; indeed, the
+jealousy of their rulers would never suffer a printing-press to be
+erected in the country; few could read or write, and they were
+remarkably credulous of even the grossest fabrications which emanated
+from their superiors. Chiefly of Norman origin, they inherit many
+ancestral characteristics: litigious, yet impetuous and thoughtless;
+brave and adventurous, but with little constancy of purpose. The
+resemblance of the interior of a peasant's dwelling in Normandy, and on
+the banks of the St. Lawrence, was remarkable to a practiced eye: with
+the exception of the flooring--which in Canada is always of wood, and
+in France of stone--every thing is nearly the same; the chimney always
+in the center of the building, and the partitions shutting off the
+sleeping apartments at each end of the large room where the inhabitants
+dwell by day.
+
+The French minister, Colbert,[158] in his instructions to M. de Talon
+and the Sieur de Courcelles, dwelt much on the dangerous practice of the
+early Canadian colonists building their residences without rule or
+order, wherever convenience suited, and neglecting the important point
+of settling near together for mutual assistance and defense. This system
+being obviously a serious obstacle to successful colonization, an edict
+was issued by the king that henceforth there should be no clearing of
+lands except in close neighborhood, and that the dwellings should all be
+built according to rule: this ordinance proved useless, as it would have
+been necessary for the habitans to commence the toilsome task of new
+clearing, and to abandon the lands where their fathers had dwelt. In
+1685, however, the French government again renewed the attempt to alter
+this pernicious system, but Charlevoix says that "every one agreed that
+their neighbor was in danger, but no one could be got to fear for
+himself in particular." Even those who had been the victims of this
+imprudence were not rendered wiser by experience;[159] any losses that
+could be repaired were repaired as soon as possible, and those that
+were irreparable were speedily forgotten. The sight of a little present
+advantage blinded all the habitans to the future. This is the true
+savage instinct, and it appears to be inspired by the air of the
+country. In the present day an evil of exactly the opposite description
+exists; as population became denser, the settlements became continuous,
+and the holdings smaller. The habitans, who are social to a vice, can
+not be induced to separate and clear new lands on a fresher but remoter
+soil.
+
+In 1689 the King of France was urgently entreated by Comte de Frontenac
+to make a great effort against the English at New York. His answer was
+that he could spare no forces from Europe for America, and that the
+Canadians, by settling in closer neighborhood, would be fully capable of
+defending themselves. Thus, while the king could not understand the
+difficulty of the habitans giving up their old and cherished homes to
+seek others closer together, on the other hand they could not be
+convinced of his inability to send supplies; and, indeed, the system
+advocated by the crown would have been more costly in property than the
+most vigorous aggressive campaign could have proved.
+
+Before the continuous wars with the English colonies, and internal
+corruption, had exhausted the sap of Canada, no people in the world
+enjoyed a happier lot than the simple habitans; they were blessed in a
+healthy climate, in the absence of all endemic diseases, in a fertile
+soil and an unlimited domain. These advantages might at least have
+retained in the colony those to whom it gave birth, and who could not be
+ignorant of its advantages; but love of change, hatred of steady labor,
+and impatience of restraint, have always urged many of the young and
+energetic, the life-blood of the population, to seek the irresistible
+allurements of the distant prairie and of the forest.
+
+The Canadians were accused of an excessive greed of gain even by their
+greatest panegyrists; no enterprise was too difficult or dangerous that
+offered a rich reward. They were, however, far from miserly, and often
+dissipated their hardly-won treasures without restraint or
+consideration. Like all people in isolated communities, they had a high
+opinion of their own merits: this was not without some advantages, as
+it strengthened self-reliance, and gave spirit to overcome difficulties.
+The form and stature of the Canadian ranked high in the scale of
+mankind, but his vitality, though great, was not lasting; at a
+comparatively early age his frame exhibited symptoms of decline, and the
+snows of time descended upon his head.
+
+Father Charlevoix simply remarks upon the intellectual powers of the
+Canadians, that "they are supposed to be incapable of any great
+scientific acquirements, or of patient study and application: I can not,
+however, answer for the justice of this remark, for we have never yet
+seen any one attempting to follow such pursuits." He gives them credit,
+however, for a rare taste for mechanics, and states that they frequently
+arrive at great perfection in trades to which they have never been
+apprenticed.
+
+To reduce this volatile people to rules of military discipline was
+always found extremely difficult, but, in many respects, their own
+peculiar manner of waging war, at least against the Indians, was far
+more efficient in the wild scenes of savage contest: they were more to
+be depended upon for a sudden effort than for the continuous operations
+of a campaign, and in a time of excitement and under a commander whom
+they could trust, they have shown themselves capable of deeds of real
+daring. They were not commendable for filial affection, but elicited the
+warmest eulogiums from the reverend father (Charlevoix) on their piety
+and zeal. The sum of their virtues and vices denoted the promise more of
+a good than of a great people.
+
+The Provincial revenue, produced by custom dues on imports and exports,
+charges on the sales of land, duties on spirituous liquors, rights on
+intestate deaths, shipwrecks, and miscellaneous sources, amounted to
+something under L14,000 sterling the year of the conquest, and the aid
+from the coffers of France to the ecclesiastical, civil, and military
+establishments was nearly L4760. These resources could not provide
+liberal salaries for the numerous colonial officials; as before stated,
+however, they made up for the deficiency by shameless and enormous
+peculations.
+
+All the male inhabitants of the colony, from ten to sixty years of age,
+were enrolled by companies in a Provincial militia, except those who by
+birth or occupation enjoyed the privileges of nobility. The captains
+were usually the most respectable men in the country parishes, and were
+held in great respect. When the services of the militia were required,
+their colonels, or the town majors, transmitted the order of levy to the
+captains, who chose the required numbers, and conducted them under
+escort to the town; there each man received a gun, ammunition, and a
+rude sort of uniform: they were then marched to their destination. This
+force was generally reviewed once or twice a year for the inspection of
+their arms; that of Quebec was frequently exercised, and had attached
+thereto an efficient company of artillery. Many duties of law, police,
+and the superintendence of roads in the country districts were also
+imposed on the captains of militia: the governor-general was every year
+accustomed to bestow a quantity of powder and ball by way of
+gratification upon these useful officials.
+
+Besides this numerous but somewhat uncertain militia force, there were
+in Canada ten veteran battalions of French infantry. These, however,
+were much reduced from their original strength by desertion, fatigue,
+and the casualties of war. The peculiar nature of the service, and the
+necessity of quartering the troops abroad in small detachments, had
+relaxed the rigor of European discipline, but the loss in this respect
+was more than counterbalanced by the knowledge of the country, and the
+habit of braving the severity of the climate. Their high military virtue
+was still well worthy of men who had fought under Marshal Saxe. The
+proud carriage and domineering conduct of these soldiers of Old France
+rendered them little loved by the Canadian people, and, as their
+pretensions were invariably supported by the government, it shared in
+the general unpopularity.
+
+The one hundred and fifty years that had elapsed since Champlain first
+planted the banner of France upon the headland of Quebec told with
+terrible effect upon the Red Men: already among the Canadian hamlets on
+the banks of the Great River they were well-nigh forgotten. Whole
+tribes had sunk into the earth, and left not a trace behind; others had
+wandered away, and were absorbed among those more fortunate races as yet
+undisturbed by the white man's neighborhood; while some, in attempting a
+feeble and fatal imitation of civilized life, had dwindled to a few
+wretched families, who had cast away the virtues of savage life, and
+adopted instead only the vices of Europe. The Hurons of Jeune Lorette,
+near Quebec, were, however, as yet, a happy exception to this general
+demoralization. Many years before, they had been driven from the fertile
+countries between Lakes Huron and Erie, and found refuge upon the Jesuit
+lands: they lived much in the same manner as the Canadian peasantry,
+tilled the soil with equal success, and dwelt in comfortable houses. But
+in one respect they had not escaped the mysterious curse which has ever
+hung upon the red race in their contact with their European brethren;
+from year to year their numbers diminished in an unchecked decay.
+
+[Footnote 150: See Appendix, No. LXVII.]
+
+[Footnote 151: "Cette cascade a ete nommee le Sault de Montmorenci et le
+pointe porte le nom de Levi. C'est que la Nouvelle France a en
+successivement pour Vice-Rois l'Amiral de Montmorenci et Henri de Levi,
+le Duc de Ventadour, son neveu."--Charlevoix.]
+
+[Footnote 152: "Pour les natifs du pays, laissons les a leur vie errante
+et laborieuse dans le bois avec les sauvages, a leurs exercices
+militaires; ils en seront moins opulents, mais plus robustes, plus
+braves, plus vertueux, c'est a dire, plus propre a servir l'etat, et
+plus fideles a le vouloir."--_Lettre de M. le Marquis de Montcalm a M.
+de Berryer_, Montreal, April 4, 1757.]
+
+[Footnote 153: The better part of the regiment de Carignan Salieres had
+remained in Canada, and at the end of the war against the Iroquois, they
+became habitans, having obtained their dismissal on this condition. Many
+of their officers had obtained lands with all the rights of seigneurs:
+they established themselves in the country, married there, and their
+posterity are still there. The greatest part were gentlemen, and thus
+Canada has more of the "ancienne noblesse" than any of the other
+colonies, perhaps than all the others together.--Charlevoix.]
+
+[Footnote 154: "Les Canadiens, c'est a dire, les Creoles du Canada,
+respirent en naissant un air de liberte qui les rend fort agreables dans
+le commerce de la vie, et nulle part ailleurs on ne parle plus purement
+notre langue. On ne remarque meme ici aucun accent."--Charlevoix. tom.
+v., p. 117.
+
+"I confess I have a strong sympathy for the French Canadians; they are
+'si bons enfans.' I remember, canvassing at Boston with an American
+gentleman, the expression used with regard to French Canada by a late
+English traveler, 'that it was a province of Old France, without its
+brilliancy or its vices.' My friend's remark was, 'What remains after so
+large a subtraction?' But I thought, and still think, the expression
+graphic and just."--Godley's _Letters from America_, vol. i., p. 89.]
+
+[Footnote 155: "The Frenchmen who considered things in their true light
+complained very much that a great part of the ladies in Canada had got
+into the pernicious custom of taking too much care of their dress, and
+squandering all their fortunes, and more, upon it, instead of sparing
+something for future times."--Professor Kalm, 1747.]
+
+[Footnote 156: "Of all the Europeans, my countrymen are most beloved by
+the Indians. This is owing to the gayety of the French, to their
+brilliant valor, to their fondness for the chase, and, indeed, for the
+savage life, as if the highest degree of civilization approximated to
+the state of nature."--Chateaubriand's _Travels in America_, &c., vol.
+i., p. 173.]
+
+[Footnote 157: "Mr. N. (a missionary among the Mohawk Indians[160] in
+Canada) has been for a long time among the Indians, and knows them well:
+he has a better opinion of them, and of their capacity for acquiring
+domestic and industrious habits, than most white men to whom I have
+spoken.... Mr. N. is by no means without hopes that, in a generation or
+two, these Indians may become quite civilized: they are giving up their
+wandering habits, and settling rapidly upon farms throughout their
+territory; and in consequence, probably, of this change in their mode of
+life, the decrease in their numbers, which threatened a total extinction
+of the tribe, has ceased of late years. If it turns out as he expects,
+this will form an exception to the general law which affects their
+people."--Godley's _Letters from America_, vol. i., p. 163. See
+Appendix, No. LXX.]
+
+[Footnote 158: "The great Colbert introduced order into the French
+finances in the reign of Louis XIV.; he encouraged the arts, promoted
+manufactures with extraordinary success (only arrested by the revocation
+of the Edict of Nantes), and may be said to have created the French
+navy. 'Je vous dois tout, sire,' said the dying Mazarin to Louis XIV.,
+'mais je crois m'acquitter en quelque sorte avec votre Majeste en vous
+donnant Colbert.'"--_Biographie Universelle_, art. Colbert.]
+
+[Footnote 159: "Unlike their Anglo-American neighbors ... and now they
+founded schools and courts of justice (in Virginia), and the plantation
+was extended 140 miles up the river on both sides. But now, when the
+English were secure, and thought of nothing but peace, the savages came
+suddenly upon them, and slew of them 347 men, women, and children....
+This massacre happened by reason they had built their plantations remote
+from one another in above thirty several places, which made them now,
+upon consultation, to reduce them all to five or six places, whereby
+they may better assist each other, since which time they have always
+lived in good security."--Baker's _Chronicle_, p. 447. 1674.]
+
+[Footnote 160: These Indians lost their possessions in the States by
+adhering to Great Britain in the Revolutionary war, and received in
+compensation a settlement in Canada of 160,000 acres. Since that time
+they have decreased considerably, and now consist of not more than 2200
+souls.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+During the early part of the eighteenth century, the British North
+American provinces had made extraordinary progress in population and
+wealth--a progress then unequaled in the world's history, and only now
+excelled by that of the Australian settlements. From many of the
+European nations, swarms of the energetic and discontented poured into
+the land of plenty and comparative freedom. By far the greater number of
+immigrants, however, were from the British islands, and their national
+character in a great measure, absorbed the peculiarities of all the
+rest. The natural increase of the population also far exceeded that of
+European states; the abundant supply of the necessaries of life, and
+immunity from oppressive restraint, produced their invariable results.
+In the absence of any harassing care for the future, early marriages
+were almost universally contracted. The man who possessed no capital
+but his labor found in it the means of present support, and even of
+future wealth; if he failed to obtain remunerative employment in the old
+districts, he needed only to carve out his way in the new. The fertile
+wilderness ever welcomed him with rude but abundant hospitality; every
+tree that fell beneath his ax was an obstacle removed from the road to
+competence; every harvest home, an earnest of yet richer rewards to
+come.
+
+From the first, the British colonists had applied themselves to
+agriculture as the great business of life; then trade followed, to
+supply luxuries in exchange for superabundant products; and manufactures
+came next, to satisfy the increasing necessities of a higher
+civilization. From the peculiarities of the country, and the restless
+and irregular habits of many of the earlier immigrants, a system of
+cultivation arose, which, however detrimental to the progress of some
+individuals, tended to develop the resources of the country with
+astonishing rapidity. A number of the hardy men, who first began the
+clearing of the wilderness, only played the part of pioneers to those
+who permanently settled on the fertile soil: they felled the trees with
+unequaled dexterity, erected log houses and barns, hastily inclosed
+their farms, and, in an incredibly short space of time, reduced the land
+to a sort of cultivation. With their crops, a few cattle, and the
+produce of the chase, they gained subsistence for themselves and their
+families. These men could not endure the restraints of regular society;
+as the population advanced toward them, and they felt the obnoxious
+neighborhood of the magistrate and the tax gatherer, they were easily
+induced to dispose of their clearings at a price enhanced by that of
+surrounding settlements: once again they plunged into the wilderness,
+and recommenced their life of almost savage independence.
+
+The new owner of the pioneer's clearing was generally a thrifty and
+industrious farmer: his object, a home for himself and an inheritance
+for his children. In certain hope of success, he labored with untiring
+energy, and converted the half-won waste into a fruitful field. His
+neighbors have progressed equally with himself; the dark shadows of the
+forest vanish from the surrounding country; detached log huts change to
+clusters of comfortable dwellings; churches arise, villages swell into
+towns, towns into cities.
+
+This system exercised an important influence on the politics and manners
+of the colonists; the restless, impatient, and discontented found ample
+scope and occupation in the wilderness, instead of waging perpetual
+strife against the restraints of law and order in the older districts:
+many of these men ultimately even became useful and industrious. The
+acquisition of a little property of their own, and the necessity of law
+and order for the preservation of that property, reconciled them to the
+forfeiture of the wild liberty in which they had before exulted. The
+truculence of the desperate often turned into the healthy ambition of
+the prosperous.
+
+Along the shores of the magnificent bays and estuaries of the Atlantic
+coast had already arisen many populous and thriving cities. Boston
+numbered more than 30,000 inhabitants; her trade was great; her shipping
+bore the produce of all countries through all seas, either as carriers
+for others, or to supply her own increasing demands; her sailors were
+noted for hardihood and skill, her mechanics for industry, and her
+merchants for thrift and enterprise; her councils, and the customs of
+her people, still bore the stamp which the hands of the Pilgrim Fathers
+had first impressed. Moral, sober, persevering, thoughtful, but
+narrow-minded and ungenial, they were little prone to allow the
+enjoyment of social intercourse to interfere with the pursuit of wealth.
+Although at times oppressive and always intolerant themselves, they ever
+resented with jealous promptitude the slightest infringement of their
+own freedom of conscience or action. They despised but did not pity the
+Indian, and had no scruple in profiting largely by the exchange of the
+deadly fire-water for his valuable furs.
+
+At the time of which we treat, the people of the New England States
+numbered more than 380,000; they were the bone and sinews of British
+power in America; in peace the most prosperous and enterprising, and in
+war the most energetic, if not the most warlike, of the
+Anglo-Americans. Their hostility against the French was more bitter than
+that of their southern fellow-countrymen: in the advance guard of
+British colonization they came more frequently in contact with the rival
+power, and were continually occupied in resisting or imitating its
+aggressions. The senseless and unchristian spirit of "natural enmity"
+had spread in an aggravated degree among the children of the two great
+European states who had cast their lot of life in the New World.
+
+The colony of New York had also arrived at considerable importance, but,
+from the varied sources of the original population, the 100,000
+inhabitants it contained at the time of the war were less exclusively
+British in character and feeling than their Puritan brethren of New
+England. Many of the Dutch and Swedish farmers, as well as of the French
+emigrants, retained unaltered the language and customs of their fathers,
+and felt little affection for the metropolitan state, formerly their
+conqueror, and now their somewhat supercilious ruler. The trade of New
+York city, aided by the splendid navigation of the Hudson River, was
+very large in proportion to the then small population of 8000. Great
+quantities of corn, flour, and other provisions were conveyed from the
+rich Western country by the inland waters to the noble harbor at their
+mouth, and thence found their way to the West Indies and even to Europe.
+The town of Albany, although inferior in population, was important and
+prosperous as the chief depot for the Indian trade, and the place where
+conferences were usually held between the English and the fast-failing
+tribes of the once formidable Iroquois. New Jersey partook in some
+respects of the characteristics of New York, and contained about 60,000
+souls. Owing to the protection of the larger neighboring states, this
+fertile province had suffered but little from Indian hostility, and the
+rich soil and mild climate aided the undisturbed labors of its
+husbandmen. The forests abounded with oak, ash, cypress, hickory, and
+other valuable timber, and the cultivation of flax and hemp was largely
+carried on: these different productions were disposed of in the markets
+of New York and Philadelphia, principally for European consumption.
+
+The great and prosperous State of Pennsylvania, nearly 5000 square miles
+in extent, contained 250,000 inhabitants, and carried on a large trade
+with Europe and the West Indies; through the rich and beautiful capital,
+an immense surplus of agricultural produce, from its fertile soil, was
+exported to other less favored countries. Philadelphia was happily
+situated upon the tongue of land formed by the confluence of the two
+navigable rivers, Delaware and Schuylkill; the streets were broad and
+regular, the houses spacious and well built, and the docks and quays
+commodious. This city still continued largely impressed by the spirit of
+Quakerism; the stiffness of outline, the trim neatness of the dwellings,
+the convenient but unpretending public buildings, and the austere
+manners of the inhabitants, bespoke the stronghold of the formal men of
+peace. Here it was, not twenty years afterward, in a vulgar and
+unsightly brick edifice, that a few bold and earnest men pledged their
+sacred honor, their fortunes, and their lives to an act, perhaps the
+most important that history records--"THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE."
+
+The State of Maryland lies next in succession southward; to the east and
+south, the waters of the Atlantic and the Potomac River wash its fertile
+shores. About 40,000 white men here held 60,000 of their negro brethren
+in toilsome slavery, and enriched themselves by the fruits of this
+unholy labor. Tobacco, large in quantity and good in quality, was the
+staple produce of the country. The capital, Annapolis, was beautifully
+situated on the banks of the Patuxent River.
+
+South of the River Potomac and west of Chesapeake Bay, the State of
+Virginia stretches inland to the Allegany Mountains. This rich province
+produced corn and every kind of fruit in abundance; the forests were of
+great extent and value, and supplied much good timber for exportation;
+flax, hemp, tar, and iron were also produced in some quantity, but, as
+in Maryland, the principal wealth of the country was in tobacco,
+cultivated by the labor of nearly 100,000 slaves. The white population
+numbered about 70,000. The magnificent Bay of Chesapeake extended
+through this territory for nearly 300 miles from south to north, and
+received many considerable streams at both sides. However, no commercial
+town of any great importance had grown up on the shores of these
+navigable waters.
+
+The Carolinas, bounded to the north by Virginia, extend along the
+Atlantic coast for upward of 400 miles, and stretch westward 300 miles
+into the interior of the vast continent. They are divided into two
+provinces, the North and the South; the first the more populous, richer
+in production, more advanced in commerce and prosperity. Here, as the
+tropics are approached, the sultry climate favors the cultivation of
+rice, indigo, and tobacco: great numbers of slaves labored in the
+fertile swamps, and beautiful but unhealthy valleys of these states,
+enriching the ruling race by their lives of unrequited toil. We do not
+find any exact record of the population at the time of which we treat,
+but that of both the Carolinas was probably not less than 260,000; of
+these more than one half were whites.
+
+Georgia, the most southern of the British settlements in America, skirts
+the Atlantic shore for about sixty miles, and includes the whole extent
+of the Western country to the Apalachian Mountains, nearly 300 miles
+away, widening gradually to 150 miles in breadth. To the south lay the
+Spanish limits, marked by the River Altamaha, and the deserted fort of
+San Augustin. At this time the province was thinly peopled, its
+resources little known, and its luxuriant savannas still wasted their
+exuberant fertility in rank vegetation and pestilential decay. The
+inhabitants, however, raised some quantities of rice and indigo, and had
+even made progress in the culture of silk. At Augusta, the second town
+in importance, situated 200 miles in the interior, a profitable fur
+trade was established with the Cherokees, and other comparatively
+civilized Indians.
+
+It has been seen that the British North American colonies contained
+upward of 1,300,000 inhabitants at the commencement of the campaign
+which destroyed the power of France on the Western continent. Enormous
+as was this physical superiority over the rival colony of Canada, the
+wealth and resources of the British bore a vastly greater proportion to
+those of their enemies. Barnaby, an intelligent English traveler who at
+this time visited America, informs us that all the luxurious fruits of
+wealth were displayed in our transatlantic settlements; and that, in a
+journey of 1200 miles through the country, he was never once solicited
+for alms. At the same time, he observes that the people were already
+imbued with a strong spirit of independence,[161] and that a deep but
+vague impression existed that they were destined for some splendid
+future. But among these sturdy and ambitious men mutual jealousies
+rendered a permanent union of their councils apparently impossible; the
+mother country failed in her effort to bring the strength of her
+gigantic colonies to bear together[162] upon any imperial object,
+although she subsequently succeeded but too well in creating unanimity
+of feeling against herself.
+
+By the fall of Louisburg, and the complete subjection of the Acadian
+peninsula, the high road of the St. Lawrence lay open to the British
+fleets; the capture of Fort du Quesne, and the occupation of the forks
+of the Ohio, had given to England the command of the vast chain of
+navigable communication which connected the Canadian lakes with the
+distant waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Thus the 60,000 French of North
+America were hopelessly isolated from their parent state, and left to
+the mercy of their exasperated and powerful foes. Already their Indian
+allies had wavered or seceded: no longer able to afford protection or
+supply their commerce, the Canadian governor sank rapidly in savage
+estimation; and even the "Great Father" beyond the seas ceased to be
+regarded with the superstitious reverence formerly felt toward him by
+his red children.
+
+But the lofty spirit of France was still unbroken by these losses and
+dangers; even in this time of need she disdained to abandon or modify
+her pretensions to the dominion of those Western wilds of America, for
+the possession of which she had first drawn the sword, and she
+determined to risk the utter ruin of her transatlantic power rather than
+patiently submit to its diminution. Quebec and Canada might have been
+saved had she acquiesced in our just right and title to the ancient
+limits of Acadia, as marked out by former treaties, and had she
+refrained from the prosecution of that vast scheme of encroachment by
+which the British settlements would have been inclosed from Louisiana to
+the great lakes of the north.
+
+At the same time, the British nation, inflamed by hopeful ambition, was
+stimulated to renewed exertion by the triumphs and advantages of the
+late campaign. Had the illustrious man who wielded England's strength
+ever doubted in his own far-seeing mind the policy of removing the
+Canadian incubus from the rising ambition of the colonies, the strong
+tide of public opinion would have doubtless swept him away. But he
+possessed neither the inclination nor the power to halt in the career of
+glory and success, when the magnificent dominions of France in America
+lay within his grasp: he firmly resolved to seize the prize, and devoted
+all the energies and abilities of his mind to the one great object.
+
+The British Parliament addressed the throne in terms of the highest
+approbation of the minister; they applauded the conduct of the campaign,
+and pledged themselves zealously and cheerfully to furnish all necessary
+supplies. The king sent them a message representing the spirited efforts
+made by his American subjects in the prosecution of the war, and
+recommending compensation for the losses and expenses they had incurred
+in the maintenance of his rights and England's glory; the prompt answer
+was a vote of L200,000 for the required purpose. The people even
+surpassed their representatives in ardor; one universal spirit pervaded
+all ranks and classes--a confidence in British triumph and French
+humiliation. The conquest of Canada was now the first and darling object
+of the nation.
+
+Mr. Pitt decided upon pursuing the same plan of operations which had
+been partially successful in the last campaign: he purposed to throw
+three separate expeditions at once against the three strongholds of
+Canadian power, Niagara, Montreal, and Quebec. The mainspring of this
+grand design was, that these attacks should be simultaneous, and thus
+distract the attention and divide the force of the defenders. A
+formidable armament was zealously and speedily equipped in the English
+ports to carry a force of from 7000 to 8000 men, by the River St.
+Lawrence to the walls of Quebec. The main army of America, 12,000
+strong, was assembled on the woody shores of Lake George: it was
+destined to penetrate the heart of Canada by the Richelieu River and
+occupy Montreal, after having first overwhelmed the French detachments
+at Ticonderoga and Crown Point; thence the British troops were to
+descend the broad stream of the St. Lawrence till they joined their
+strength to that of the besiegers of Quebec. At the same time, another
+British corps, and a large body of Indians, was directed upon Niagara,
+with orders to take and garrison the fort, and then hasten down over
+Ontario, and the rapids of the Great River, to co-operate with the other
+expeditions. This scheme was as impracticable in its execution, as it
+was bold and comprehensive in design.
+
+When Pitt cast his eyes over the scantily traced map of the Western
+World, he disdained to note the almost insurmountable difficulties
+which its broad blanks unobtrusively represented. As his bold hand
+struck out the several lines of operation, he forgot the hideous
+wilderness, the stormy ocean, and the dangerous lake, over the tracings
+of which his pencil passed, and his daring heart doubted not for a
+moment of success. It is a trite observation, that a combined movement
+is always precarious, even under the most favorable circumstances.
+Uncertainty of weather, or different degrees of zeal and activity in the
+leaders, may disjoint the most elaborate scheme; but, in such a case as
+this, with all the superadded chances of the sea, the river, and the
+desert, a wisdom greater than that of the wisest, a power stronger than
+that of the most powerful, could alone have given us the victory.
+
+The French possessed the immense advantage of acting as it were on a
+smooth high road, while their assailants were entangled in a broken and
+difficult country. The River St. Lawrence furnished a means of
+intercommunication that enabled them to throw the mass of their force
+upon any one of the hostile armies they might select, and thus outnumber
+each in succession; the bold position of Quebec supplied them with a
+place of arms, and an advantageous battle-ground when all else should be
+lost. The able and skillful Montcalm was not likely to fail in turning
+these favorable circumstances to full account.
+
+The most vulnerable, and, at the same time, the most vital part of
+Canada was the spot where the Richelieu River pours into the St.
+Lawrence. Thence to the magnificent harbor of New York, a scarcely
+interrupted chain of navigable water, by the Lakes Champlain and George
+and the Hudson River, offered a practicable route to the invading force.
+Looking back upon the past with that wisdom which is the humble disciple
+of experience, it would appear that the whole British power should have
+been thrown at once upon that single point. By uniting the veteran corps
+embarked in the fleet from England and Nova Scotia, with the formidable
+force destined against Niagara, to the main army, nearly 25,000 British
+troops could have been brought to bear against the feeble defenses of
+the lakes, and poured down with irresistible strength on the Valley of
+the St. Lawrence. Thence to Quebec the watery path lay free and
+unembarrassed, and no hostile power existed strong enough to dare a
+battle against such a host. In the mean time, the English fleet should
+have anchored in the broad basin above the island of Orleans,
+intercepted all European aid, and, by vigorous demonstrations, kept in
+play as much as possible of the enemy's strength. Had this scheme been
+adopted, the decisive battle might probably have still been fought on
+the Plains of Abraham, but with far greater chances in favor of British
+triumph than in the fight which was subsequently bravely won. The whole
+disposable force of Canada would naturally have opposed the invading
+army, and would have been either forced down upon the defense of Quebec,
+or driven to an unequal combat. The French army overpowered and their
+great stronghold taken, Montreal, with Niagara and the Western country,
+must have lain an easy prey.
+
+To find out the weakest point of the enemy's position, and to assail it
+with his greatest power, was the constant aim of the first of modern
+captains, and the talisman of his matchless success. The British
+minister's scheme for the conquest of Canada presents exactly the
+reverse of this system; the several strongholds of the French were
+selected for simultaneous attack by separate and insufficient forces. By
+an overruling Providence, however, the skill and daring of a British
+general, and the valor of his troops, together with the incomprehensible
+error of their chivalrous opponent, gave to the arms of England victory
+and glory, and to the ruler of her councils complete ultimate success.
+
+To pave the way for the campaign of 1759, a grand conference was held
+with the Indians, in the October of the preceding year, at Easton, about
+ninety miles from Philadelphia; there peace was formerly established
+between England and the several native nations inhabiting the country,
+which extends from the Apalachian Mountains to the lakes. Some tribes,
+however, still held aloof. The business of the British agents at this
+meeting was to ascertain the limits of the several lands about the
+possession of which disputes had occurred with the natives, to
+reconcile the bitter hostilities of different tribes against each other,
+to remove every cause of misunderstanding between the Indians and
+ourselves, and effectually to detach them from the interests of the
+French. The conferences were continued from the 8th to the 26th of
+October, when every article was finally arranged to the satisfaction of
+all parties. The Indians were then given presents, made drunk, and
+dismissed to their several dwellings.
+
+General Amherst, and his gallant colleague Admiral Boscawen, had, as the
+conquerors of Louisburg, received the high honor of thanks from the
+representatives of a grateful people in the British Parliament. The
+vigor, ability, and courage displayed by Amherst in the previous year,
+inspired a universal hope of future success among his countrymen, and
+all eyes were fixed with deep and sanguine interest on the movements of
+the formidable armies which he was now to direct against the failing
+power of the French. But the memory of Abercromby's fatal disaster was
+still fresh in the English mind, and somewhat damped the rising hopes of
+conquest and of glory. The difficulties before which he had recoiled,
+disgraced and ruined, were since increased rather than diminished: the
+fort of Chambly, which defended the pass by the Richelieu River to the
+St. Lawrence, had been strengthened and garrisoned by a body of regular
+troops and militia; Crown Point had been re-enforced, and an increase of
+vessels had completely given the command of Lake Champlain to the
+French.
+
+The British colonies were eager in seconding the grand designs of the
+parent state--designs, indeed, far more important to them than to
+England. But they found it difficult to keep pace with the expenditure
+which the great minister's splendid and thriftless conduct of the war
+rendered necessary. Some reluctance was now expressed, especially in New
+England, to raise the levies required by the Provincial governments. In
+the opening of last year's operations it had been promised that a single
+campaign would suffice to end with success the deadly and ruinous
+strife. The same promise was now once more offered, but received by no
+willing ears. The taxes were already excessive, the demand for men most
+burdensome, and the liberal compensation voted by the British Parliament
+was still insufficient to remunerate the colonists for past losses and
+advances, and had been unfortunately so long delayed by official
+interruptions as to create considerable mistrust and dissatisfaction. It
+was not without much difficulty that Connecticut was induced to keep up
+her last year's contingent of 5000 men, and Massachusetts at first
+declined to raise more than the same number, until prevailed upon by the
+instances of Amherst, who was universally respected and esteemed. The
+thinly-peopled state of New Hampshire, however, exceeded her former
+exertions, and sent no less than 1000 men into the field.
+
+The movements of the last campaign, and the extensive preparations in
+the British settlements, no longer afforded room for doubt that the aim
+of England was the annihilation of the power of France in America. The
+Marquis de Vaudreuil therefore issued a proclamation at the close of the
+year 1758 to the several officers of Canadian militia, to excite their
+zeal and quicken their activity in preparations for resistance.
+"Notwithstanding our glorious successes," said he, "the state of the
+colony is perilous. The enemy are making great efforts both by sea and
+land; we must prepare, therefore, to meet them boldly as soon as the
+season of the year allows them to act. No time must be lost in
+organizing our defense." He then directed that all the male inhabitants
+of the province, from sixteen to sixty years of age, should be enrolled
+in the militia, and should remain in readiness to march at a moment's
+notice.
+
+The captains of militia faithfully endeavored to comply with these
+orders, but the farmers, or habitans, showed great disinclination to
+abandon the cultivation of their fields for the certain hardships and
+dangers, and the uncertain glories of a soldier's life. Where the levies
+were efficiently carried out, the country remained waste; the last
+harvest had been far from abundant, and the rapacious seizures of grain
+for the real or fictitious wants of the government caused a pinching
+scarcity. The intendant had arbitrarily fixed the price of wheat at
+twelve sous the bushel, yet none was sold under a far higher rate.
+Every device of peculation was resorted to by the unworthy civil
+officers to increase their gains from the distresses of the people,
+while the vicious decrees of a corrupted court of law supported instead
+of curbing them in their iniquities. Dishonest exactions and forced
+contributions caused a reckless waste of those resources, upon the
+enjoyment of which no man could confidently count, and the intendant,
+finding it at length difficult or impossible to obtain the necessary
+supplies, quartered the troops upon the unfortunate inhabitants.
+
+The misery and distress of the colony at length deepened into absolute
+famine. Cadet, the commissary-general, by the intendant's orders, killed
+a number of horses for the use of the inhabitants and troops at Montreal
+and Quebec. Finally the governor and M. de Montcalm dispatched an
+officer to France with a detail of the deplorable state of Canada, and
+an earnest entreaty for succor. This officer, the afterward celebrated
+De Bougainville, although he had sailed very late in the autumn, escaped
+the dangers of the season and the vigilance of the British navy, and
+laid his melancholy dispatch before the throne of France.[163]
+
+Early in January, 1759, a census was taken of all those capable of
+bearing arms in Canada; the result showed 15,229 men. Of these, however,
+a large proportion were neither available nor worthy of trust. A
+detachment of artillery, eight battalions of French regulars, and
+thirty-three companies of the marine or colony troops, formed the real
+strength of the Canadian army.
+
+Montcalm[164] was indefatigable in his preparations for the approaching
+struggle. Regulars and militia were kept at constant work on the several
+fortifications. Three armed vessels were built to command the navigation
+of Lake Champlain. Captain Pouchot, a skillful engineer, was sent to
+strengthen the works of Niagara, and undertake their defense. On the
+14th of May, M. de Bougainville,[165] afterward distinguished alike in
+literature and adventure, arrived from France with decorations and
+promotions for the governor, the general, and other officers whose merit
+had been conspicuous in the last campaign, but he was also bearer of the
+alarming intelligence that England was about to assail the colony
+forthwith both by sea and land. As yet, however, no supplies or
+re-enforcements from France made their appearance in this hour of
+peril, and the governor, M. de Vaudreuil, was simply instructed to make
+the best provision in his power for the defense of Canada.
+
+The governor addressed a notice to the militia to be ready at a moment's
+warning, and endeavored to excite their somewhat dormant patriotism by a
+spirited appeal. "This campaign," said he, "will give the Canadians an
+opportunity of displaying once again their loyalty and valor: their king
+doubts not that they will faithfully defend his and their rights, their
+religion, homes, and properties against the cruel English. These
+invaders hate our name and nation; they accuse us of the evil deeds of a
+few savage Indians, and burn for revenge. We will protect our people by
+every possible means from falling into the hands of our ruthless
+enemies, and from such mercies as the people of Acadia, Cape Breton, and
+St. John's received from them. Better would it be for us, our wives, and
+our children, to be buried in the ruins of the colony, than to fall
+alive into the hands of the English. We have, however, no fears for our
+safety, and accordingly we direct that every suitable step be taken for
+a successful defense."
+
+A council of war was held at Montreal, which, after frequent meetings,
+decided that a body of troops under Montcalm, with the brigadier-generals,
+the Marquis de Levi and M. de Senezergues, should be posted at Quebec;
+that M. de Bourlemaque should hasten to Ticonderoga, blow up the works at
+the approach of the English, retire by the lake to Isle aux Noix, and
+there make a stubborn resistance. The Chevalier de la Corne, with 800
+regulars and militia, was directed to hold the rapids above Montreal, to
+intrench himself in a strong position, and hold out to the best of his
+power. These resolutions taken, Montcalm hastened to Quebec, and pushed
+on the works of the city and its outposts. To embarrass the hostile fleet,
+he removed the buoys and other marks for navigation in the Great River;
+above all, he strove to raise the drooping spirit of the Canadian people.
+
+[Footnote 161: " ... Such is the state of the governments, that there
+can not on the continent be produced an instance of the governors being
+able to carry his majesty's instructions into execution where the people
+have disputed them, nor has all the power that the crown has thought fit
+to add been able to support such; but the people have constantly
+maintained themselves in their claims."--_Letter from Governor Pownall
+to the Earl of Loudon, Boston, November 28th, 1757._]
+
+[Footnote 162: "Each English colony in North America is independent of
+the other, and each has its proper laws and coins, and may be looked
+upon in several lights as a state by itself. From hence it happens that,
+in time of war, things go on very slowly and irregularly here, for not
+only the sense of one province is sometimes directly opposite to that of
+another, but frequently the views of the governor and those of the
+Assembly of the same province are quite different, so that it is easy to
+see that, while the people are quarreling about the best and cheapest
+method of carrying on the war, an enemy has it in his power to take one
+place after another. It has commonly happened, that while some provinces
+were suffering from their enemies, the neighboring ones were quiet and
+inactive, as if it did not in the least concern them. They have
+frequently taken up two or three years in considering whether they
+should give assistance to an oppressed sister colony, and sometimes they
+have expressly declared themselves against it. There are instances of
+provinces who were not only neuter in these circumstances, but who
+carried on a great trade with the power which at that very time was
+attacking and laying waste some other provinces."--Kalm, in Pinkerton,
+vol. xiii., p. 461.]
+
+[Footnote 163: "L'etat etoit alors dans une situation peu favorable, et
+le ministre, M. de Berryer, repondit aux instances de M. de Bougainville
+en disant, 'Quand le feu est a la maison on ne s'occupe pas des
+ecuries.' 'On ne dira pas du moins, monsieur, que vous parlez comme un
+cheval,' repondit Bougainville. C'est lui-meme qui nous a raconte cette
+anecdote, en ajoutant qu'il alla aussitot faire sa cour a Madame de
+Pompadour, qui apaisa le ressentiment du ministre."--_Biographie
+Universelle_, art. Bougainville.]
+
+[Footnote 164: "Le Marquis de Montcalm, a la vie duquel etoit attachee
+la conservation du Canada, avoit defendu cette colonie par des prodiges
+de valeur, pris le fort St. George (Fort William Henry), et battu
+vingt-mille Anglais a Ticonderoga. Mais nul secours ne lui etoit envoye;
+on etoit force de prevoir qu'il succumberoit bientot."--_Histoire de
+France pendant le Dix-huitieme Siecle_, par Charles Lacretelle, tom.
+iii., p. 345.]
+
+[Footnote 165: Bougainville, the celebrated circumnavigator, had been
+appointed aid-de-camp to the Marquis de Montcalm in 1756. It must be
+willful inaccuracy in the _Biographie Universelle_ to attribute the
+taking of Fort William Henry, and the victory at Ticonderoga, Montcalm's
+most remarkable achievements in Canada, to his aid-de-camp instead of to
+himself. Bougainville had not had any opportunity of performing "des
+services illustres" in Canada. "En 1758 le gouverneur du Canada envoya
+de Bougainville en France pour demander des renforts. Il revint en
+Jamaica 1759 apres avoir recu la recompense des services illustres qu'il
+avoit rendus. Montcalm le nomma, a son retour, commandant des grenadiers
+et des volontaires, et lui ordonna de couvrir avec ces deux corps la
+retraite de l'armee Francaise, lorsqu'elle se replia sur Quebec.
+Bougainville s'en acquitta avec la bravoure et l'habilete dont il avoit
+donne tant de preuves.
+
+"Il s'est eleve au rang des marins les plus celebres de la France.
+
+"Bougainville est le premier Francais qui ait fait le tour du monde.
+L'histoire de sa vie etonne par la variete des occupations aux quelles
+il s'est livre et par la multitude des evenements qui la remplissent.
+
+"Dans ses etudes a l'universite il manifesta de bonne heure une rapidite
+de conception et une finesse de tact qui le firent reussir en meme tems
+dans les genres les plus opposes. Il se faisoit egalement remarquer par
+ses connoissances dans les langues anciennes, et par ses progres dans
+les sciences exactes. Il marquoit pour les mathematiques des
+dispositions peu communes. Il fut recu membre de la Societe Royale de
+Londres pendant son court sejour dans cette capitale en caractere de
+secretaire de l'ambassade, en 1754."--_Biographie Universelle_, art.
+Bougainville.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+We must now return to the proceedings in the British camp. In the stern
+climate of Northern America the season for military action was very
+limited. From the breaking up of the ice on the lakes and rivers, and
+the melting of the forest snows, till they again hindered or forbid the
+movement of troops, but little interval was left for the march of an
+invading army. To pursue with effect the great plan of the campaign, it
+was necessary to take the field with the earliest signs of returning
+spring. General Amherst, therefore, left New York on the 28th of April,
+1759, and arrived at Albany on the 3d of May: there he busied himself in
+assembling and organizing his army for the field, preparing boats for
+transporting the troops, artillery, and stores, and instructing the raw
+Provincial levies in the rudiments of military discipline. Before this
+time, he had dispatched the active partisan officer, Major Rogers, with
+350 men, from Fort Edward, to feel the strength of the enemy at
+Ticonderoga and Crown Point: they succeeded in surprising a French
+working party close to the disastrous scene of the previous year's
+defeat, killed some men, and took several prisoners, with but little
+loss to themselves. The intense severity of the weather, however, made
+the victors pay dearly for their success: two thirds of the detachment
+were frost-bitten in the feet, some of them to such an extent that their
+more fortunate companions were obliged to carry them back to the British
+camp.
+
+The whole month of May was occupied in preparation for the advance. The
+Provincial regiments, as fast as they arrived at head-quarters, were
+encamped, and instructed with all diligence. The regular troops were
+pushed on by the road to Fort Edward, and posted at a place fifty-six
+miles from Albany, while a detachment under Major West constructed a
+small stockaded fort between Fort Edward and the lake. On the 3d of
+June the near divisions of the army were ordered to take the field. That
+same day the general left Albany, and encamped at Port Edward on the
+6th.
+
+During this time of military inaction but of tedious toil, an alarming
+spirit of desertion broke out among the British troops. A large
+proportion of even the regulars were young and untrained men,
+unaccustomed to the dull restraint of discipline, and as yet almost
+unconscious of that professional pride which, to a certain extent, may
+practically supply the place of a higher principle in the soldier's
+mind. The Provincials were chiefly new levies, and not always very
+zealous recruits. The duties of the camp were harassing, the labors on
+the works were wearying; before them lay a dreary and dangerous march,
+behind them the pleasant villages and well-stored homesteads of New
+England. The temptation was strong, the principle of resistance weak.
+Appeals to patriotism, stringent orders, and moderate punishments proved
+ineffectual; still by twos and threes, and at length by scores,
+Amherst's army melted away into the neighboring forests. The last
+example became necessary; a general court-martial sentenced two
+deserters, Dunwood and Ward, to death, and they were immediately
+executed. Despite this terrible warning, despite all promises and
+threats, the vile treason still prevailed, especially among the
+Provincials; two other traitors, Rogers and Harris, were also
+apprehended, convicted, and shot.
+
+An insidious attempt to examine the British strength, under the pretext
+of a flag of truce from M. de Bourlemaque, was frustrated by Amherst's
+vigilance; he would not suffer the French officers to enter the camp,
+but examined the dispatches, and returned answer while they remained at
+a suitable distance. The general's active care could not protect the
+frontier settlers from the atrocious cruelties of the French and
+Indians; although scouting parties were constantly moving through the
+forests, the subtle and ferocious enemy eluded their vigilance, and
+scalped men, women, and children without mercy. These outrages gave rise
+to the following order by Amherst, which he found means to forward to
+the Governor of Canada and his general:
+
+"No scouting party, or others in the army, are to scalp women or
+children belonging to the enemy. They are, if possible, to take them
+prisoners, but not to injure them on any account, the general being
+determined, should the enemy continue to murder and scalp women and
+children, who are the subjects of the King of Great Britain, to revenge
+it by the death of two men of the enemy for every woman or child
+murdered by them."
+
+It were a needless pain to dwell upon the cruelties of this bloody war.
+Our countrymen must bear their share, although not an equal share, of
+the deep disgrace. The contending parties readily acquired the fiendish
+ingenuity in torture of their Indian allies; the Frenchman soon became
+as expert as his red teacher in tearing the scalp from a prostrate
+enemy; and even the British soldier counted these odious trophies with
+unnatural triumph. In the exterminating strife, the thirst of blood
+became strong and deep, and was slaked, not only in the life-streams of
+the armed foe, but in that of the aged, the maimed, the helpless woman,
+and the innocent child. The peaceful hamlet and the smiling corn-field
+excited hostile fury alike with the camp, the intrenchment, and the
+fort, and shared in their destruction when the defenders were
+overpowered. Yet still over these murdered corpses and scenes of useless
+desolation, the spotless flag of France and the Red Cross of St. George
+waved in alternate triumph, proudly and remorselessly, by their symbolic
+presence sanctioning the disgraceful strife.
+
+The greater part of the troops, artillery, and stores being now arrived,
+the general advanced from Fort Edward on the 21st of June, with about
+6000 men, in two columns; he visited the several posts established on
+the communications by the way, and that night encamped on the woody
+banks of Lake George, where the following morning he traced out the plan
+of a small fort.[166] The remainder of the troops and the boats were
+brought up to this point with all dispatch, but the difficulties of the
+carrying place, the intense heat of the weather, and the badness of the
+roads proved harassing impediments to the British chief. During these
+delays several unimportant affairs occurred between our advanced parties
+and the French light troops and Indians, which usually ended in favor of
+the enemy. However, the time was profitably employed by Captain Loring
+of the navy, who exerted himself bravely and successfully in the
+arrangements for embarkation: he raised, rigged, and armed the sloop
+Halifax, and also a floating battery of eight heavy guns, both of which
+had been sunk in the last campaign. On the 21st of July, all was in
+readiness; the troops and stores had arrived; the army embarked upon the
+lake.
+
+The force with which General Amherst now undertook the invasion of
+Canada consisted of 111 of the Royal Artillery, having under charge
+fifty-four pieces of ordnance of various descriptions; six battalions of
+regulars, numbering, officers included, 5743 men; nine battalions of
+Provincials,[167] with a regiment of Light Infantry, newly raised and
+commanded by General Gage, 5279 men, in all numbering 11,133. This army
+crossed the lake in four columns: the following day it reached the
+second Narrows without interruption except from the roughness of the
+weather, and landed near the spot where Abercromby had disembarked the
+year before. The British vanguard, composed principally of light troops,
+pushed on rapidly into the bush, and soon fell upon a detachment of the
+Regiment de Berry and some Indians, commanded by Captain Bournie; the
+French were instantly overpowered and dispersed, two were "made
+prisoners, and four were scalped: their wounded they carried off with
+them in their flight." Amherst followed with his main body in good
+order, and took up a position of great strength near the Saw-mills. He
+learned from the French prisoners that M. de Bourlemaque commanded at
+Carillon, his garrison, three battalions of regulars, and a large body
+of Canadian militia, and some Indians, in all 3400 men.
+
+That night the British troops lay on their arms, and at earliest dawn
+the heavy sound of the advancing artillery warned the French that a
+formidable attack was about to open upon the lines under the shelter of
+which their brilliant victory of the preceding year had been gained.
+They ventured not to try the issue of a second combat against a
+different chief, and abandoning the blood-stained breast-works, fell
+back upon the neighboring fort. The Grenadiers of the English regulars
+immediately occupied the deserted intrenchments, and the rest of the
+army encamped at a short distance to the rear.
+
+In the center of these remarkable lines, the French had, in celebration
+of the victory of Carillon, erected a lofty cross, which still remained;
+a deep grave was sunk before it, and on the cross was affixed a plate of
+brass, with this inscription:
+
+ "Pone principes eorum sicut Oreb et Zebec et Zalmanna."
+
+The French kept up a warm fire from the fort upon the position where the
+British lay encamped, but the great height and strength of the
+breast-works erected for their own defense now sheltered their enemies,
+and rendered the shower of shot and shells perfectly harmless. The
+preparations for the siege rapidly progressed, and the garrison were
+apparently equally vigorous in dispositions for defense; but M. de
+Bourlemaque soon perceived that the English general possessed the skill
+and determination, as well as the necessary force, to insure success; he
+therefore silently abandoned the fort on the night of the 23d, leaving
+400 men to continue such a resistance as might mask the retreat of his
+army. This small but gallant band, while their countrymen filed
+cautiously down toward the lake, made a sudden attack upon the advanced
+guard in the besiegers' trenches, killed and wounded sixteen men, and
+caused such confusion that in the darkness of the night the British
+fired upon each other.
+
+On the 24th and 25th, the remaining French in the fort kept up a
+continuous fire upon the besiegers' camp, and, having ascertained the
+range, caused much annoyance and some loss. Colonel Townshend, a brave
+and beloved officer--the Lord Howe of Amherst's army--was struck down by
+a cannon shot in the trenches, and he instantly expired, to the great
+grief of all who knew him. Meanwhile the English approaches were
+advanced within 600 yards of the fort, and the Indians, under Major
+Rogers, harassed the defenders with a continuous fire from the advanced
+works. At ten o'clock on the night of the 26th some deserters to the
+British camp informed the general that the French had abandoned the
+fort, but that they had left every gun loaded and pointed, several mines
+charged for the utter destruction of the defenses, and a lighted fuse
+communicating with the well-stored powder magazine. While they yet
+spoke, an awful explosion, bursting upon the silence of the night,
+confirmed the tale; then, from under the dense cloud of smoke and dust,
+and the shower of burning embers, arose the flames of the wooden
+breast-works, barracks, and stores, while at intervals, from the mass of
+fire, the yellow flash of the bursting guns and the exploding mines
+varied the tints of the light that fell far and near upon the lake and
+the surrounding forest.
+
+The retreat of the French had been so hurried that they were unable to
+give warning to their scouting parties, who, on returning to the fort,
+fell into the hands of the English. Colonel Haviland, with some
+Rangers[168] and light troops in fast boats, pursued the flying enemy
+across the lake, and succeeded in capturing some bateaux laden with
+powder, and sixteen prisoners. At daylight in the morning a sergeant of
+the British regulars volunteered for the dangerous duty of entering the
+burning fort, to strike the French flag and raise that of England in its
+place; he succeeded, and carried the white banner in safety to his
+general. Soon afterward a detachment was sent to extinguish the flames,
+and save any guns which yet might have remained uninjured. This object
+was accomplished with some difficulty, but no loss. No more than
+seventy-six men of the British force had been killed and wounded in all
+the preceding operations.
+
+Amherst set vigorously to work in repairing the fort of Ticonderoga;
+most of the ramparts, the covered way, and the walls of the buildings
+remained uninjured; his principal exertions were therefore employed in
+leveling his own now useless siege works, and completing the road from
+the shore. Meanwhile Captain Loring still labored to strengthen the
+British naval power on the lake; he weighed some French bateaux which
+had been sunk, and constructed a brig with all possible dispatch. The
+general was intent, in the mean time, on forwarding the main objects of
+the campaign. Crown Point was the next obstacle to be overcome; little
+was known as to its defenses or situation, but it at least was not
+guarded by the gloomy memories which had hung around the neighboring
+stronghold of Ticonderoga.
+
+Major Rogers, who had so often proved his activity and skill, was pushed
+on with about 200 Rangers to feel the strength of the enemy and examine
+the position of Crown Point; his orders were to seize some strong and
+safe post near the fort, and, in case of attack, to hold out at all
+hazards until relieved by the advancing army. After a little fruitless
+skirmishing and scalping, the Rangers established themselves in a
+commanding situation, but on the 1st of August intelligence arrived
+which proved that all precautions had been needless: the enemy had
+abandoned Crown Point. A small English detachment immediately took
+possession, but Amherst, with the main army, did not arrive till the
+4th. He then encamped his troops, and traced out the lines of a new
+fort, as a defense in future against the savage scalping parties which
+had so long been a terror to the frontier settlers of New York.
+
+The skillful and cautious movements of the British general had thus,
+with scarcely any loss, secured possession of the two important
+strongholds which ruled the destiny of the long-disputed lakes: where
+his predecessor had not only been baffled, but had received a terrible
+chastisement, he, with an inferior power, had almost uninterruptedly won
+his way, and overcome all opposition more by demonstration than by
+force. The country, now thus cheaply won, was rich and beautiful; far as
+the eye could reach, magnificent forests and verdant turf alternated on
+the undulations of the landscape, down to the margin of the transparent
+lake. The sugar-tree, and various fruits and flowers, abounded in the
+sunny valleys, and the scent of aromatic herbs filled the pure air with
+a delightful perfume. Deep was the sorrow of the French when they
+abandoned forever that lovely land which had been adorned by their taste
+and industry, strengthened by their skill and toil, defended by their
+best blood, and endeared to their vain but gallant hearts by memories of
+glorious victory.
+
+The orders of M. de Bourlemaque were to impede more than to resist the
+overwhelming British force. The naval superiority which he still
+retained upon the lakes enabled him to carry out these orders, despite
+the vigor and skill of his opponent; but his losses in material, if not
+in life and honor were considerable. Besides a large quantity of guns,
+ammunition, and stores sunk or destroyed, several pieces of cannon of
+various sizes, some swivels, small arms, powder, and intrenching tools
+fell into the hands of the English.
+
+On the 16th of August, Amherst was informed by deserters that the French
+had encamped on Isle aux Noix, at the northern extremity of Lake
+Champlain, where a strong position gave them the command of the entrance
+to the Richelieu River. Joined by some small detachments, sufficient to
+repair their losses by defection and in the field, they still mustered
+3500 men; 100 pieces of cannon, and four armed vessels, commanded by
+naval officers, and manned by picked soldiers of the line, enabled them
+even yet to offer a formidable front.
+
+The fate of this portion of the campaign now evidently turned upon the
+relative strength of the contending parties on the waters of the lake.
+Amherst's great superiority of troops was unavailable while French
+vessels cruised triumphantly between him and his enemy. He therefore
+stimulated Captain Loring to increased exertions; on the 17th, a large
+raft to carry six heavy guns was commenced. But the enemy were also
+active, and in a fortnight afterward launched a new vessel pierced for
+sixteen guns. On the 3d of September the English began the construction
+of a sloop equal in size to that of the French. It was not, however,
+till the 11th of October that the raft, the brig from Ticonderoga, and
+the new sloop were ready for action. And already the bleak autumnal
+winds were sweeping over the lake; the nights fell dark and chill; the
+dreary winter approached, when no zeal or courage could avail an
+invading force. Montcalm had therefore insomuch succeeded, and Amherst
+failed, in their several objects: the main force of the British army was
+destined once again to waste its strength upon the very threshold of
+Canada,[169] and played no part of real importance in the great results
+which the hand of Providence directed surely but unexpectedly elsewhere.
+
+In consequence of intelligence received of General Prideaux's death
+before Niagara, Brigadier-general Gage had been dispatched by Amherst on
+the 28th of July to join that army, and the second battalion of the
+Royal Highlanders was also sent from head-quarters to Oswego, to
+support, if necessary, the movement in the West. Gage had been
+instructed, in case of the reduction of Niagara, to take post
+immediately at a place called La Galette, a position commanding the
+entrance of the River St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario. Amherst knew that
+the occupation of this post was so essential for the security of the
+British frontiers from the enemy's scalping parties, that on the receipt
+of Gage's dispatch he instantly sent Major Christie to the brigadier to
+repeat and enforce his former orders. The difficulties in the way of
+this movement were, however, considerable, and General Gage had
+conceived himself justified in representing them to his chief, and
+deferring the execution of his orders until a more favorable
+opportunity. Meanwhile the dreary winter advanced apace, and difficulty
+became impossibility; to Amherst's infinite chagrin, this important
+operation was necessarily postponed to another year.
+
+General Gage does not appear to have sufficiently felt the importance of
+fulfilling the portion of the great scheme which fell to his lot;
+doubtless the difficulties in his path were many and formidable, but it
+was to overcome difficulties that he was selected for the proud post of
+leader to thousands of gallant men. His first duty, assuredly, was to
+fulfill the task confided to him, upon which, perhaps, the success or
+failure of the campaign, and his country's glory might depend. One
+object lay distinctly before him; in accomplishing that object, he could
+not have been too cautious, or too precious of his men; but rather than
+abandon the enterprise, and fail in his share of the combination, far
+better would it have been for England's cause and his own honor had he
+dared the worst dangers of the trackless wilderness and of the stormy
+lake.
+
+Meanwhile General Amherst sent Captain Kennedy with a flag of truce to
+the warlike Indians of St. Francois, offering them peace and amity:
+their populous village lay at the western extremity of Lake St.
+Francois. The savages, however, detained the British officer and his
+party as prisoners, and returned no answer to their communications.
+Amherst promptly determined to inflict the severest chastisement for
+the insult. The expedition undertaken for this purpose was perhaps the
+most daring and extraordinary of any during the progress of the war.
+
+Early in October, 200 men were sent against the Indians of St. Francois,
+under the command of Major Rogers, an officer already distinguished for
+courage and ability. His orders were to inflict condign punishment on
+the warriors of this tribe for a long arrear of cruelties and atrocities
+committed upon the unprotected British settlers, but to spare all women
+and children. A glance at the map of North America will show the great
+distance of the point of attack from Amherst's head-quarters. The route
+lay through one vast forest, utterly a wilderness, and untrodden by
+human foot, except where the invaders' deadly enemies lay in wait, or
+scoured the country for their destruction. The casualties and hardships
+of the march reduced Rogers's small detachment by more than a fourth of
+its strength; the survivors, however, came in sight of the Indian
+village on the evening of the 22d day. The leader left his men in a
+place of concealment, and went forward alone, with necessary caution, to
+observe the enemy. For several hours he hovered about, now approaching
+close to the dangerous scene, now again falling back into the darkness
+of the night, and still darker shades of the forest, until he had at
+length fully informed himself of the situation and state of the village.
+It so chanced that the savages were engaged in celebrating some of their
+wild and mysterious rites: they danced and shouted furiously, and
+devoured the war-feast with ravenous zeal. At length they lay down to
+sleep, exhausted by fatigue and repletion. Major Rogers, satisfied with
+his observations, returned to his party at two o'clock in the morning.
+
+A little before dawn the English detachment marched silently to within
+500 yards of the sleeping village, and laid aside their packs and all
+other incumbrances. Not a sound arose, not a limb moved among the
+Indians; in the fatal confidence of savage tactics, not a scout or
+sentinel was placed to give notice of impending danger. When the sun had
+already risen, but not yet gained sufficient strength to reach the
+drowsy eyes of the slumberers, Rogers formed his men, and gave the long
+wished-for order to attack; with a loud cry of vengeance they burst upon
+the sleeping village. The surprise was complete; the Indians had no time
+to arm or resist; they were slain without mercy; many never wakened,
+others were struck down at the doors of their huts as they endeavored to
+fly; some few escaped to the Great River, but were pursued by the
+English, and, with their frail canoes swamped in the waters. The
+conquerors then fired the village, saving only three houses where corn
+was stored; the wretched savages who had concealed themselves in the
+cellars and lofts perished in the flames. By seven o'clock in the
+morning the destruction was accomplished, and more than 200 Indian
+warriors were slain. Women and children were spared by the sword, but
+doubtless many must have perished in the fire and in the confusion of
+the strife: twenty were taken alive; six of these, however, only were
+detained; the rest received the scant mercy of freedom to wander back to
+their ruined homes, and to the now lonely hunting-grounds of their
+tribe.
+
+Five English captives were released from slavery by this success, and
+taken under the protection of their countrymen. The loss to the victors
+was very slight; one friendly Indian was killed, and Captain Ogden, with
+six men, were wounded. The situation of the little detachment was,
+however, most perilous; the prisoners informed Major Rogers that a party
+of 300 French, with some savages, had discovered and seized his boats,
+down the river, about four miles from the village of St. Francois. He
+could not doubt the truth of this unwelcome news, for they told him the
+exact number of his boats, and described the place where they had been
+left. He also learned that another force of 200 French and 15 Indians
+lay in wait for him higher up the stream. The English officers held a
+hurried council on their almost desperate position, and agreed
+unanimously that the only chance of safety lay in a return to the
+British settlements by the upper branches of the Connecticut River. This
+route was attended with toils and hardships well-nigh incredible.
+
+Rogers marched his detachment for eight successive days to the southeast
+without interruption, but provisions began to fail, and it became
+necessary to divide his people into small parties, that each might
+provide for themselves as they best could. A guide was appointed to
+every division, and they parted near the beautiful shores of Lake
+Memphremagog, with orders to reassemble at the point where the Amansook
+pours into the Connecticut River: there the provident chief had before
+caused a depot of provisions to be prepared. Major Rogers and his party
+reached the place of meeting in safety on the 5th of November, worn out
+with fatigue and cold, and almost famished.
+
+Another party, commanded by Lieutenant George Campbell, of the Rangers,
+underwent trials more severe than any of their companions had suffered.
+At one time they were four days without a morsel of food; they had
+wandered from the direct route, and knew not whither they went. The weak
+in mind went mad from suffering and despair; the weak in body sank. They
+had already devoured their leather straps, and the covers of their
+cartouch boxes: no resource, and but a faint glimmering of hope
+remained. At length, on the 28th of October, in crossing a small stream
+dammed up with logs, they espied some human bodies, scalped and horribly
+mangled, probably the corpses of their companions. Their furious hunger
+knew no restraint; they did not wait even for a fire to prepare the
+ghastly banquet, but ate like beasts of prey; then collecting carefully
+the remnants, pursued their journey. A squirrel and a few roots helped
+to keep them alive till the 4th of November, when, to their unutterable
+joy, they saw a boat on the Connecticut River, sent by Rogers to their
+relief. On the 7th they rejoined their companions.
+
+We must now return to the insignificant conclusion of General Amherst's
+campaign. On the 10th of October, the brig arrived from Ticonderoga with
+eighteen guns; seventy seamen and sixty soldiers embarked as marines.
+The following day the little fleet was completed by the arrival of the
+new sloop carrying sixteen guns, sixty sailors, and fifty soldiers,
+under the command of Lieutenant Grant, of Montgomery's Highlanders. In
+the afternoon the troops embarked for Isle aux Noix in the bateaux; the
+armed vessels got out first, and sailed up the lake with a fair wind,
+the army following in four divisions. As night fell, lights were hoisted
+on board the brigantine and Great Radeau, to guide the expedition. In
+the gray of the morning, some guns were suddenly heard in the advance,
+and a message was sent to the general that his armed vessels were in
+action with those of the French. He hastened to the front, and soon
+discovered the mistake. The bateaux containing a wing of the 42d
+Regiment, under Major Reid, had gone astray in the night, and got
+unexpectedly among the enemy's sloops; the first light of day revealed
+the dangerous error, and they happily ran the gauntlet of the French
+guns in safety. One boat, however, with a lieutenant and twenty men,
+being very far in advance, could not effect an escape, and was captured.
+The enemy's squadron, content with this small advantage, crowded all
+sail, and disappeared among the numerous islands. Toward the evening of
+the 12th the wind increased, and the waters of the lake rose into
+formidable waves; the light bateaux and clumsy rafts were equally unfit
+to face this boisterous weather. The general was most unwillingly
+compelled to order the expedition to seek the shelter of a neighboring
+bay on the western shore, where commodious anchorage opportunely
+offered. The troops were then landed, and allowed to stretch their
+cramped limbs, while Gage's Light Infantry scoured the adjacent forest
+to guard against surprise; at the same time, the Rangers disembarked on
+an island that commanded the entrance of the harbor, and overlooked the
+lake. Meanwhile, despite the angry skies, Captain Loring, with the armed
+vessels, still stoutly kept at sea, and strove with untiring zeal to
+bring the enemy to action. At daylight in the morning he had caught
+sight of a French schooner, about forty-five miles down the lake, and
+crowded all sail in her pursuit; but, ignorant of the navigation in
+those strange waters, he had run two of his vessels ashore. After much
+exertion, however, he succeeded in getting them off. At length, to his
+great joy, he espied three hostile sloops, and immediately gave chase
+with all the sail he could carry. The French, finding escape impossible,
+ran for a small bay on the western shore, drove one of the vessels
+aground, and sunk the two others. The crews, under their commandant, M.
+de Bolabarras, made their escape through the woods, after having
+encountered extreme difficulty and hardship.
+
+The deepening shades of evening prevented the English from seeing the
+catastrophe of the enemy's squadron, and rendered it difficult or
+impossible for them to pursue into the rocky shallows; they therefore
+prepared as they best could to brave out the stormy night, and cast
+anchor at the entrance of the bay. When daylight came they saw the
+abandoned vessels; the French schooner, however, had escaped. Captain
+Loring left Lieutenant Grant with the sloop to endeavor to save the
+stranded vessel, with her guns, stores, and rigging; he himself again
+put out into the lake in pursuit of the only hostile sail now left upon
+the waters.
+
+The storm continued to the 15th of October; on the 16th there was frost;
+on the 17th a contrary wind again rose. During all this time General
+Amherst was forced to remain inactive. Every hour was precious; the fate
+of the campaign, his fame and England's interests might have hung upon
+his movements, and he did not stir. By flags of truce and letters of
+ceremony from the hostile chief, he had received information, vaguely,
+that a British fleet lay before Quebec; that combats had been fought,
+and blood had freely flowed; and while the balance of victory trembled
+under the walls of the great stronghold, he, with his overwhelming
+power, lay helpless, as in a nightmare, on the banks of the stormy
+lake.[170]
+
+On the 18th the waters became somewhat calmer, and a south wind blew
+gently up Lake Champlain. Amherst made one other effort; the troops were
+once more hurried into the bateaux, and the expedition pushed on to the
+north. They reached in a few hours the bay where the French vessels had
+been driven ashore a few days previously; there again, however, the
+uncertain winds veered round; the clouds darkened in the north, and a
+chill blast swept down the lake, plowing the angry waters. The British
+general was now finally baffled; winter had almost commenced; he had no
+hope of grappling with the enemy before the season closed; the fate of
+Quebec must, ere then, have been decided; there was much to risk and
+little to gain by another effort upon the lakes. Nothing was left but to
+prepare for the inglorious step of disposing his army in winter
+quarters. Amherst therefore fell back upon Crown Point on the 21st,
+directed the completion of the defenses, made roads and bridges, and
+nursed the Provincials, who had become uncommonly sickly. Thus ended his
+campaign.
+
+[Footnote 166: This is the Fort George marked in modern maps, nearly on
+the same spot where Fort William Henry formerly stood.]
+
+[Footnote 167: "Four hundred of these young troops (Provincials) are to
+be stationed here.... The privates are a poor, mean, ragged set of men,
+of all sizes and ages; their officers are sober, modest men, and such of
+them as have been upon service express themselves very distinctly and
+sensibly; but their ideas, like those who have not been out of their own
+country, or conversed much with Europeans, are naturally confined; they
+make a decent appearance, being clothed in blue, faced with scarlet,
+gilt buttons, laced waistcoats and hats; but their ordinary soldiers
+have no uniforms, nor do they affect any kind of regularity."--Knox's
+_Historical Journal_, vol. i., p. 237.]
+
+[Footnote 168: "The Rangers have got a new uniform clothing: the ground
+is black ratteen or frieze, lapelled and cuffed with blue. Here follows
+a description of their dress: a waistcoat with sleeves, a short jacket
+without sleeves; only arm-holes, and wings to the shoulders (in like
+manner as the Grenadiers and drummers of the army); white metal buttons,
+linen or canvas drawers, with a blue skirt, or short petticoat of stuff,
+made with a waistband and one button: this is open before, and does not
+extend quite to their knees: a pair of leggins of the same color with
+their coat, which reach up to the middle of their thigh (without flaps),
+and from the calf of the leg downward they button like spatterdashes.
+With this active dress they wear blue bonnets, and, I think, in a great
+measure resemble our Highlanders."--Knox's _Historical Journal_, vol.
+i., p. 238.]
+
+[Footnote 169: "Dear Sir--Let no persuasion or plausible reason
+determine you to leave the plan of operations by the River St. Lawrence.
+To go by the lakes, through wild and almost inaccessible forests, has
+already proved dangerous, tedious, and expensive; will prolong the war,
+and, at the same time, enrich your commanders and contractors. What is
+more, we have seen that our regulars do not fight well in woods: the
+Indian yell is horrid to their ears, and soon throws them into
+confusion. If France had the superiority at sea we now enjoy, they would
+not leave us a single province or colony in all North or South
+America."--Mr. Beckford's _Letter to Mr. Pitt_. Fonthill, Dec., 1758;
+_Chatham Correspondence_, vol. i., p. 378.]
+
+[Footnote 170: "Ils durent evacuer encore la position de Fort Frederic
+(Crown Point). Toutefois leur commandant, Burlamaque, se fortifia a
+l'Ile aux Noix, a l'extremite du Lac Champlain; et comme il avoit encore
+sous ses ordres trois mille cinq cents hommes, il reussit a fermer le
+chemin de Quebec au General Amherst, et a l'empecher de seconder
+l'attaque du General Wolfe contre cette ville."--Sismondi, _Histoire des
+Francais_, vol. xxix., ch. liv.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The expedition against Niagara consisted of a detachment of the Royal
+Artillery, the 44th and 46th British regiments, the 4th battalion of the
+Royal Americans, two battalions of New York Provincials, and a large
+body of Indians under Sir William Johnson: Brigadier Prideaux commanded
+in chief. On the 20th of May the troops commenced their advance from
+Schenectady, where they had assembled, and moved upon Oswego; they
+embarked on Lake Ontario from that port on the 1st of July, after a
+march of great difficulty, but without interruption from the enemy. A
+detachment under Colonel Haldimand was left for the protection of
+Oswego.
+
+The British force landed, unopposed, on the 7th of July, about six miles
+to the eastward of Fort Niagara, and at once set to work in opening a
+communication between the landing place and the Niagara River. The fort
+was situated on a narrow peninsula, the lake on one side, the broad,
+deep stream on the other; it was thus a matter of little difficulty to
+invest the position effectually on the land side, while the numerous
+bateaux cut off from the besieged all communication by water. Prideaux
+planned and advanced his approaches with skill and vigor. Batteries were
+speedily erected, from which he fired upon the defenses, and kept under
+the artillery of the French. Still, as the superiority of the besiegers'
+guns told more and more upon the crumbling ramparts, the works were
+pushed closer and closer, and fresh spirit was thrown into the attack.
+
+On the first arrival of the English army before the fort, the general
+had sent a peremptory summons to M. Pouchot,[171] the commandant, to
+surrender at discretion; this was promptly refused by the stout
+Frenchman, who answered that "his post was strong, his garrison
+faithful, and that, the longer he held out, the more he should win the
+esteem of his enemy." Early intelligence of the approaching danger had
+reached Pouchot; he had not lost a moment in dispatching couriers
+eastward to Frontenac, to inform the Canadian government, and southward
+to Detroit, Presque Isle, Venango, and Le Boeuf, with orders for all the
+French detachments to assemble with their Indian allies at the Niagara
+Rapids, and to hasten to his relief.
+
+On the 10th of July, M. Chaboust arrived, with a small party of French
+and some savages, and succeeded in getting into the fort. On the 11th
+the besieged attempted a sally upon the British trenches, but were
+instantly overpowered, and pursued till they found shelter under the
+fire of their guns. By the 14th the besiegers' parallels were finished
+to the banks of the lake, and the fire became so heavy that the
+defenders could only find safety in the covered way and behind the
+ramparts. On the 19th the French schooner Iroquoise arrived from
+Frontenac, and lay to abreast of the fort, but could not venture in
+under the English guns, which still, night and day, kept up their
+harassing fire.
+
+General Prideaux being well informed of the enemy's formidable muster
+for the relief of the fort, made every preparation that zeal and
+prudence could suggest to meet their designs; but at this critical
+moment a melancholy accident deprived the army of his useful services,
+and gave to another the enjoyment of the honors which he had worthily
+won. On the evening of the 19th, while issuing some orders in the
+trenches, unperceived by the gunners in a battery close at hand, a
+cohorn mortar was unhappily fired, the shell of which burst prematurely,
+and a splinter struck the gallant general with a deadly wound. The
+command devolved to the hands of Sir William Johnson.
+
+Meanwhile the besieged, though hardly pressed, were still buoyed up with
+the hope of relief from their advancing countrymen. On the 23d four
+savages made their way into the fort with a letter to M. Bouchet,
+informing him that MM. d'Aubry and De Lignieres were at hand with 1200
+Frenchmen and a still larger force of Indians, and that they were about
+to attack the British lines. On the result of this attack hung the fate
+of Niagara and of all the Western country which still owned the sway of
+France: preparations were made to second it with all the efforts of the
+garrison. The cause of the French was, however, already all but
+desperate; the feeble defenses of the fort shook and crumbled under the
+heavy and increasing fire of their enemies. An overpowering artillery
+forbade the approach of their vessel from the lake. The beleaguering
+trenches intruded within 100 yards of their parapets, and gave shelter
+to swarms of British and Indian marksmen. The little garrison was worn
+by toil and wasted by death; the barracks and dwellings were ruined by
+shot and shell; and, worst of all, the apparently favorable chance in
+the death of the besieging general had only transferred the conduct of
+the attack to hands even more able and skillful than those of the
+deceased. It was true that the French detachment, then about to risk all
+for their relief, were brave and veteran troops; but their numbers were
+hopelessly inadequate, and little dependence could be placed in the
+politic and faithless savages who marched with them, more to witness
+than to contribute to their success or defeat.
+
+On the other hand, Sir William Johnson had received ample notice of De
+Aubry's approach, and, confident in his own strength and ability, made
+steady preparation for the combat. His great superiority of force
+enabled him to leave the trenches crowded with troops, chiefly
+Provincials, while he marched out to overwhelm the advancing enemy.
+About sunset on the evening of the 23d, he pushed forward strong
+pickets, and the light companies of the regular regiments, into the
+woods on either side of the rude track leading from Niagara Falls to the
+Fort, and scattered small parties of Indians on the flanks of the
+Europeans. Having posted their sentries, and no enemy being yet visible,
+Johnson's advance lay down to rest upon their arms. Never, perhaps, has
+a stranger scene been witnessed than the banks of the Niagara River
+presented on that September night: the dark ramparts of the fort, every
+now and then illumined by the flash of the defenders' guns, or suddenly
+revealed by the red light of a salvo from the hostile trenches; in the
+open plain beyond, the white tents and the huts of the besieging army;
+and further on, the watch-fires of the advanced guard throwing their
+flickering glare upon the lofty arches of the forest, and upon the
+scattered groups of the British soldiery and Indian warriors. Away,
+still further to the west, unseen in the gloomy woods, the weak but
+gallant troops of France slept the sleep which most of them were to know
+no more. High over all, the soft, misty spray from the neighboring
+cataract stood like a huge pillar of lightest summer clouds up against
+the sky, while the dull, deep roar of falling waters filled the air with
+a solemn and unceasing voice.
+
+At daylight on the 24th Sir William Johnson advanced his Grenadier
+companies and part of the 46th regiment, under Lieutenant-colonel
+Massey, to strengthen his front, while the 44th regiment, under
+Lieutenant-colonel Farquhar, kept up the communication with Major
+Beckwith, who commanded the troops in the trenches, and remained in
+readiness to throw their force wherever aid might be required. These
+judicious dispositions being made, the British awaited the approach of
+the enemy.
+
+At about eight o'clock the leading files of the French were first
+perceived advancing through the woods, flanked by large bodies of
+Indians; as they came on, the English outposts fell back on the reserves
+steadily, and without firing. In the mean time, the Iroquois, serving
+under Johnson, endeavored to parley with the Canadian savages, with a
+view of inducing them to make peace; these overtures were, however,
+unsuccessful, and the warriors of the Five Nations fell back on the
+flanks of the British. By nine o'clock D'Aubry's force was formed, and
+the order immediately given for the attack. With furious gestures and
+terrible impetuosity, the Indians burst through the woods and fell upon
+the English lines as they rushed to the charge, shouting the appalling
+war-cry which had once struck terror into their foes; but it fell upon
+accustomed ears: they were received with a calm front and steady fire.
+The Grenadiers of the 44th, who had received a dreadful lesson in savage
+warfare under the unfortunate Braddock, now bore the shock unmoved, and,
+stoutly supported by the 46th, with a few rolling volleys they swept
+away the fierce assailants. So complete was the discomfiture of the red
+warriors that they rallied no more, and so sudden their disappearance
+from the scene of strife that the French could only attribute it to
+treachery which had prearranged defeat.
+
+Undismayed by the dispersion of his allies, the gallant D'Aubry led on
+his men against the besiegers' position, now strengthened by a force of
+Provincials from the trenches. The attack was vigorously and bravely
+pushed, but failed to shake the steady courage of the British troops;
+meanwhile Johnson's Indians made their way through the woods, and fell
+upon the flanks of the French. Attacked on all sides, deserted by
+allies, outnumbered by foes, the assailants hesitated, gave way, and in
+little more than half an hour broke into utter rout. D'Aubry and all his
+surviving officers were taken, with a great part of his troops; the
+remainder were pursued with deadly zeal, and slain or driven into the
+wilderness.
+
+It was not until two o'clock in the day that Pouchot and his garrison
+were informed that the firing heard in the morning had ended in the ruin
+of their hopes of succor. With great difficulty and danger, an Indian
+had passed the besiegers' lines and borne them the unwelcome
+intelligence of D'Aubry's defeat and capture. From the earliest dawn,
+deep excitement had reigned in the beleaguered fort; while the shades of
+night still lingered under the tall forest trees, flashes of scattered
+musketry had occasionally burst forth. As the morning advanced, the
+dropping shots quickened into the sharp rattle of a skirmish, the sounds
+still approaching the besieged, and stimulating hopes of aid. A little
+before nine o'clock the skirmish had breezed up into a battle; for half
+an hour the line of fire waved to and fro, now bent toward the fort,
+again receded up the banks of the Great River, then held pertinaciously
+to a woody hollow, and at length fell back into the forest, became
+broken, interrupted, indistinct, and disappeared. With it vanished the
+last chance of succor for the garrison of Niagara.
+
+When the first ardor of the pursuit had abated, and Sir William Johnson
+had got his forces somewhat in hand again, he sent Major Harvey with a
+flag of truce to inform the French chief of the morning's events, and to
+exhort him to surrender without further bloodshed, conveying also a
+terrible hint that in a little time he might not be able to restrain the
+fierce vengeance of his Indian allies. Pouchot yet doubted, or affected
+to doubt, the truth of the woeful disaster which had befallen his
+countrymen, and, still endeavoring to gain time, requested that one of
+his officers might be allowed to see the prisoners, and hear the tale of
+defeat from their own lips. The request was granted, the facts were
+ascertained, and, no further excuse for procrastination suggesting
+itself, the stubborn Frenchman then surrendered with his fort and
+garrison.[172]
+
+The terms of capitulation were liberal, and worthy of both conquerors
+and conquered. It was agreed that the French troops should march out
+with the honors of war from the ramparts they had so well defended, and
+lay down their arms on the banks of the lake. There they were to embark
+immediately in vessels provided by Sir William Johnson, and to be
+carried to New York by the shortest and easiest route. The French
+ladies, and all females and children, were offered safe conveyance,
+subsistence, and escort to the nearest port of France: and the sick and
+wounded men were to be carefully tended till able to travel, when they
+were to rejoin their comrades. The victors undertook to protect their
+prisoners from every insult or injury, in person and in property. All
+stores, provisions, and arms, with every thing belonging to his most
+Christian majesty, were to be delivered up in strict faith by M.
+Pouchot. At seven o'clock in the morning of the 26th of July, a British
+guard was to take possession of the fort gates.
+
+Accordingly, a little before mid-day on the 26th, the French garrison,
+607 strong, marched out from the lost stronghold. Drums were beating,
+colors flying, and bayonets fixed; but the downcast and sullen looks of
+the bronzed veterans showed that these "honors of war" were but a
+mockery to their dejected hearts. Many a glance of angry sorrow and
+embittered regret was cast back upon the magnificent scene they were to
+revisit no more; never again was the "spotless flag" to flaunt its ample
+folds upon the breezes of the Western lakes; never again were the
+martial strains of France to sound through the majestic roar of nature's
+grandest wonder. A sufficient British guard attended under arms to keep
+the fierce and vindictive Indians at a distance. But the humane and
+extraordinary influence which Sir William Johnson exercised over the
+minds of his savage followers proved more effectual in restraining their
+ferocious passions than any mere show of force. The fear of alienating
+the allegiance of his Indians weighed not a feather weight in his loyal
+heart when the cause of mercy and his plighted word were at stake. For
+the successful exercise of his well-earned power over the red warriors,
+he must, upon this occasion, ever stand in most favorable contrast with
+Montcalm, his more brilliant rival.
+
+Every article of the capitulation of Niagara was strictly observed in
+spirit and in letter: no insulting triumph dimmed the honor of British
+victory, but a demeanor of respectful sympathy with the vanquished
+characterized the gallant conquerors throughout the embarkation and all
+subsequent proceedings.
+
+The English loss in this siege and in the action was very slight, with
+the exception of that of their worthy general, Prideaux, and of Colonel
+Johnson, a provincial officer of courage and capacity. Sir William
+Johnson enhanced the merit of his success by his modest and honorable
+dispatch to General Amherst. "I have only to regret," he writes, "the
+loss of General Prideaux and Colonel Johnson. I endeavored to pursue the
+late general's vigorous measures, the good effects of which he deserved
+to enjoy."
+
+Historians have dwelt with admiration upon the striking military merit
+displayed at this time by two untaught generals, Clive in the East, and
+Johnson in the West, "who, by a series of shining actions have
+demonstrated that uninstructed genius can, by its own internal light and
+efficacy, rival, if not eclipse, the acquired art of discipline and
+experience." Thus writes Smollett: the learned doctor's remark is
+capable of far more general application than to the cases here
+mentioned. Our military system always has trusted, and still trusts, to
+this "uninstructed genius" in our chiefs, and by its own provisions
+furnished no teaching to a Marlborough and a Wellington beyond the
+knowledge of drill in a field day, and of the forms of discipline in a
+barrack yard. While we rest with pride and pleasure on the undoubted
+predominance of success over all foes which has attended our arms, we
+may not deny that to the never failing chivalry of the officers and to
+the stubborn courage of the soldiery are these successes due. Many and
+sad are the records of combats where torrents of British blood have
+flowed to redeem the errors, or to make amends for the want of military
+science in a British chief. Our great captains, great in genius and
+skill as well as in success, have indeed been "lone stars," presenting,
+in comparison, to those not so gifted, very much the proportion which
+"uninstructed genius" usually displays among men in other pursuits of
+life.
+
+It may be urged that the officers of our instructed corps, the artillery
+and engineers, have never supplied the general service with a chief of
+conspicuous ability; but it is a remarkable fact that, except in the
+brief Syrian campaign of 1840, no member of those corps has ever led an
+English army, or even a brigade. Through the unvarying rule of promotion
+by seniority, no officer of artillery or engineers arrives at a
+sufficient rank to command, until a time of life when the experience of
+the veteran can hardly be aided by the energy of the man. Rare indeed
+must be the instances of those who have passed nearly half a century of
+service, in which the hope of reward was too faint to stimulate
+industry, the dread of censure too slight to alarm indolence, and who
+still retain sufficient zeal and vigor for their country's need. They
+are probably equally rare with the instances of successful "genius"
+among their uninstructed brethren of the rest of the British army.
+
+Many worthy and earnest, though mistaken men there are, who dread the
+instruction of the toiling millions of our countrymen; who believe in
+all sincerity that the penetrating light of awakened intellect would
+flash upon the squalid purlieus of Manchester and Liverpool only to
+render degradation more degraded, and misery more miserable, by a
+keener appreciation. There can hardly, however be found any one, beyond
+those grown gray under the existing system, who fears that professional
+education could perniciously influence the qualifications of our
+officers for their station in life, or damp their undoubted chivalry and
+spirit. To cast aside political or personal considerations, and select
+for command the man most conspicuous by merit and genius, has not been
+an unvarying rule with those in high authority. But a system requiring
+the qualifications of at least a careful education[173] from all to whom
+the lofty trust of England's military honor is confided, might to a
+great extent supply the deficiencies of chiefs unendowed with the gift
+of genius, and undistinguished by pre-eminent merit.
+
+By the capture of Niagara, the French posts to the westward, on the
+lakes and rivers, were cut off from all aid; and by the destruction of
+D'Aubry's army, composed principally of their garrisons, they were
+rendered incapable of any effectual resistance. Colonel Bouquet,
+therefore, who, with a small force, had been detached by
+Brigadier-general Stanwix against the principal of these, Presque Isle,
+Venango, and Le Boeuf, had only to summon them to surrender and then to
+take possession, with no greater difficulties than those presented by
+the long and rugged route.
+
+We must now, for a moment, return to Colonel Haldimand, who was, as
+before related, left in command at Oswego by General Prideaux. In the
+forenoon of the 5th of July, while superintending the works at the fort,
+he was startled by the well-known sound of the Indian war-whoop close at
+hand, but no enemy then appeared. The English colonel immediately sent
+out scouts upon the lake, who brought word that an armament of 100 boats
+was lying in a neighboring cove. About mid-day some Indians and
+Canadians appeared in the borders of the forest near the fort, and made
+a show of attacking two detached redoubts, but were speedily driven back
+among the trees; from thence, however, they kept up a dropping fire,
+which was only silenced by the approach of night. A deserter who had
+passed over under cover of the darkness, gave information that the
+attacking party consisted of 300 colony troops, 1300 Canadian militia,
+and 150 Indians, and that M. de la Corne was in command. The French had
+hoped to carry the fort by surprise: their zeal was stimulated by the
+vindictive fury of a Canadian priest, named Piquet, who marched at their
+head till the fire commenced, urged them on with the hope of plunder,
+and denounced all who might give quarter to the heretic enemy.
+
+The night passed without any alarm. At first dawn, however, the dusky
+forms of the Indians were seen cautiously approaching the western angle
+of the intrenchments, and mustering for an attack. But two guns loaded
+with grape, and a sharp volley of musketry from the fort, at once drove
+them back yelling into the woods. After a time they gathered sufficient
+determination to make an attempt at burning the English boats in the
+harbor, which they again and again repeated, but always without success.
+M. de la Corne did not bring his French troops into action. Finding
+Colonel Haldimand well prepared for his reception, he abandoned the
+enterprise, having buried his dead, and carried off his wounded to the
+boats. The French chief acquired little honor by this impotent
+demonstration; not a prisoner rewarded his efforts, nor did he obtain a
+single scalp, although the deserters affirmed that he had offered 1000
+livres for one such horrible trophy. The fierce priest, Piquet, gained a
+reputation for cruelty and ferocity which was not forgotten when Canada
+had passed from the sway of France.
+
+Thus every where in the far West success attended the British arms. One
+small fort, indeed, at the remote extremity of Lake Erie, on the banks
+of the Detroit River, still remained in the possession of France, but
+distance and comparative insignificance were its sole protection: shut
+out from supplies or re-enforcements, and feebly garrisoned, it only
+awaited the summons to surrender. The English force on Lake Ontario
+rested upon their arms after their somewhat easy victory; Amherst's
+strength, as we have seen, lay paralyzed by the opposing winds on Lake
+Champlain; the plan of the campaign as yet had failed. Opposition had
+been overpowered, forts taken, guns, trophies, and stores captured, but
+still, at the vital point, at the great Canadian stronghold, from the
+lofty headland of Quebec, the wise and gallant Montcalm, with an
+outnumbering host, looked down in unshaken confidence upon the invader's
+force. There the real battle was to be fought; there alone the die was
+to be cast which should decide the fate of France's noblest colony. Time
+rolled on, spring had warmed into summer; summer now deepened into
+autumn; the broad sycamore leaf drooped upon the stem; the rich foliage
+of the maple betrayed in its chameleon tints the approaching fall; the
+mysterious northern lights reappeared in the chilly darkness, and
+illumined the unclouded sky. Still, while these symptoms of the coming
+winter crowded upon the eyes of the British generals on Champlain and
+Ontario, they gained no tidings of their colleague's fate, save such
+vague rumors as a wandering Indian or a false deserter might convey; and
+yet, with wonder be it said, they sat them down to rest, and inactively
+awaited the event of that all-important struggle.
+
+[Footnote 171: He was a captain in the regiment of Berri.]
+
+[Footnote 172: "Le General Prideaux avoit ete charge de l'attaque de
+Niagara; ce fort situe pres de la fameuse cataracte pouvoit etre
+considere comme le point militaire le plus important du Canada; il
+commande, en effet, le passage qui sert de communication entre le Lac
+Erie et le Lac Ontario, en sorte qu'il sert de clef a la navigation de
+ce vastes mers interieures; il commande en meme temps la seule
+communication par terre entre les regions situees au nord et midi du
+fleuve et des Grands Lacs. Les Francais connoissoient toute la valeur de
+cette position admirable; mais abandonnes comme ils etoient par la
+mere-patrie, ayant consume pendant cinq ans leurs soldats, leurs armes,
+leurs munitions, a se defendre par leurs seules ressources, ils
+n'avoient pu mettre que six cents hommes dans Niagara, et ils n'en
+purent pas rassembler plus de dix-sept cents parmi les milices
+Canadiennes et leurs sauvages allies, pour marcher a la delivrance de
+cette fortresse. Le General Prideaux en avoit commence l'attaque depuis
+peu de jours, lorque le 20 Juillet il fut tue a la tranchee; Sir W.
+Johnson qui le remplaca, continua l'attaque avec le meme vigueur. Le 25
+Juillet il livra bataille a la petite armee qui s'avancoit au secours de
+la place assiegee, il la defit avec un grand carnage, et le meme jour le
+fort capitula, et la garnison de six cents hommes qu'il centenoit se
+livra prisonniere de guerre."[174]
+
+Sismondi gives the following reason for his exclusive use of English
+authorities throughout his narration of the last French war in Canada:
+"Car les Francais se sont refuses a donner aucun detail sur des combats
+dont les resultats etoient si funestes, encore que leurs compatriotes y
+eussent deploye souvent autant d'heroisme que dans les victoires."]
+
+[Footnote 173: An order has at length been issued that all candidates
+for commissions shall pass a certain examination in general
+acquirements.]
+
+[Footnote 174: _Annual Register_, 1759, vol. ii., chap. vi., p. 29;
+Smollett, vol. vii., b. iv., chap. xi., Sec. xiii., p. 56.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+From the indifferent progress of Amherst and the untoward inactivity of
+Gage, we may now return to the more stirring events of the expedition
+against Quebec. Early in February a considerable squadron was equipped
+in the English ports for North America, under the command of Admiral
+Saunders.[175] A land force was to proceed under convoy of the fleet for
+the same destination. Pitt justly estimated the importance and
+difficulty of the enterprise. He looked around in vain among the senior
+officers of the army for a chief worthy of the occasion. Judging that,
+among them, the advantages of experience were more than counterbalanced
+by the infirmities of age, he determined to trust the military honor of
+England to the elastic vigor and sanguine confidence of youth.
+
+While yet a boy, JAMES WOLFE had received the thanks of his general, the
+Duke of Cumberland, on the field of La Feldt; rapid promotion had
+followed this distinction. As lieutenant-colonel of a regiment, the
+young officer had justified the notice of his superiors. He was
+appointed to the staff in the inglorious expedition against Rochefort,
+and gathered laurels where all was barren to his associates. At the
+siege of Louisburg his transcendent merit shone in the strong light of
+opportunity and success, and when still in early manhood he had gained a
+fair maturity of fame. In him ambition was exalted by patriotism and
+purified by religion. Modest in manners and conversation, he
+nevertheless possessed in action self-reliance almost to presumption.
+With the prize of honorable distinction in view, his daring courage
+foiled every danger and difficulty, and "obstacles were but the stepping
+stones to his success." He commanded the confidence and respect of the
+rude soldiers, in spite of an almost feminine sensibility. When reverses
+for a moment damped his hope, they at the same time served to brace his
+energy. Ardent and laborious, daring and provident, practical and
+studious, pertinacious yet reasonable, he was dignified in command and
+docile in obedience. Gifted, gentle, and generous, earnest in life and
+devoted in death, history may grace her page with the name of no greater
+hero when she records the deeds of many a greater general.
+
+Wolfe returned to England from Louisburg in the end of the year 1758. He
+suffered severely from an illness, for which repose offered the only
+chance of relief, and an early prospect of the realization of a long and
+dearly-cherished hope drew him to home. But his aspiring spirit would
+not yield either to the weakness of his frame or to the strength of his
+affection, and almost immediately after landing from America, he
+addressed Mr. Pitt in a modest and manly letter, and offered his
+services for the next American campaign.
+
+Wolfe's name stood high in the esteem of all who were qualified to
+judge, but, at the same time, it stood low in the column of colonels in
+the Army List. The great minister thought that the former
+counterbalanced the latter. With instinctive genius, he discerned that
+the young soldier possessed the peculiar qualifications suited for his
+purpose, and, throwing aside the obstacles presented by official
+routine, he recommended the gallant brigadier of Louisburg to the
+especial notice of the king. One of the last gazettes in the year 1758
+announced the promotion of Colonel James Wolfe to the rank of
+major-general, and his appointment to the chief command of the
+expedition against Quebec.
+
+About the middle of February, 1759, the squadron sailed from England to
+Louisburg, where the whole of the British force destined for the River
+St. Lawrence was ordered to assemble. On the 21st of April Saunders and
+his armament reached the coast of Cape Breton, but the harbors were
+still blocked up with the ice of the preceding winter, and he could not
+enter. He then bent his course for Halifax, on the neighboring peninsula
+of Nova Scotia, and anchored the whole fleet in that magnificent sea
+port. Twenty-two ships of the line, five frigates, and nineteen smaller
+vessels of war, with a crowd of transports, were mustered under the
+orders of the admiral, and a detachment of Artillery and Engineers, and
+ten battalions of Infantry, with six companies of Rangers, formed
+Wolfe's command; the right flank companies of the three regiments which
+still garrisoned Louisburg soon after joined the army, and were formed
+into a corps called the Louisburg Grenadiers. The total of the land
+forces embarked were somewhat under 8000. Two thousand Infantry, which
+had formed part of the expedition to the West Indies, under Hodgson,
+were to have increased Wolfe's strength, but, owing to unavoidable
+circumstances, they were subsequently countermanded.
+
+Before leaving England Admiral Saunders had received intelligence that
+the French would make an effort to run a convoy up the River St.
+Lawrence for the relief of Quebec, at the first opening of the
+navigation. He therefore dispatched Admiral Durell with a small squadron
+to intercept it. From Halifax Saunders proceeded to Louisburg as soon as
+the breaking up of the ice permitted, and there held counsel with Wolfe
+upon the plan of the expedition. On the 15th of May he issued a general
+order to the fleet, that, in case of any temporary separation from
+adverse weather or other accidents, Gaspe Bay, in the Gulf of St.
+Lawrence, was to be the first place of rendezvous, and the island of
+Bic, 340 miles up the Great River, the next.
+
+It was not, however, till the 1st of June that the British ships began
+to weigh anchor in Louisburg Harbor, and the huge armament had not
+altogether cleared the land for six days afterward. While spreading
+sail, the admiral received the unwelcome news that three French frigates
+and a cloud of store vessels had escaped Durell's squadron and reached
+Quebec in safety. Two prizes were captured, however, which had lagged
+somewhat behind, and they, besides a quantity of powder and other
+munition, contained French charts of the River St. Lawrence, the
+possession of which proved of great importance to the British fleet.
+
+A cheerful and confident spirit pervaded all ranks and services in the
+expedition. A portion of the troops, among whom were the gallant 43d,
+had been for a considerable time doomed to unwilling inactivity upon the
+dreary shores of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton; they especially were
+filled with hopeful enthusiasm: as each successive transport cleared the
+harbor and the broad expanse of sea appeared, shouts of joy burst from
+the soldiers on the crowded decks.
+
+On the 7th the fleet made the coast of Newfoundland, still covered with
+the winter's snow; on the 9th it passed the Bird Islands in a stiff
+breeze, and on the 11th made the headland of Gaspe. The desolate and
+dangerous island of Anticosti was passed during the 13th with "most
+delightful weather and favorable breezes; the fleet well together."
+Early in the morning of the 18th they cast anchor within sight of the
+island of Bic, where they found the Richmond frigate, which had got some
+distance in advance, perhaps urged forward by the eager spirit of Wolfe,
+who was on board. The next day they again sailed; on the 20th they were
+becalmed off the mouth of the deep and gloomy Saguenay, and many of the
+smaller vessels narrowly escaped being dashed against each other by the
+powerful currents. In the night a favorable breeze arose, and cleared
+them from their perilous entanglement, and now, at noon the following
+day, the first Canadian settlement came in sight. On the 22d a French
+ship was taken, on board of which were several nuns and some ladies of
+distinction, a relation of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor of Canada,
+among the number: they were treated with the greatest respect and
+courtesy, and immediately sent back to Quebec under a flag of truce.
+
+On the 23d the fleet passed the Narrows between Isle au Condre and the
+shore, and in the evening came to anchor opposite the little settlement
+of St. Joseph. There the first act of hostility took place: the
+inhabitants fired upon some sounding boats which had neared the shore;
+this was answered by a small detachment of the 15th Regiment, sent in a
+barge for the protection of the sounders; little or no damage, however,
+was inflicted by either party. In revenge for this attack, the little
+Canadian village was subsequently burned, and the fields laid waste by a
+body of British troops from before Quebec.[176] On the 25th the
+difficult passage of "the Traverse" was made in safety, and on the
+following day the armament anchored off the fair and fertile island of
+Orleans, and the troops received orders of readiness to land.
+
+About midnight, Lieutenant Meech and forty Rangers rowed silently toward
+the shore, and, unobserved by the Canadians, effected a landing. Leaving
+their boats, they pushed on through the darkness almost to the northern
+side of the island; suddenly they came upon a numerous body of armed
+peasants, who were engaged in burying different valuables for safety
+against the invaders. The few shots which were speedily exchanged showed
+the Rangers that they were outnumbered, and that a bold front was the
+only chance of safety. A smart skirmish ensued; the Canadians, surprised
+by the unexpected attack, and not aware what force might support their
+assailants, gave way, and retired in confusion. Lieutenant Meech, happy
+in having escaped the danger, also fell back, and took refuge in a
+farm-house till the morning. During the night the inhabitants abandoned
+the island.
+
+The troops landed early on the 27th in a cove under the Church of St.
+Lawrence, which sacred building they were implored to respect, through
+the means of a placard directed to "the worthy officers of the British
+army." The soldiers were charmed with the beauty and richness of the
+island, and their comparative freedom after the weary voyage; but the
+mind of their young general was filled with deep and anxious interest by
+the sight of the stronghold that stood boldly out into the river a few
+miles above. Accompanied by the chief engineer, Major M'Kellar, and an
+escort of Light Infantry, Wolfe, as soon as he landed, pushed on to the
+extremity of the island nearest to Quebec. A magnificent but
+disheartening scene lay before him. On the summit of the highest
+eminence, over the strait in the Great River from whence the basin
+before him opened, the French flag waved. The crest of the rocky height
+was crowned with formidable works redoubted and flanked. On every
+favorable spot above, below, or on the rugged ascent, were batteries
+bristling with guns. This stronghold formed the right flank of a
+position eight miles in extent; the falls, and the deep and rapid stream
+of the Montmorency, was the left. The shoals and rocks of the St.
+Lawrence protected the broad front, and the rich valley of the St.
+Charles, with the prosperous and beautiful villages of Charlesburg and
+Beauport, gave shelter and hospitality in the rear. A crested bank of
+some height over the Great River marked the main line of the defenses
+from east to west; parapets, flanked at every favorable spot, aided
+their natural strength. Crowding on this embattled bank, swarming in the
+irregular village streets, and formed in masses on the hills beyond,
+were 12,000 French and Canadian troops, led by the gallant Montcalm.
+
+While Wolfe still gazed upon this appalling prospect a storm gathered
+over his head, and burst in sudden violence. The teeming rain fell like
+a vail between him and the beautiful but dangerous shore. Lightning
+hissed through the air, and a hurricane swept over the river with
+destructive strength. Transports were driven from their moorings and
+cast ashore; smaller boats were dashed against each other and swamped,
+and the vessels of war with difficulty held to their anchors. Silently
+and thoughtfully the young general retraced his steps to the
+landing-place, his sanguine and sensitive spirit oppressed for a moment
+with the difficulties of his enterprise, and by the gloomy omen of the
+heavens. But, before he rejoined the army, the weight was flung aside;
+the elastic spring of his mind had resumed its play, and he entered the
+camp with head erect and his usual bright and fearless aspect. He did
+not forget that he received his high command in the confidence that "no
+dangers or difficulties should discourage him."
+
+The storm passed away as suddenly as it came; the evening of the 27th
+fell calm and serene, but very dark; a few stars only were faintly
+reflected from the surface of the waters. As the British sentinels paced
+slowly to and fro upon the rocky shore of the island of Orleans facing
+toward Quebec, the silence of the night was only broken by the echo of
+their own footsteps and the ripple of the rapidly receding tide. About
+midnight a soldier on one of the most advanced points called the
+attention of his comrades on the neighboring posts to some dark objects
+moving along the river--slowly, as if drifting with the tide in the
+direction of the fleet, or rather toward some shoals to the northward of
+the fleet, which had been marked out by buoys during the preceding day.
+While the sentinels were yet debating about giving the alarm, each of
+the dark objects sent forth a crashing salvo of artillery; grape-shot
+rattled among the rocks and trees upon the shore, and plowed up the
+surrounding waters. Shells and grenades leaped into the air, and
+exploded with loud reports, now here, now there, on every side of the
+astounded soldiers. At the same time bright red flames burst from these
+fire-ships, sprung up among the masts and spars, quivered through the
+distinctly visible tracery of the rigging, and spread out in broad
+sheets over the collapsing sails. The river, the hostile camps, the
+city, and the distant mountains, instantly stood revealed as in noonday
+by this lurid light. As the blaze spread, explosion after explosion
+racked the burning vessels; they staggered and spun half round under the
+shocks; but still the ebb tide swept them rapidly on, near to where the
+crowded transports lay.
+
+This strange and terrible sight struck the sentries with uncontrollable
+panic; they fled from their posts, carried their terrors to their
+pickets, and all retired hastily toward the English camp. Falling in
+upon each other in the woods, they became utterly confused. The alarm
+spread; the whole line turned out, loaded their muskets, and prepared
+somewhat unsteadily for action. Order and confidence were not fully
+restored till daylight showed that there was no enemy at hand.
+
+In the mean time, upon the river, where real danger threatened, it was
+happily met with cool and courageous skill. As soon as the premature
+ignition of the fire-ships gave the alarm to the fleet, a number of
+well-manned boats put off and pulled toward them. The sailors waited
+until the guns were discharged and the powder exploded; then fixed
+grappling irons upon the burning vessels, and towed them leisurely
+ashore, where those least injured were anchored; the rest drifted with
+the tide upon the rocks, and soon broke into harmless ruin. Then, to the
+sharp report of cannon and grenade, succeeded the cheerful and sonorous
+"All's well" of the British seamen.
+
+On the following morning, the 28th of June, Wolfe published a manifesto
+to the Canadian people to the following effect: "We have a powerful
+armament. We are sent by the English king to conquer this province, but
+not to make war upon women and children, the ministers of religion, or
+industrious peasants. We lament the sufferings which our invasion may
+inflict upon you, but, if you remain neuter, we proffer you safety in
+person and property, and freedom in religion. We are masters of the
+river; no succor can reach you from France. General Amherst, with a
+large army, assails your southern frontier. Your cause is hopeless, your
+valor useless. Your nation have been guilty of great cruelties to our
+unprotected settlers; but we seek not revenge: we offer you the sweets
+of peace amid the horrors of war. England, in her strength, will
+befriend you; France, in her weakness, leaves you to your fate."
+
+This judicious proclamation was, however, at first, of little or no
+avail. The Canadian clergy used their utmost endeavors to excite their
+flocks against the heretical invaders, and implored them not to trust to
+British promises. Hereditary hatred of the haughty islanders still
+existed in the hearts of even the transatlantic French. The
+counter-proclamations and threats of Montcalm also bewildered the
+unhappy peasantry. He threatened them with death if they refused to
+serve, and with the fury of the savages if they aided the English. In
+consequence, the "habitans" generally used their best exertions to
+embarrass the invaders and to assist the defense. They followed the
+French banners pretty freely, and furnished such supplies to the army as
+their means allowed. Not content with this, they gave the rein to the
+fierce passions which intercourse with the Indians had strengthened.
+They scalped without mercy all the English that fell into their hands,
+massacred the wounded, and mutilated the dead. Wolfe appealed to his
+gallant enemy to put a stop to these atrocities; but Montcalm's
+authority was insufficient to restrain the savages, and their almost as
+savage allies; and it must be admitted, to our shame, that the British
+general was, in consequence, induced to connive at a vindictive
+retaliation. Ultimately Wolfe issued the following strange and somewhat
+conditional order: "The general strictly forbids the inhuman practice of
+scalping, _except_ when the enemy are Indians, or Canadians dressed like
+Indians." At the same time, however, he threatened with the punishment
+of death all who might offer cruelty to women, and decreed the severest
+penalties against plundering. The last order was ineffectual, for the
+soldiers plundered in all directions.
+
+While the British fleet had been slowly ascending the river, Montcalm
+and his followers were busily preparing to receive it. They labored
+unceasingly to add to the great natural strength of the country about
+Quebec. Parapets were thrown up upon every vulnerable point, guns
+mounted, and, above all, no efforts were spared to organize the numerous
+but somewhat doubtful forces of the Canadian peasantry. Five veteran
+French battalions, filled up by picked men from the colonial levies, and
+two battalions of the "marine," or "colony troops," also trained
+soldiers, formed the main strength of his army. The armed peasantry or
+militia were chiefly posted for the defense of the long line of works
+between Quebec and Montmorency, and several tribes of friendly Indians
+hovered about among the neighboring woods.
+
+The Canadians trusted much to the supposed difficulty of the river
+navigation, and were inexpressibly disappointed when a preconcerted
+signal announced that the vast British armament had passed the Narrows
+in safety. When the crowding sails were seen rounding the isle of
+Orleans, the people, in despair, flew to the churches to offer up their
+prayers for the preservation of their country. At first the van of
+Admiral Durell's squadron hoisted French colors, and the joyful rumor
+spread along the shore that a fleet had arrived to their aid from
+France. Pilots hastened on board to offer assistance to their supposed
+friends; but when they were detained, and the British flag was hoisted
+instead of the French, the pleasing illusion was dispelled. A Canadian
+priest stood gazing delightedly upon the ships through a telescope: he
+was so overwhelmed with consternation when he perceived the mistake that
+he fell down and died.
+
+The storm had taught the British admiral that the channel between the
+island of Orleans and the south shore was neither a safe nor a
+convenient anchorage; he therefore determined to pass up into the basin
+with his whole fleet. Information had, however, been received that the
+French occupied, in some force of infantry and artillery, a headland
+called Point Levi, which is opposite to the headland of Quebec, and
+which, with the latter, forms the strait at the entrance of the basin.
+From this commanding position the enemy's guns might seriously annoy the
+English ships. Saunders therefore requested General Wolfe to drive the
+French away from this point, and to occupy it himself.
+
+On the evening of the 29th of June, Brigadier-general Monckton, with his
+brigade of four battalions and some Light Infantry and Rangers, were
+formed on the southwestern extremity of the island of Orleans, in
+readiness to pass over against Point Levi. Through some unforeseen
+delay, they did not embark till dusk, and the light troops, with one
+regiment only, were enabled to cross the river before the ebb of tide
+rendered further movement impossible for the present. The remaining
+three regiments lay for the night on their arms by the shore. The troops
+which had embarked landed without opposition, and contented themselves
+with taking possession of Beaumont Church on the south shore; there they
+barricaded themselves, lighted watch-fires, and awaited the morning.
+
+At earliest daylight Monckton embarked the rest of his brigade and
+pushed across to the advance. The sound of musketry from the southern
+shore soon stimulated the exertions of the rowers, and, as the scattered
+shots breezed up into a skirmish, they used their utmost efforts to
+increase their speed. The troops scarcely waited to form after landing,
+but hastened on to the church where their comrades had passed the night.
+There, however, they only met with a couple of wounded men; the Light
+Infantry had speedily overpowered a detachment of colony troops, and
+were still pressing hard upon their retreating footsteps through the
+wood. The English brigadier found the banks of the river steep, the
+country rugged and difficult: a few resolute men might have embarrassed
+or baffled his expedition.
+
+In the mean time the British light troops had arrested the pursuit at a
+large farm-house at the foot of the hill which rises into the headland
+of Point Levi; they deemed it prudent to secrete themselves there, lest
+the enemy should return with re-enforcements before the succors arrived
+from Orleans, and also because there was plenty of provisions, some
+plunder, and a good fire. While the English soldiers were availing
+themselves of these advantages, they were alarmed by hearing voices
+close at hand: they seized their arms, searched the house and the
+surrounding thickets without discovering any one. They at length
+determined to fire the building and fall back upon the church. In a few
+moments the farm-house was in a blaze. Then, to their horror, loud
+shrieks of women and children burst from the burning ruins; they
+hastened back, and used their best endeavors to save the sufferers, but
+in vain; while they yet strove, the roof fell in with a crash, and all
+was silent. The miserable victims had hidden themselves in a cellar at
+the approach of the British troops. After this horrible incident the
+Light Infantry fell back to Beaumont Church, where they found the whole
+of Monckton's brigade assembled.
+
+At ten o'clock the brigadier moved upon the heights of Point Levi,
+preceded by a cloud of skirmishers. The way lay over a pleasant road,
+with a highly cultivated country on either side, and was not disputed
+till the British troops began to ascend the hill. They soon forced the
+height, and hurried on to the village facing Quebec. Here, however, they
+received a check. A strong body of Canadians threw themselves into the
+church and the adjoining houses, and another detachment held stoutly to
+a rocky eminence further to the rear. The English rallied and gained
+possession of the buildings, but were speedily dislodged again; the
+position was not finally won till the 78th Highlanders forced the flank
+in overwhelming numbers, and Monckton himself, with four companies of
+Grenadiers, broke through the front. The Canadians and Indians, who had
+fought so stoutly, although not altogether more than 1000 strong,
+crossed over to Quebec when evening fell. The British brigade housed
+themselves luxuriously in the neat village of Point Levi: no guns fell
+into their hands, nor were any works in progress on that side of the
+river.
+
+Montcalm felt that the assailants had gained a dangerous advantage in
+the possession of Point Levi. Although at a distance of three quarters
+of a mile from the city, heavy ordnance played from thence with ruinous
+effect. In a council of war he had urged that 4000 men should be
+strongly intrenched upon this position, with orders to hold it to the
+last extremity; but his opinion was overruled by the governor, M. de
+Vaudreuil, and from that time a fatal alienation arose between the two
+French authorities. However, in the morning of the 1st of July, Montcalm
+made a feeble effort to dislodge the British, by attacking their
+position from three floating batteries. For an hour and a half the
+French continued an annoying but almost harmless fire. Then Saunders
+dispatched the Trent frigate to check the insult; favorable winds
+carried her up to the scene of action, and a broadside concluded the
+business.
+
+From that time Wolfe exerted himself to put Point Levi beyond the reach
+of further insult; batteries were thrown up, and guns mounted in
+commanding situations. In the afternoon skirmishes took place, both in
+the woods near this new position and on the island of Orleans; some
+lives were lost without any result, and both parties behaved with savage
+cruelty. On the following morning this useless mischief was continued:
+the same evening Wolfe made a reconnoissance in some force up the right
+bank of the river, and marked out the ground for batteries to bombard
+the town. Some of the Rangers under Major Scott penetrated as far as the
+Chaudiere River in this advance, but performed nothing worthy of notice.
+
+The 48th Regiment, the Grenadiers and Light Infantry of the division,
+and the Rangers, with working parties from other corps, broke ground
+upon the high lands to the west of Point Levi on the 5th of July. They
+labored with zeal, and the batteries which were to play from thence upon
+Quebec soon began to assume a formidable appearance. The Rangers took
+post during the day in small parties upon the adjoining hills, which
+commanded the several approaches to the works, and erected small
+breast-works for their defense, while they guarded against the sudden
+approach of an enemy. In the mean time a portion of Townsend's brigade,
+under Colonel Carleton, was engaged in throwing up strong intrenchments
+on the westernmost point of Orleans. When these two positions were
+occupied, the safety of the fleet in the basin was assured;
+nevertheless, by some unaccountable temerity or carelessness, the
+Leostoff cutter allowed herself to be surprised and taken by the enemy
+while sounding. This little incident brought on a brisk cannonade, which
+continued for nearly two hours, without, however, causing damage to
+either party.
+
+When the works on Point Levi and on the western extremity of the island
+of Orleans were in a respectably defensible condition, Wolfe turned his
+attention to the north shore of the St. Lawrence, where a favorable
+position offered for threatening the French left. On the morning of the
+9th the lighter vessels of the British fleet hauled in to the shore as
+close as the depth of water would permit, and opened a fire upon the
+enemy's lines between Quebec and the Falls of Montmorency. The range was
+distant; nevertheless, the seamen plied their guns with such effect that
+Montcalm found it necessary to strike the encampments near the shore,
+and retire upon the high crest which extended along his whole front:
+there he was beyond reach of annoyance. At the first dawn, Monckton's
+brigade, with the exception of the working parties, was formed on the
+slopes of the hills opposite Quebec, and ostentatiously marched up the
+left bank of the St. Lawrence westward from Point Levi. The object of
+the bombardment by the ships, and this movement of the troops, was to
+divert the attention of the enemy from Wolfe's real object, which was to
+establish himself upon the north shore by the Falls of Montmorency.
+
+The movement of Monckton's corps was marked by an incident pre-eminently
+lamentable, even among daily scenes of death and misery. A lieutenant of
+Rangers, with twenty men, was sent to scour the woods to the southward
+of the line of march, and, if possible, to gain information of the
+enemy's movements. They pressed forward with somewhat rash zeal into the
+woody solitudes, and, being overtaken by the night, lay on their arms
+and returned the next morning. While retracing their steps, they were
+attracted by smoke rising from a neighboring clearing. They approached
+having spread themselves in a circle, to prevent the escape of those
+they might discover. The smoke proceeded from a log hut, where they
+found and captured a man and his three sons, the eldest a youth of
+fifteen years. The Rangers then hurried homeward with their prize. They
+had not got far on their road when the horrible war-whoop of the Indians
+rose behind them, and a glance showed that their assailants were in
+overpowering numbers. There was, however, still hope of escape, for the
+Rangers were hardy and active men, skilled in forest craft, and,
+happily, well acquainted with the rugged and intricate paths. They
+plunged into the woods at a running pace, and in a few minutes emerged
+into another road unknown to their fierce pursuers. But here an
+unfortunate difficulty arose: the elder prisoners were hurried along,
+unwillingly enough, but in terrified silence; not so the two younger,
+who were mere children: they filled the air with lamentations and cries
+of alarm that neither entreaties nor threats could check. The British
+lieutenant then begged of them to leave him and return home; but the
+poor innocents only clung the more closely to him, and wailed the
+louder. The sole chance of escape lay in reaching, unobserved, a pass
+which led to the new position of Monckton's brigade, and by which the
+Indians might not expect them to retreat. The hapless children, however,
+by their screams, guided the savages in their pursuit through the
+tangled woods, and again the war-whoop sounded close behind the
+fugitives. An awful moment of irresolution was succeeded by an awful
+resolve; the British officer, with a mournful heart, gave the order that
+his young prisoners should be silenced forever. The Rangers reached the
+brigade in safety before evening.
+
+While the attention of the enemy was distracted by Monckton and the
+fleet, Wolfe passed over from Orleans to the eastward of Montmorency,
+with a large force, at about one o'clock in the day, and encamped,
+unopposed, on the left bank of the stream close to the falls. He
+immediately placed some Light Artillery in position, and commenced
+intrenching himself. The works were vigorously continued the following
+morning, and Captain Dank's company of Rangers were pushed forward into
+the woods to cover some parties who were engaged in making fascines for
+the intrenchments. The Rangers had scarcely entered the bush when they
+were suddenly and fiercely assailed by a considerable body of ambushed
+Indians, and driven back with considerable loss. When they got into the
+open ground, however, they rallied; the savages, elated with their first
+success, pressed boldly on and renewed the combat, forcing the British
+troops back over the fields toward the camp, and scalping and massacring
+the wounded in the sight of their comrades. But the state of affairs was
+soon changed; some advanced companies of Townshend's brigade, with two
+field-pieces hurried out on hearing the firing: they fell on the flank
+of the Indians, and slaughtered them without mercy.
+
+The plan of Wolfe's operations was now fairly developed. The mass of his
+army was formed in threatening array upon the extreme left of the French
+position, and from a considerable height looked down almost into the
+rear of their intrenchments. The British general had hoped that from
+hence he might find a ford across the rapid stream of the Montmorency,
+and force on an action in the open country behind the enemy's lines;
+there he doubted not that the courage and discipline of his troops would
+give him an easy victory over the numerous Canadian levies. But he had
+altogether mistaken the difficulties of the undertaking. The only ford
+was three miles up the stream; the bush was so dense and the country so
+rugged that a few Indians sufficed to baffle his repeated attempts to
+reconnoiter, and killed or wounded no less than forty of his men. He
+could no longer endure the slaughter of his magnificent Light Infantry
+by the hands of unseen savages, and altogether abandoned the idea of
+crossing the river above the falls.
+
+Montcalm quickly perceived the dangerous error of the English in
+dividing their small army. As soon as Monckton's brigade commenced to
+plant their guns on Point Levi, 1500 Canadians and savages were pushed
+across the St. Lawrence from Quebec, and posted in the woods on the
+right bank: they reconnoitered the English position, and, having
+obtained a re-enforcement of 300 colony troops, prepared for an attack
+on the night of the 13th. M. de Charrier, seigneur of Point Levi, a
+skillful and a resolute man, commanded the assailants; meanwhile,
+Wolfe, on hearing of the enemy's movements, had taken the command, in
+person, at the south side of the river. The night came on still and
+cloudless, but very dark; the weather was intensely hot, and the British
+troops, wearied with the labors of the day, lay in profound repose, not
+dreaming that the French would venture a night attack. The sentries,
+indeed, paced their rounds, but, unconscious of the danger that lay
+under the dark shadows of the neighboring forest, they still shouted
+"All's well" as each hour passed away.
+
+The French advanced in two columns, silently, and at first with great
+steadiness; as they proceeded, the difficulty of the road and the
+extreme darkness of the night threw them into some confusion; despite
+the skill of their leader and his perfect knowledge of the ground, the
+disorder increased. The most perfect discipline and self-confidence are
+rarely proof against the hazards of a night attack; among raw levies,
+such as were the bulk of De Charrier's followers, disorder, once
+commenced, becomes inextricable. While he yet strove to re-form the
+broken ranks, an unexplained noise in a coppice by the road side struck
+the Canadians with sudden panic, and they rapidly retraced their steps.
+The rear column, hearing the approach of numerous footsteps from the
+front, supposed that the English were upon them, and poured a close
+volley among the fugitives, who again, under a like mistake, returned
+the fire. The bloodshed was only stayed by both parties flying in
+different directions. Not less than seventy of the French were killed
+and wounded in this untoward enterprise. The attempt was not renewed.
+
+The British batteries being completed at Point Levi and at Montmorency,
+a fire of guns and mortars was poured night and day upon the city of
+Quebec, and upon the French lines to the westward. The enemy replied
+with spirit, but with little effect. The Lower Town was much damaged by
+the constant bombardment from the opposite side of the river, and at
+eleven o'clock on the forenoon of the 16th, a fire broke out in the
+Upper Town, where a shell had fallen. The flames spread with rapidity,
+fanned by a strong northwest wind; many buildings were destroyed before
+the conflagration was arrested; among others the great Cathedral, with
+all its paintings, images, and ornaments. The defenses remained
+untouched throughout this lamentable destruction; the assailants only
+diminished the value of the prize for which they strove, without
+approaching a whit nearer to its attainment.
+
+Wolfe returned to the north camp on the 16th, and pushed the works above
+the Falls of Montmorency with vigor. He frequently, during the day, sent
+out detachments of troops to scour the neighboring woods, and to keep
+the marauding Indians in check. The savages hovered constantly round the
+British position, and from their ambush sprang like tigers upon those
+who ventured unprotected within their reach. On the night of the 16th
+they surprised and scalped four sentries of the Louisburg Grenadiers.
+While Wolfe busied himself in strengthening his position, and
+cannonading the French lines at a distance, M. de Levi, a distinguished
+French officer, solicited Montcalm to drive him away. "Dislodge him
+thence, and he will give us more trouble," replied Montcalm, "while
+there he can not hurt us; let him amuse himself."
+
+The British general determined to reconnoiter the banks of the river
+above the town, while he still continued his preparations below. With
+this view, a small squadron under Captain Rous sailed with fair wind and
+tide a little before midnight on the 18th, and passed up unharmed in the
+face of the enemy's batteries. One frigate, however, the Diana, ran
+aground near Point Levi, and could not be got off till the following
+day. This bold passage was a complete surprise to the besieged: the
+English ships were not observed by the sentries till it was too late to
+bring their guns to bear. Two of these unhappy soldiers paid the penalty
+of death for their carelessness: they were hung on a gibbet the
+following morning, in sight of both armies.
+
+Montcalm lost no time in sending some guns up the left bank of the river
+to annoy the British squadron; he erected a battery in a suitable
+position at a place called Sillery, and compelled Rous to weigh anchor
+and move up the stream. The French artillerymen had not been long
+inactive after this achievement when they were again called to their
+guns; a barge was discovered skirting the southern shore, and steering
+toward the nearest English ship. They gave her a salvo as she went by,
+and one shot carried away her mast; before they could reload she was out
+of reach. General Wolfe was in this barge on his way to reconnoiter the
+upper river.
+
+Wolfe found the aspect of affairs as unpromising above the town as it
+was below; the banks were every where high and precipitous; at each
+assailable point intrenchments more or less formidable had been thrown
+up, and each movement was jealously watched from the shore. However, to
+divide and harass the enemy, and in the hope of procuring intelligence,
+he sent Colonel Carleton, who commanded the troops embarked in Rous's
+squadron, to make a descent upon the small town of Point aux Trembles,
+to which many of the inhabitants of Quebec had retired with their
+stores, papers, and valuables.
+
+Carleton landed on the 22d at the head of three companies of Grenadiers
+and a battalion of the Royal Americans; a few Indians offered some
+resistance at first, and wounded several of the leading files, but were
+soon overpowered and driven into the woods. A number of useless
+prisoners, some plunder, and several packets of letters, fell into the
+hands of the English. The latter were of importance. "De Vaudreuil, the
+governor, and Montcalm have disagreed, and endeavor to embarrass each
+other," quotes one writer. "But for respect for our priests, and fear of
+the savages, we would submit," writes the next. "We are without hope,
+and without food," says a third. "Since the English have passed the
+town, our communication with Montreal is cut off--God has forsaken us,"
+laments another. The misery of the besieged was great, therefore great
+also was the hope of the besiegers.
+
+To increase the distress of the enemy, an order was issued from the
+English head-quarters on the 24th of July. "Our out-parties are to burn
+and lay waste the country for the future, sparing only churches, or
+houses dedicated to divine worship." However, it was again repeated,
+"that women and children are not to be molested, on any account
+whatsoever." We may suppose men received scant mercy. "We played so
+warmly on the town last night, that a fire broke out in two different
+parts of it at eleven o'clock, which burned with great rapidity until
+near three this morning. We are erecting a new six-gun battery to the
+right of the others, to keep the town in ruins, which appears to be
+almost destroyed." So writes an officer of the 43d, in his journal,
+dated Point Levi, 25th of July, 1759. Such is war, even when Wolfe, the
+pious, the domestic, and the tender-hearted, was the general!
+
+On the 26th the indefatigable British general proceeded up the left bank
+of the Montmorency River to reconnoiter some works which the enemy were
+erecting on the opposite side. His escort was attacked by a swarm of
+Indians, and for a time hardly pressed; many of the English soldiers
+were struck down before they could get sight of their subtle enemy; and
+when the savages were finally silenced, it was with the loss of nearly
+fifty of Wolfe's men killed and wounded. The next morning the 78th
+Highlanders surprised a French detachment, and slew nine of them; their
+own colonel and a captain were, however, wounded in the struggle.
+
+In consequence of some threatening movements in the British fleet, the
+French sent down a fire-raft on the night of the 28th. A number of small
+schooners, shallops, and rafts were chained together, to the breadth of
+200 yards, and laden with shells, grenades, old guns, pistols, and tar
+barrels: this mischievous contrivance floated rapidly down with the ebb
+tide. The English seamen, however, were, as before, alert, and towed the
+fire-raft ashore, without its having caused the slightest damage. The
+following morning Wolfe sent a flag of truce to the garrison of Quebec,
+with the following message: "If the enemy presume to send down any more
+fire-rafts, they are to be made fast to two particular transports, in
+which are all the Canadian and other prisoners, in order that they may
+perish by their own base inventions." The French constructed no more
+fire-rafts.
+
+[Footnote 175: "That admiral (Saunders) was a pattern of most sturdy
+bravery, united with the most unaffected modesty. No man said less or
+deserved more. Simplicity in his manners, generosity, and good nature
+adorned his genuine love of his country."--Walpole's _Memoirs of George
+II._, p. 394.]
+
+[Footnote 176: "The sides of the river began immediately to show a most
+dismal appearance of fire and smoke; and (as the troops employed on this
+service were the remains of those who escaped the massacre of Fort
+William Henry, where they killed and scalped every wounded officer and
+common man) they spared little or nothing that came in their
+way."--_Gentleman's Magazine_ vol. xxix., p. 556.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Wolfe had now been five weeks before Quebec; not a few lives had been
+lost, a vast quantity of ammunition expended, and, above all, the season
+of action was already half consumed. But, as yet, no important step, in
+a military point of view, had been gained. The high grounds which he
+occupied beyond Montmorency and Point Levi had scarcely been disputed by
+the enemy. From day to day the hostile parapets were strengthened and
+extended. He had carefully examined the north bank of the Great River
+above and below the city, and could discover no one spot where either
+nature or art did not forbid his landing. Whatever discontent or
+distress might exist in the Canadian camp, there appeared no diminution
+of numbers or slackening of zeal in the defense. Montcalm had neither
+suffered himself to be provoked by insult or to be tempted by brilliant
+but dangerous opportunity. He rendered assurance doubly sure by keeping
+his superior force in a superior position; his raw provincial levies,
+when behind breast-works, were far from inefficient, and his numerous
+savage allies were terrible in their forest warfare; with the first he
+manned his lines, with the latter he lost no opportunity of harassing
+the invaders. On the other hand, the state of affairs in the British
+camp was by no means promising: under Wolfe's circumstances, inaction
+was almost equivalent to defeat.
+
+It was true that, before leaving England, he was instructed that his
+expedition was only auxiliary to that of Amherst. To the main army,
+which was advancing by the inland lakes, England looked for the conquest
+of the country. Wolfe had already occupied the most important points in
+the neighborhood of Quebec, and might well be excused had he awaited the
+arrival of the general-in-chief for an attack upon the great stronghold.
+In this situation, many a brave and experienced veteran would probably
+have written "a most eloquent and conclusive apology for being beaten
+or for standing still."[177] But Wolfe had been happily chosen. He
+deeply felt that his unusual selection should be justified by unusual
+achievements, and that it was his duty to risk his reputation, as well
+as his life, rather than fail the sanguine hopes of his country.
+
+Before narrating Wolfe's determination in this crisis, and the events
+consequent thereupon, it will, perhaps, be well to recall the reader's
+attention to the position of the Canadian army. The north shore of the
+basin of Quebec is a curve of about eight miles long. The waters shoal
+as they approach this shore, and at low tide a muddy bank is exposed, in
+some places nearly half a mile in breadth. The long-crested height,
+mentioned in a former description, at some parts of the line overhangs
+high-water mark, at others recedes into the country, and leaves some
+rich alluvial fields between its base and the river's banks. Wherever
+this height was not sufficiently precipitous to form a natural defense,
+the face was scarped, the summit crowned with a parapet, and the foot
+pallisadoed or armed with abattis. The irregular line of this formidable
+front shaped itself here and there into projections and inclinations, as
+if traced in flank and ravelin by the skill of the engineer. The extreme
+left of the French army rested on the rocky banks of the Montmorency.
+The beautiful cataract, and the foaming rapids for three miles up the
+stream, forbade the passage of an enemy: there was, indeed, a ford, but
+it was well defended; beyond that, the tangled bush defied the strength
+of battalions. Below the falls, however, the waters spread themselves in
+numerous shallow channels over the sands, and the stream is fordable
+except at high tide. To strengthen this weak point, Montcalm had thrown
+up a four-gun redoubt at the foot of the overhanging cliff. Although
+defiladed from the British artillery, these cliffs were altogether
+exposed to that of the French, and therefore untenable in case of
+falling into the assailants' hands.
+
+Toward the right of the French position the crested ridge subsides in a
+gentle slope upon a valley, through the center of which winds the St.
+Charles or Little River. The entrance to this stream is deep, and forms
+a small harbor; here the French had run their ships of war aground, and
+these powerful wooden batteries, with their heavy guns, swept the slopes
+on either side, both toward the city walls and the right shoulder of the
+crested height.
+
+The almost desperate course upon which Wolfe at length determined, was
+that of attacking the enemy in these intrenchments. He maturely weighed
+his plans; the skill and caution of the execution could alone justify
+the temerity of the resolve. The redoubt on the low ground, in front of
+the French left, and near the Falls of Montmorency, offered the most
+vulnerable point; detached from the main defenses, and within reach of
+guns from the shipping, he doubted not that he could easily master it,
+or bring on a general action for its possession. On the other hand, this
+redoubt could not be held when taken, for it lay exposed to the
+artillery of the French. However, there were difficulties on every side;
+Wolfe chose that which he considered the least. He well knew that, even
+were he to carry the crested hill over the redoubt, and to force the
+enemy from their works, the River St. Charles and the inner
+intrenchments still lay between him and the city; "But," said he, "a
+victorious army meets with no difficulties."
+
+Wolfe's available force was less by one third than that of the defenders
+of this almost impregnable position. He had to risk the confusion of a
+debarkation, the despotism of the tides, and the caprice of the winds.
+The undertaking was all but desperate, and yet an overweening confidence
+in their chief and in themselves was more fatal to the British troops
+than the guns and parapets of the enemy.
+
+Wolfe concerted the plan of attack with the admiral. A small frigate,
+the Centurion, was to sail toward the shore, as near as the depth of
+water would permit, and open fire upon the redoubt. Two armed transports
+received orders to second the frigate, and, if necessary, to run aground
+in a favorable position. In one of these the general himself embarked.
+The boats of the fleet were directed to take on board the greater part
+of Monckton's brigade at Point Levi, with the available troops from
+Orleans, and to muster at an early hour in the forenoon off the
+northwestern point of that island. In the mean time, the British
+batteries from Point Levi, and the heights over Montmorency Falls, were
+to open upon the city and the intrenchments with every gun and mortar.
+Townshend's and Murray's brigades were commanded to form in close
+columns eastward of the ford below the falls, and there to await the
+general's orders.
+
+At ten o'clock on the morning of the 31st of July, the 15th and 78th
+Regiments, 200 men of the Royal Americans, and all the Grenadiers of
+Monckton's brigade, embarked in the boats of the fleet at Point Levi:
+they made for the northwest point of the island of Orleans, where they
+were joined by four more companies of Grenadiers. The whole flotilla
+then pushed out into mid-channel and awaited orders. At eleven o'clock
+the two armed transports stood in for the Point de Lest, and grounded;
+one, under Lieutenant Garnier, within musket-shot of the French redoubt.
+At the same time, Admiral Saunders, in the Centurion, brought to a
+little further from the shore, opposite the ford, and all three vessels
+opened fire. This gave the signal to the gunners at Point Levi and on
+the east bank of the Montmorency: they also began to work; the enemy
+replied; and in a few minutes the whole of the vast amphitheater
+resounded with the roar of artillery.
+
+Wolfe was in the transport which had first grounded. He promptly
+observed that the redoubt, if taken, was too distant from the water to
+allow of effectual support by the guns and the small arms of the
+shipping. He saw, moreover, that his threatening movements had caused an
+unusual stir in the French lines; bodies of troops were moving to and
+fro, between the several points of defense, with that degree of
+irregularity which usually attends the sudden re-formations of
+undisciplined men: two battalions of the enemy were observed marching
+from the roar of their left in the direction of the ford, three miles up
+the Montmorency River: their object was evidently to cross the stream,
+and fall upon the British batteries on the left bank, while the mass of
+Wolfe's army was occupied in the attack upon the intrenchments. This
+movement was immediately met by a counter-demonstration: the 48th
+Regiment, which had been left in the works at Point Levi, was
+ostentatiously pushed up the right bank of the St. Lawrence, as if about
+to cross and attempt the French position above the city. Montcalm, upon
+this, gave up his flank attack, and dispatched the two battalions to
+watch the 48th from the opposite side of the river.
+
+For several hours, during these demonstrations, the firing on all sides
+had slackened; the flotilla still lay motionless in the center of the
+northern channel of the St. Lawrence. A great part of the day had thus
+passed without any thing of importance having been attempted. The clouds
+gathered heavily over the hills, and the receding tide warned Wolfe that
+only brief space was left for action. He hesitated for a time;
+circumstances were very adverse; but, unfortunately, the slight disorder
+in the enemy's lines confirmed the bolder counsel, always most congenial
+to his mind. At four o'clock he signaled for a renewal of the cannonade;
+at five his barge put off from the second transport, and rowed toward
+the flotilla, and at the same moment a red flag ran up to the mizen peak
+of the stranded ship: it was the signal to advance.
+
+With a loud cheer the sailors bent to the oar, and the long-motionless
+flotilla sprung into life. A few strokes somewhat disordered the
+regularity of the line; some boats were faster, some crews more vigorous
+than others. As they approached, the French gunners tried the decreasing
+range; the shot fell near, hissed over head, and at length fell in among
+the boats. Some few struck with fatal effect, for the weak frames were
+easily shivered, and then sunk with all on board. While still pressing
+on through the fire, the leading boats grounded on a ledge of unseen
+rocks at short musket-shot from the beach. The disorder then became
+dangerous.
+
+Wolfe was now in action: hesitation was at an end. He gave orders that
+the flotilla should re-form in rear of the rocks, and, when the boats
+were again afloat, signaled to Townshend to stop the advance of his
+brigade, which was already in motion upon the ford; he then sprang into
+a cutter with some navy officers, and skirted the reef in search of an
+opening. He soon succeeded. It was now half past five; the storm
+threatened close at hand; battalion after battalion the French were
+crowding from right to left; but Wolfe was not to be daunted; he renewed
+the signal of attack, and himself pointed out the way through the rocks.
+A few strokes carried the flotilla to the shore; while the eager troops
+sprang upon land, the French gave a parting volley, and abandoned the
+redoubt and the detached battery which defended the ford.
+
+The thirteen companies of Grenadiers and the Royal Americans were first
+ashore; they had received orders to form in four columns on the beach,
+there to await the support of the remainder of Monckton's brigade from
+the boats, and Townshend's from beyond the ford. But these chosen men
+were flushed with an overweening confidence: proud of their post of
+preference, proud of their individual strength, and exasperated by long
+delay, they burst like bloodhounds from the leash. Despite the orders of
+their officers, they raced across the intervening fields, and, without
+any order or formation, threw themselves against the crested height.
+
+Wolfe soon saw that this rash valor had ruined the fortunes of the day:
+nothing remained but to make such preparations for retreat as might
+mitigate the inevitable disaster. Monckton's remaining regiments, the
+15th and 78th, were now landed, and formed in admirable order upon the
+beach, while Townshend and Murray crossed the ford of the Montmorency
+and advanced to join them. Instead of risking this unbroken array in
+supporting the unfortunate attack of the advance, Wolfe kept his men in
+hand, and strove to recall the disordered assailants. Meanwhile the
+storm burst, and when the Grenadiers reached the steep slope, they found
+it impossible to keep their footing on the muddy side; their ammunition
+was soon rendered useless by the teeming rain; but, still trusting to
+the bayonet, they tried to make good their ground upon the hill. The
+position was far stronger than they had anticipated; they were out of
+breath, and exhausted by their hurried advance; by the time they had
+clambered within reach of the enemy's parapets they were already beaten.
+One close and steady volley of the French sufficed to roll them back
+from off the crested hill.
+
+In tumultuous disorder, the Grenadiers fell back upon the abandoned
+redoubt, and sought shelter under its parapets from the stinging fire of
+the French. The works had, however, been so constructed that little or
+no protection was afforded against the neighboring heights. Officers and
+men were rapidly struck down in vain endeavors to re-form the broken
+ranks, but still, with sullen tenacity, they held the unprofitable
+position. At length, in obedience to peremptory orders, they retired,
+and took post in the rear of Monckton's line.
+
+The slope of the fatal hill now presented a melancholy scene to the
+British army. More than 200 of the Grenadiers had fallen; the track of
+the rash advance and disastrous retreat was marked by the dying and the
+dead. Some red coats lay almost under the enemy's parapets, where a few
+of these impetuous men had won their way; others were seen dragging
+their maimed limbs to seek shelter behind rocks or trees from the
+vindictive fire which the French still poured upon their fallen foes.
+Among the wounded lay Captain Ochterlony and Ensign Peyton, of the
+second battalion of the Royal Americans: they had refused the proffered
+aid of their retreating soldiers, and, being bound by ties of the
+closest friendship, determined to meet together the desperate chances of
+the field. They sat down side by side, bade each other farewell, and
+awaited their fate. In a few minutes a Frenchman and two Indians
+approached, plundered the wounded officers, and were about to murder
+Ochterlony, when Peyton shot one of the savages with a double-barreled
+gun which he still held; the other then rushed upon him, and, although
+receiving the contents of the second barrel, closed in mortal struggle.
+The Englishman succeeded, after a moment, in drawing a dagger, and with
+repeated stabs, brought the Indian to the ground. In the mean time, the
+French soldier had carried Ochterlony as a prisoner to his lines.[178]
+
+Peyton now started up, and, although his leg was broken, ran for forty
+yards toward the river; there he sank exhausted. Presently a crowd of
+Indians, reeking from their work of butchery, approached him from the
+extreme left. Peyton reloaded his musket, leaned upon his unwounded
+limb, and faced the savages; the two foremost hesitated before this
+resolute attitude, when, to the deep disgrace of the French, they opened
+a fire of musketry and even cannon from their breast-works upon the
+maimed and solitary officer. However, at this desperate moment relief
+was nigh; the Indians, who before had hesitated, now turned and fled
+like scared vultures from their prey. A detachment of the gallant 78th
+Highlanders, undismayed by the still murderous fire, chased the
+marauders from the field, and bore the wounded Englishman in safety to
+the shore. This extraordinary scene occurred in full view of both
+armies.
+
+The evening was now far advanced; the tide was beginning to flow; the
+ammunition of the whole army was damaged by the heavy rains; the waters
+looked angry beneath a threatening gale; the enemy's strength was
+concentrated; they had suffered little or no loss, while the British
+were weakened by 33 officers and 410 men. Wolfe had learned by painful
+experience the prodigious advantage of the French position, which,
+although nearly invulnerable to attack, yet afforded admirable
+facilities for retreat. He was baffled; all that now remained was to
+conduct the re-embarkation with safety and regularity. Such of the
+wounded as could be yet saved were carried from the field; the stranded
+transports were abandoned and burned, and the flotilla rowed away from
+the fatal shore. Townshend and Murray, whose untouched brigades had
+covered the embarkation, then recrossed the ford without interruption,
+and resumed their position on the heights east of the Montmorency.
+
+Wolfe knew that the enterprise of the 31st of July was of such a nature
+that nothing but success could justify its temerity. By failure his
+military error had been thrown into strong light, and yet it was
+probable that he would have succeeded but for a strange adversity of
+circumstances. The officers of the fleet had remained in unaccountable
+ignorance of the reef of rocks which delayed and disordered the attack.
+The storm of rain not only injured the ammunition of his men, but
+rendered the steep ascent of the enemy's position so slippery that they
+could not find firm footing, and the ill-timed audacity of the
+Grenadiers had confounded all his calculations. The leading fault of his
+plan was undoubtedly the attempt of a combined attack by land and water.
+Had Monckton's brigade been landed beyond the falls, and the whole army
+crossed the ford together, the fatal embarrassments of the
+disembarkation would have been avoided. Wolfe suffered intense mental
+distress from this mishap; his mind preyed upon his feeble frame; his
+chronic ailment attacked him with unusual violence; fever supervened,
+and for some weeks he lay absolutely helpless, to the grief of the whole
+army. In the mean time, however, he issued the following merited rebuke
+to the corps whose indiscretion had led to results so disastrous:
+
+"The check which the Grenadiers met with will, it is hoped, be a lesson
+to them for the time to come. Such impetuous, irregular, and
+unsoldierlike proceedings destroy all order, and put it out of the
+general's power to execute his plan. The Grenadiers could not suppose
+that they alone could beat the French army; therefore it was necessary
+the corps under Brigadiers Townshend and Monckton should have time to
+join them, that the attack might be general. The very first fire of the
+enemy was sufficient to have repulsed men who had lost all sense of
+order and military discipline. Amherst's (the 15th) and the Highland
+(the 78th) regiment, by the soldier-like and cool manner in which they
+formed, would undoubtedly have beaten back the whole Canadian army, if
+they had ventured to attack them. The loss, however, is very
+inconsiderable, and may be easily repaired when a favorable opportunity
+offers, if the men will show a proper attention to their officers."
+
+Immediately after the repulse at Montmorency, Wolfe had dispatched 1200
+men, under Brigadier Murray, to assist Admiral Holmes in the Upper
+River, and with orders to attempt the destruction of the French shipping
+which had passed up the stream. The brigadier was directed, at the same
+time, to take every favorable opportunity of engaging the enemy, and to
+endeavor, by all means in his power, to provoke them to attack him. In
+obedience to these orders, Murray proceeded up the left bank of the
+river with his detachment, consisting of the 15th Regiment, three
+companies of the Royal Americans, two of Marines, and one of Light
+Infantry. At a convenient place above the Chaudiere River, he embarked
+under Admiral Holmes, and the squadron then made sail up the stream. The
+French ships easily avoided the danger by sending all their guns and
+stores ashore, and, when thus lightened, taking refuge in the shallows
+toward Montreal; one brigantine of 200 tons was, however, abandoned and
+burned in their retreat.
+
+Murray found every place fortified where a landing might be effected,
+and the enemy always on the alert. After two vain attempts to disembark,
+he at length only succeeded by a surprise: he then pushed to the village
+of Dechambault, which was close at hand, carried it with scarcely any
+resistance, and burned some stores of provisions, clothing, and
+ammunition. Several prisoners of some note were taken in the onslaught,
+and a few important letters fell into the hands of the English. Through
+these letters Murray first heard of the occupation of Crown Point by
+Amherst, and of Johnson's victory at Niagara. Finding that he could
+effect nothing further, he hastened to convey this cheering news to his
+general.
+
+Meanwhile fruitless damage was inflicted by each party upon the other:
+the Indians frequently surprised and scalped English stragglers, and the
+English batteries at Montmorency and Point Levi kept up a continued fire
+upon the lines and upon the city. On the morning of the 10th of August,
+at one o'clock, a shell pitched upon the vaulted roof of a cellar in the
+lower town, broke through, and burst; a large quantity of brandy which
+was there stored instantly ignited, the flames spread rapidly, and
+nearly the whole of the quarter, including the Church of Notre Dame de
+la Victoire, was burned to the ground. A fire broke out simultaneously
+in the Upper Town, but was extinguished without having spread to any
+great extent.
+
+The intelligence of Amherst and Johnson's progress, although
+satisfactory in itself, gave Wolfe no hope of their assistance before
+the close of the campaign: defeat could hardly have been more disastrous
+to the general interests of the war than their inactivity. Almost the
+whole force of Canada still mustered behind the formidable defenses of
+Quebec. Nothing, however, could shake the resolution of the British
+general; while life remained, he determined to persevere in the
+enterprise. Far from being disheartened, he was only stimulated by
+increasing difficulties. The fate of the campaign now hung upon him
+alone: the disaster at Montmorency had endangered his reputation; it
+only remained to clear away the cloud by success, or to silence censure
+by a soldier's death.
+
+While Wolfe lay stricken with fever and unable to bear the presence of
+his officers, he meditated unceasingly upon plans of attack. At length,
+when somewhat recovered, but still incapable of leaving his bed, he
+dictated the following letter to the brigadiers under his command:
+
+"That the public service may not suffer by the general's indisposition,
+he begs the brigadiers will meet and consult together for the public
+utility and advantage, and consider of the best method to attack the
+enemy.
+
+"If the French army be attacked and defeated, the general concludes that
+the town would immediately surrender, because he does not find that they
+have any provision in that place.
+
+"The general is of opinion that the army should be attacked in
+preference to the place, because of the difficulties of penetrating from
+the Lower to the Upper Town; in which attempt neither the guns of the
+shipping nor of our own batteries could be of much use."
+
+The letter then proceeds to suggest three different modes of
+attack--all, however, upon the enemy's lines between the city and
+Montmorency.
+
+The brigadiers assembled in consequence of this communication, and,
+after having maturely deliberated, agreed in recommending the remarkable
+plan which Wolfe unreservedly adopted. The merit of this daring and
+skillful proposition belongs to Colonel George Townshend, although long
+disputed, or withheld by jealousy or political hostility. This able
+officer had left every happiness that domestic life could bestow, and
+every gratification which fortune and position could procure, to face
+the hardships and seek the honors of his country's service. When the
+ministry's determination to prepare the expedition against Quebec became
+known, he successfully exerted his powerful interest to obtain
+employment, and was appointed to the third post of seniority in Wolfe's
+army.
+
+The general plan of operations being arranged, preparations were
+commenced to carry it into execution. The prospect of action revived the
+drooping spirits of the British troops, and tended considerably to
+improve their health; fever had been rife among them: a number of men
+and officers had already died, and the temporary hospitals were still
+crowded. Supplies had become so scant that horseflesh was frequently
+served out as rations. The duties were rendered peculiarly harassing by
+the subtle and dangerous hostility of the savages: although invariably
+defeated, they seldom failed in the first instance to surprise and
+massacre some hapless stragglers; and no outpost was ever safe from
+their attacks. The Canadians were scarcely less dangerous and
+vindictive; their knowledge of the country, and activity in forest
+warfare, gave them a great advantage over the British soldiers in
+irregular encounters; but, whenever they ventured to act in bodies, they
+were sure to meet with severe chastisement. The invaders, however, were
+not backward in revenging these injuries; for miles round their camp,
+and on the banks of the river, they devastated the country without
+mercy.
+
+Stimulated by the sight of the ruin wrought in neighboring parishes, the
+unfortunate priest of Chateau Richer armed some eighty of his flock, and
+fortified himself in a large stone house, about ten miles eastward of
+the British camp, at Montmorency; from thence he sent a message, defying
+to the combat an English detachment posted in his neighborhood. At the
+same time, however, conveying in a note a polite request for the favor
+of the commanding officer's company at dinner, with an assurance of a
+safe-conduct. The strange but simple courtesy was of course rejected. In
+a short time a detachment of light troops, with a field-piece, was sent
+against the fortified house; the English took post in an adjoining road,
+and by a stratagem contrived to draw the little garrison from their
+defenses, and surrounded thirty of them, who were slain and scalped,
+including the unhappy priest himself. The excuse pleaded for this
+atrocious barbarity was, that the victims were disguised as Indians.
+
+On the 29th of August the British troops began to evacuate their
+positions east of the Montmorency, in pursuance of the new plan of
+operations. The sick, the women, and the heavy baggage were first
+embarked in the boats of the fleet, and conveyed past the enemy's
+batteries, at a respectful distance, to the camp at Point Levi: some of
+the heavy guns followed on the 31st. On the 2d of the following month
+Wolfe sent home an admirable dispatch, with an account of his operations
+and failures. By the 3d of September he was prepared to move the whole
+of his force from the north shore. Montcalm had anticipated this step
+from the stir in the British lines, and from the activity of the British
+light troops in burning houses and laying waste the country. He
+therefore marched two strong columns into the woods to make for the ford
+of the Montmorency, and, passing by it, to attack Wolfe while in the act
+of embarkation. From the distant hills of Point Levi, Brigadier Monckton
+observed the enemy's movements: he immediately ordered his brigade
+under arms, hurried two regiments on board of boats supplied by the
+admiral, supported by some sloops and frigates, rowed toward the
+Beauport shore, and formed within a safe distance, as if preparing to
+land. This demonstration was successful; the French columns were
+recalled from the ford, and the British embarked unmolested.
+
+During the 7th, 8th, and 9th, Admiral Holmes maneuvered his fleet in the
+upper river, harassing the enemy by constant menaces of their different
+posts. At the same time, Wolfe, now somewhat recovered, was, with his
+brigadiers, busily occupied in reconnoitering the northern bank of the
+St. Lawrence. At length he discovered a narrow path winding up the side
+of the steep precipice from the water's edge: at this spot, about three
+miles above the city, the lofty banks were slightly carved inward. At
+that time the place was known by the name of Le Foullon; it now bears a
+name that may never be forgotten--Wolf's Cove. At the top of the path
+the enemy had a small post; however, by the number of tents, which did
+not exceed a dozen, the British general concluded that its strength
+could not be more than 100 men. For miles on either side there was no
+other possible access to the heights than by that narrow path; but that
+narrow path sufficed to lead Wolfe to victory and to death.
+
+As before stated, Quebec stands on the slope of the eastern extremity of
+that lofty range which here forms the left bank of the St. Lawrence; a
+table-land extends westward for about nine miles from the defenses of
+the city, occasionally wooded and undulating, but from the top of the
+narrow path to the ramparts open and tolerably level: this portion of
+the heights is called the PLAINS OF ABRAHAM. Wolfe's plan was to ascend
+this path secretly with his whole army, and make the plains his battle
+ground. The extraordinary audacity of the enterprise was its safety: the
+wise and cautious Montcalm had guarded against all the probable chances
+of war: he was not prepared against an attempt for which the pages of
+romance can scarcely furnish a parallel.
+
+It was on the 9th of September that Wolfe addressed to the Secretary of
+State a letter which bears a deep and melancholy interest. His own view
+of the prospects of the expedition was most gloomy, and he seemed
+anxious to prepare the public mind in England for his failure.[179] The
+letter conveys the impression that he only continued his operations to
+divert the attention of the enemy from other points: it concludes in the
+following desponding words: "I am so far recovered as to do business,
+but my constitution is entirely ruined, without the consolation of
+having done any considerable service to the state, or without any
+prospect of it." But while he wrote almost in despair, he acted as if he
+had never doubted of success.
+
+On the 11th of September, Wolfe issued general orders to the army, from
+which the following are extracts:
+
+"The troops on shore, except the Light Infantry and Americans, are to be
+upon the beach to-morrow morning at five o'clock, in readiness to
+embark; the Light Infantry and Americans will re-embark at, or about,
+eight o'clock. The detachment of Artillery to be put on board the armed
+sloop this day. _The army to hold themselves in readiness to land and
+attack the enemy._
+
+"The troops must go into the boats (from the ships) about nine to-morrow
+night, or when it is pretty near high water; ... and as there will be a
+necessity for remaining some part of the night in the boats, the
+officers will provide accordingly.
+
+"When they (the boats) are to drop away from the Sutherland, she will
+show two lights in the main-top-mast shrouds, one over the other. The
+men to be quite silent, and, when they are about to land, must not, upon
+any account, fire out of the boats."
+
+Great preparations were made throughout the fleet and army for the
+decisive movement, but the plans were still kept secret; a wise caution
+was observed in this respect, for the treachery of a single deserter
+might have imperiled the success of the expedition had its exact object
+been known. On the morning of the 12th, a soldier of the Royal Americans
+did desert: happily, he was unable to warn the enemy of their danger.
+Almost at the same time, one of the French regulars deserted to Wolfe,
+and brought a clear account of the state of affairs in Montcalm's camp.
+"The main force is still below the town," said he; "our general will not
+believe that you meditate an attack any where but on the Montmorency
+side. The Canadians are dissatisfied, alarmed by the fall of Niagara,
+and in great distress for provisions. M. de Levi, with a large
+detachment, has left us for Montreal, to meet Amherst; and M. de
+Bougainville, with 1500 men, watches the motions of your fleet in the
+Upper River."
+
+From on board the Sutherland man-of-war, Wolfe issued his last orders to
+the army on the evening of the 12th of September:
+
+"The enemy's force is now divided, great scarcity of provisions is now
+in their camp, and universal discontent among the Canadians, which gives
+us reason to think that General Amherst is advancing into the colony: _a
+vigorous blow struck by the army at this juncture may determine the fate
+of Canada_ ... the troops will land where the French seem least to
+expect it. The first body that gets on shore is to march directly to the
+enemy ... the battalions must form on the upper ground with expedition,
+and be ready to charge whatever presents itself.... The officers and men
+will remember what is expected from them, and what a determined body of
+soldiers, inured to war, is capable of doing, against five weak French
+battalions, mingled with a disorderly peasantry."
+
+The heavier ships of the line moved this evening toward the Beauport
+shore, anchoring as near the enemy's lines as the depth of the water
+would permit. While daylight yet remained, all the boats of that portion
+of the fleet were lowered, filled with marines and seamen, and ranged in
+order, threatening a descent upon the shore. At the same time, the
+remaining ships suddenly hoisted sail; and, with a favoring breeze,
+swept proudly past the batteries of Quebec, and joined Holmes's squadron
+at Cape Rouge, eight miles above the city. Monckton and Murray, who,
+with their brigades, still occupied Point Levi and the village of St.
+Michael's, now pushed rapidly up the left bank of the St. Lawrence till
+they arrived opposite the fleet, and there embarked without being
+observed by the enemy. At nine o'clock at night the first division of
+the army, 1600 strong, silently removed into flat-bottomed boats; the
+soldiers were in high spirits; Wolfe led in person. About an hour before
+daylight the flotilla fell down with the ebb tide. "Weather favorable; a
+star-light night."
+
+[Footnote 177: Lord Mahon's _History of England from the Peace of
+Utrecht_, vol. v., p. 228.]
+
+[Footnote 178: "Captain Ochterlony, who is wounded and a prisoner, had
+the good fortune to be protected from the savages by a French Grenadier,
+to whom it is confidently reported that General Wolfe sent twenty
+guineas as a reward for his humanity. M. Montcalm returned the money,
+saying the man had not particularly merited such a gratuity, having done
+no more than his duty, and what he hoped every Frenchman in his army
+would do under the like circumstances.... A flag of truce came down
+to-day (August 24th) with an account of the death of the gallant Captain
+Ochterlony, who was wounded and taken prisoner, July 31st; his baggage,
+that had been forwarded to him at his request, was faithfully
+returned."--Knox's _Historical Journal_, vol. ii., p. 31.]
+
+[Footnote 179: "In short, you must not be surprised that we have failed
+at Quebec, as we certainly shall. You may say, if you please, in the
+style of modern politics, that your court[180] never supposed it could
+be taken; the attempt was really made to draw off the Russians from the
+King of Prussia, and leave him at liberty to attack Daun. Two days ago
+came letters from Wolfe, despairing, as much as heroes can despair. The
+town is well victualed; Amherst is not arrived, and 15,000 men encamped
+defend it. We have lost many men by the enemy, and some by our
+friends--that is, we now call our 9000 only 7000. How this little army
+will get away from a much larger, and in this season, and in that
+country, I don't guess--Yes I do."--- Walpole's _Letters to Sir H.
+Mann_, Oct. 16, 1759.]
+
+[Footnote 180: Sir Horace Mann was then British envoy to the court of
+Tuscany.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+We must leave Wolfe for a while to take a brief review of the position
+of affairs in his enemy's camp. Montcalm's difficulties were also great.
+He knew not where to turn for a ray of hope, except, indeed, to the now
+rapidly advancing winter. The toils were spread on every side: the
+stately fleet riding below the town cut off all supplies from France;
+the fall of Niagara and Fort of Frontenac broke off the chain of
+communication with the distant West; Amherst, with an overwhelming
+force, hung over the weakest point of the Canadian frontier; Montreal,
+with neither army nor fortification, lay exposed to the British advance.
+But, worst of all, distrust of his colleague, and contempt of the
+prowess of his militia, paralyzed Montcalm's vigor and destroyed his
+confidence. "You have sold your country," exclaimed he, in
+uncontrollable indignation, to M. de Vaudreuil, when the latter opposed
+his views; "but, while I live, I will not deliver it up." And of the
+Canadian levies he writes to M. de Berryer, "My Canadians without
+discipline, deaf to the sound of the drum, and badly armed, nothing
+remains for them but to fly; and behold me--beaten without resource!"
+"But," continued he, in the same remarkable letter,[181] "of one thing I
+can assure you, I shall not survive the probable loss of the colony.
+There are times when a general's only resource is to die with honor;
+this is such a time. No stain shall rest on my memory. But in defeat and
+death there is consolation left. The loss of the colony will one day be
+of more value to my country than a victory. The conqueror shall here
+find a tomb; his aggrandizement shall prove his ultimate ruin."
+
+Montcalm's utmost exertions failed to prevent desertion among the
+Canadians; he scourged some offenders, hanged others, threatened their
+villages with the vengeance of the savages, but still the unhappy
+peasantry were with difficulty held together. At the camp they were
+badly supplied with provisions, while their families almost starved at
+home. Their harvest, that which the English had not destroyed, remained
+unreaped. At length the general was obliged to yield to the urgent
+necessity of the case, and at a most critical period of the campaign he
+allowed 2000 of the militia to depart for the purpose of getting in
+their crops.
+
+The Indians, however, still remained faithful: as long as a chance of
+blood and plunder offered, they were sure to be present; but in a
+pitched battle they were nearly useless, and the increased experience of
+the British troops rendered even their forest warfare now less
+dangerous.
+
+Not only provisions, but even ammunition, were becoming scarce in
+Montcalm's camp: there was no hope of supplies from any quarter. The
+Lower Town and a large portion of the Upper Town were laid in ruins by
+the English artillery: the defenses, it was true, still remained
+uninjured; but, except in natural advantages, they were by no means
+formidable. The repulse of the besiegers at Montmorency had for a time
+raised the spirits of the French, and given them a better opinion of
+Canadian prowess, for upon that occasion the peasantry had fired with
+great steadiness from behind their breast-works. But the daring though
+misdirected valor of the British Grenadiers, and the imposing front of
+their supports, failed not to confirm Montcalm's deep forebodings of the
+probable result of a battle. Then the incessant activity of the
+invaders, their pertinacious retention of any point which offered an
+apparent advantage, and their seemingly inexhaustible resources, showed
+that no stone would be left unturned for his destruction.
+
+One only hope remained to the French general: the winter approached. In
+a few weeks the northern blast would scare away the stubborn enemy,
+against whom his arms and skill were ineffectual. Could he struggle on a
+little longer, the fate of Canada might be thrown upon the chances of
+another campaign, and a turn in European affairs yet preserve the
+splendid colony of France. "Unless Wolfe lands above the town, and
+forces me to a battle, I am safe," writes Montcalm. But while, on the
+night of the 12th of September, he watched in confident expectation the
+deceitful preparations of the fleet below the town, the ebbing tide
+silently floated down the British army toward that position the
+occupation of which he knew must be his ruin.
+
+Silently and swiftly, unchallenged by the French sentries,[182] Wolfe's
+flotilla dropped down the stream in the shade of the overhanging
+cliffs. The rowers scarcely stirred the waters with their oars; the
+soldiers sat motionless. Not a word was spoken save by the young
+general; he, as a midshipman on board his boat afterward related,[183]
+repeated, in a low voice to the officers by his side, "Gray's Elegy in a
+Country Churchyard;" and as he concluded the beautiful verses, said,
+"Now, gentlemen, I would rather be the author of that poem than take
+Quebec!" But while Wolfe thus, in the poet's words, gave vent to the
+intensity of his feelings, his eye was constantly bent upon the dark
+outline of the heights under which he hurried past. He recognized at
+length the appointed spot, and leaped ashore. Some of the leading boats,
+conveying the light company of the 78th Highlanders, had in the mean
+time been carried about 200 yards lower down by the strength of the
+tide. These Highlanders, under Captain Donald M'Donald, were the first
+to land. Immediately over their heads hung a woody precipice, without
+path or track upon its rocky face; at the summit a French sentinel
+marched to and fro, still unconscious of their presence. Without a
+moment's hesitation, M'Donald and his men dashed at the height. They
+scrambled up, holding on by rocks and branches of trees, guided only by
+the stars that shone over the top of the cliff; half the ascent was
+already won, when for the first time "Qui vive?" broke the silence of
+the night. "La France," answered the Highland captain, with ready
+self-possession, and the sentry shouldered his musket and pursued his
+round. In a few minutes, however, the rustling of the trees close at
+hand at length alarmed the French guard; they hastily turned out, fired
+one irregular volley down the precipice, and fled in panic. The captain,
+M. de Vergor, alone, though wounded, stood his ground. When summoned to
+surrender, he fired at one of the assailants, but was instantly
+overpowered; the Highlanders, incensed at his vain valor, tore from his
+breast a decoration which he bore, and sent him a prisoner to the rear.
+In the mean time, nearly 500 men landed and made their way up the
+height; those who had first reached the summit then took possession of
+the intrenched post at the top of that path which Wolfe had selected
+for the ascent of his army.
+
+Wolfe, Monckton, and Murray landed with the first division; as fast as
+each boat was cleared, it put back for re-enforcements to the ships,
+which had now also floated down with the tide nearly opposite to the
+point of disembarkation. The battalions formed on the narrow beach at
+the foot of the winding path, and, as soon as completed, each ascended
+the cliff, when they again formed upon the plains above. There all was
+quiet; the Light Infantry, under Lieutenant-colonel Howe, brother of the
+gallant Lord Howe who fell at Ticonderoga, had driven away the enemy's
+pickets. The boats plied busily; company after company was quickly
+landed, and, as soon as the men touched the shore, they swarmed up the
+steep ascent with ready alacrity. When morning broke, the whole
+disposable force of Wolfe's army stood in firm array upon the table-land
+above the cove. Only one gun, however, could be carried up the hill, and
+even that was not got into position without incredible difficulty.
+
+After a few minutes' anxious observation of the face of the country,
+Wolfe marched the army by files to the right in the direction of the
+city, leaving two companies of the 58th Regiment to guard the landing
+place; he then formed his line of battle upon the Plains of Abraham, and
+resolved there to cast the die for Canada. The 35th Regiment held the
+extreme right over the precipice, at the distance of three quarters of a
+mile from the ramparts, where, to adapt themselves to the shape of a
+slight elevation which rises from the plains, they were ranged in a
+semicircle on its slope. Next came the Grenadiers of Louisburg. The 28th
+prolonged the line to the 43d, which formed the center. The 58th, upon
+the left, occupied the brow of the ridge which overlooks the Valley of
+the St. Charles; the 78th Highlanders extended over the plain to the
+right, and the 47th completed the front to the place where the 43d were
+formed. Wolfe, with Monckton, commanded the right of the first line,
+Murray the left.
+
+Townshend took charge of the second line. The 15th Regiment rested their
+right flank upon the precipice over the river; the two battalions of
+the 60th or Royal Americans held the plains to the left. Colonel Burton,
+with the 48th Regiment, in four columns of two companies each, formed
+the reserve in a third line, and Colonel Howe, with the Light Infantry,
+some in houses, others in the neighboring coppices, covered the flank
+and rear.
+
+At about six o'clock some small parties of the enemy appeared upon the
+slopes under the ramparts of the city; at seven they mustered in greater
+force, and brought up two field-guns, which caused some annoyance.
+Shortly afterward they threw a body of Canadians and Indians into the
+brushwood on the face of the precipice over the river, into a field of
+corn in front of the 35th Regiment, and into a coppice opposite the
+British center: those skirmishers caused considerable mischief, but were
+speedily routed by Colonel Howe, with a detachment of the 47th. The
+whole line then received orders to lie upon their arms, while Light
+Infantry videttes covered their position at some distance in advance.
+
+Meanwhile Montcalm had been completely deceived by the demonstrations of
+the fleet below the town. Through the whole of that anxious night boats
+were approaching the shore and again retiring, on various points of the
+line between the Montmorency and the St. Charles. The English ships of
+war had worked up as near as they could find depth of water, and their
+guns played incessantly upon the beach, as if to prepare the way for a
+debarkation. Day broke before Montcalm even suspected that another
+struggle awaited him on his eastern lines; then, however, a stray cannon
+shot, and the distant echo of musketry from above the town, caught his
+ear; while he yet doubled, a horseman reached him at full speed with
+tidings that the English had landed on the Plains of Abraham. The news
+spread like lightning through the Canadian camp. Aids-de-camp galloped
+to and fro in fiery haste: trumpets and drums aroused the sleeping
+soldiery. As fast as the battalions could be mustered, they were hurried
+across the Valley of the St. Charles, over the bridge, and along the
+front of the northern ramparts of Quebec to the battle ground. M. de
+Vaudreuil, with some Canadian militia, were left to guard the lines.
+
+Under some mysterious and incomprehensible impulse, Montcalm at once
+determined to meet his dangerous enemy in the open field.
+
+To account for this extraordinary resolution is impossible. Had the
+French general thrown himself into Quebec, he might have securely defied
+his assailants from behind its ramparts till winter drove them away. But
+a short time before he had recorded his deliberate conviction that he
+could not face the British army in a general engagement. He was well
+aware that all the efforts of his indefatigable enemy had been
+throughout exerted to bring on an action upon any terms; and yet at
+length, on an open plain, without even waiting for his artillery,
+unaided by any advantage of position, he threw the rude Canadian militia
+against the veterans of England. Once, and once only, in a successful
+and illustrious career, did this gallant Frenchman forget his wisdom and
+military skill; but that one tremendous error led him to defeat and
+death.
+
+Even when the alarming news of Wolfe's landing reached Montcalm, he
+professed confidence--confidence which he could not have felt. When the
+position of the English army was pointed out to him, he said, "Yes, I
+see them where they ought not to be;" and he afterward added, "If we
+must fight, I will crush them." He, however, altogether failed to
+communicate to the Canadian troops the sanguine spirit which he himself
+professed.
+
+At eight o'clock the heads of French columns began to appear ascending
+the hill from the St. Charles to the Plains of Abraham; the only piece
+of artillery which Wolfe had been able to bring into action then opened
+with some effect, and caused them slightly to alter their line of march.
+As they arrived, they formed in three separate masses upon a slope to
+the northwest of the city, where they were sheltered from the solitary
+but mischievous gun.
+
+At nine o'clock, Montcalm moved some distance to the front, and
+developed his line of battle; at the same time, M. de Bougainville, who
+was hastening down the left bank of the St. Lawrence, made a
+demonstration with some light cavalry upon Wolfe's extreme left.
+Townshend checked this movement by throwing the third battalion of the
+60th into a line extending from the threatened flank to the post over
+the landing place.
+
+Montcalm was already worsted as a general; it was, however, still left
+him to fight as a soldier. His order of battle was steadily and promptly
+arrayed. The center column, under Montcalm in person, consisted of the
+regiments of Bearne and Guienne, numbering together no more than 720
+bayonets; with them were formed 1200 of the Canadian militia. On the
+right stood the regiments of La Sarre and Languedoc, and a battalion of
+the marine or colony troops, in all 1600 veterans; 400 of the militia,
+with one light field-piece, completed this wing. On the left, the Royal
+Roussillon and a battalion of the Marine mustered 1300 bayonets, while
+these disciplined regiments were supported by no less than 2300 of the
+Canadian levies. The total force, therefore, actually engaged, amounted
+to 7520 men, besides Indians; of these, however, not more than one half
+were regular troops: it was on them the brunt of the battle fell, and
+almost the whole loss. Wolfe's "field state" on the morning of the 13th
+of September, showed only 4828 men of all ranks from the generals
+downward, but of these every man was a trained soldier.
+
+The French attacked. At about ten o'clock a crowd of Canadians and
+Indians emerged from the bush on the slope which falls toward the Valley
+of the St. Charles; as they advanced they opened fire upon the English
+pickets of the extreme left, and drove them into their supports. Under
+cover of the cloud of smoke which rose above the scene of this attack,
+the French veterans of the right wing passed swiftly round the left of
+Murray's Brigade, and turned his flank; then, throwing aside their
+irregulars, they fell upon Howe's Light Infantry. This gallant officer
+felt the importance of his post: the houses and the line of coppice
+which he occupied formed almost a right angle with the front of the
+British army, covering it in flank and rear. He was hardly pressed; his
+men fell fast under the overpowering fire of the French; but, in a few
+minutes, Townshend, with the 15th, came to his aid: soon afterward the
+two battalions of the 60th joined the line, and turned the tide of
+battle.
+
+In the mean time swarms of skirmishers advanced against the right and
+center of the British army; their stinging fire immediately dislodged
+the few Light Infantry which Wolfe had posted in his front, and forced
+them back in confusion upon the main body. This first impression was not
+without danger: the troops who were in the rear, and could not see the
+real state of affairs, became alarmed at the somewhat retrograde
+movements in front. Wolfe perceived this: he hurried along the line,
+cheered the men by his voice and presence, and admonished them on no
+account to fire without orders. He succeeded: confidence was restored.
+
+The spirited advance of the skirmishers was but the mask of a more
+formidable movement. The whole of the French center and left, with loud
+shouts and arms at the recover, now bore down to the attack. Their light
+troops then ceased firing and passed to the rear. As the view cleared,
+their long, unbroken lines were seen rapidly approaching Wolfe's
+position. When they reached within 150 yards, they advanced obliquely
+from the left of each formation, so that the lines assumed the
+appearance of columns, and chiefly threatened the British right. And now
+from flank to flank of the assailing battalions rolled a murderous and
+incessant fire. The 35th and the Grenadiers fell fast. Wolfe, at the
+head of the 28th, was struck in the wrist, but not disabled. Wrapping a
+handkerchief round the wound, he hastened from one rank to another,
+exhorting the men to be steady and to reserve their fire. No English
+soldier pulled a trigger: with matchless endurance they sustained the
+trial. Not a company wavered; their arms shouldered as if on parade, and
+motionless, save when they closed up the ghastly gaps, they waited the
+word of command.
+
+When the head of the French attack had reached within forty yards, Wolfe
+gave the order to "fire." At once the long row of muskets was leveled,
+and a volley, distinct as a single shot, flashed from the British line.
+For a moment the advancing columns still pressed on, shivering like
+pennons in the fatal storm; but a few paces told how terrible had been
+the force of the long-suspended blow. Numbers of the French soldiers
+reeled and fell; some staggered on for a little, then dropped silently
+aside to die; others burst from the ranks shrieking in agony. The
+Brigadier de St. Ours was struck dead, and De Senezergues, the second in
+command, was left mortally wounded upon the field. When the breeze
+carried away the dense clouds of smoke, the assailing battalions stood
+reduced to mere groups among the bodies of the slain. Never before or
+since has a deadlier volley burst from British infantry.
+
+Montcalm commanded the attack in person. Not fifteen minutes had elapsed
+since he had first moved on his line of battle, and already all was
+lost! The Canadian militia, with scarcely an exception, broke and fled.
+The right wing, which had recoiled before Townshend and Howe, was
+overpowered by a counter attack of the 58th and 78th; his veteran
+battalions of Bearne and Guienne were shattered before his eyes under
+the British fire; on the left the Royal Roussillon was shrunk to a mere
+skeleton, and, deserted by their Provincial allies, could hardly retain
+the semblance of a formation. But the gallant Frenchman, though ruined,
+was not dismayed; he rode through the broken ranks, cheered them with
+his voice, encouraged them by his dauntless bearing, and, aided by a
+small redoubt, even succeeded in once again presenting a front to his
+enemy.
+
+Meanwhile Wolfe's troops had reloaded. He seized the opportunity of the
+hesitation in the hostile ranks, and ordered the whole British line to
+advance. At first they moved forward in majestic regularity, receiving
+and paying back with deadly interest the volleys of the French. But soon
+the ardor of the soldiers broke through the restraints of discipline:
+they increased their pace to a run, rushing over the dying and the dead,
+and sweeping the living enemy off their path. On the extreme right, the
+35th, under the gallant Colonel Fletcher, carried all before them, and
+won the white plume which for half a century afterward they proudly
+bore.[184] Wolfe himself led the 28th and the diminished ranks of the
+Louisburg Grenadiers, who that day nobly redeemed their error at
+Montmorency. The 43d, as yet almost untouched, pressed on in admirable
+order, worthy of their after-fame in that noble Light Division which
+"never gave a foot of ground but by word of command." On the left, the
+58th and 78th overcame a stubborn and bloody resistance; more than 100
+of the Highlanders fell dead and wounded; the weak battalion by their
+side lost a fourth part of their strength in the brief struggle. Just
+now Wolfe was a second time wounded, in the body; but he dissembled his
+suffering, for his duty was not yet accomplished. Again a ball from the
+redoubt struck him on the breast:[185] he reeled on one side, but, at
+the moment, this was not generally observed. "Support me," said he to a
+Grenadier officer who was close at hand, "that my brave fellows may not
+see me fall." In a few seconds, however, he sank, and was borne a little
+to the rear. Colonel Carleton was desperately wounded in the head at a
+few paces from Wolfe; the aid-de-camp who hastened for Monckton, to call
+him to the command, found him also bleeding on the field, beside the
+47th Regiment. At length Townshend, now the senior officer, was brought
+from the left flank to this bloody scene to lead the army.
+
+The brief struggle fell heavily upon the British, but was ruinous to the
+French. They wavered under the carnage; the columns which death had
+disordered were soon broken and scattered. Montcalm, with a courage
+that rose above the wreck of hope, galloped through the groups of his
+stubborn veterans, who still made head against the advancing enemy, and
+strove to show a front of battle. His efforts were vain; the head of
+every formation was swept away before that terrible musketry; in a few
+minutes, the French gave way in all directions. Just then their gallant
+general fell with a mortal wound: from that time all was utter rout.
+
+The English followed fiercely in the pursuit; the 47th and 58th, with
+fixed bayonets, pressed on close to the St. Louis and St. John's gates,
+till the first were checked by grape-shot from the ramparts, and the
+latter by the artillery of the hulks which were grounded in the river.
+But foremost in the advance, and most terrible to the flying enemy, were
+the 78th Highlanders; active and impetuous in their movements, and armed
+with the broadsword, they supplied in this case the want of cavalry to
+the British army. Numbers of the French fell beneath their vigorous
+blows;[186] others saved themselves by timely surrender, piteously
+craving mercy, and declaring that they had not been at Fort William
+Henry.[187] The remainder of Montcalm's right wing only found shelter
+beyond the bridge over the St. Charles. The survivors of the right and
+center soon placed the ramparts of Quebec between themselves and their
+pursuers.
+
+While some of the British battalions were disordered in the rapid
+advance, a body of about 800 French and Canadians collected in a coppice
+near the St. Charles, and assumed a somewhat threatening appearance on
+the left flank of the pursuers. Perceiving this, Townshend ordered
+Colonel Hunt Walsh, with the 28th and 43d, to crush the new resistance.
+These two battalions were well in hand; Walsh wheeled them promptly to
+the left, and, after a sharp struggle, cleared the coppice.
+
+The battle was now over, but the general of the victorious army had
+still to guard against another antagonist, as yet untouched and
+unbroken. It has been related, that, before the commencement of the
+action, the extreme left of the British position had been threatened by
+some light cavalry--the advance guard of De Bougainville's formidable
+corps. The main body and their chief had now arrived upon the scene;
+but, so rapid and complete had been the ruin of Montcalm's army, that
+his lieutenant found not a single unbroken company remaining in the
+field with which to co-operate. He himself, however, was still strong;
+besides 350 cavalry--an arm in which the invaders were altogether
+deficient--he had with him nearly 1500 men, a large proportion of whom
+were Grenadiers and Light Infantry.
+
+Townshend hastened to recall his disordered battalions, but he
+determined not to imperil the victory by seeking another engagement with
+fresh troops. His arrangements were strictly defensive; while re-forming
+a line of battle, he dispatched the 35th and the 48th with two
+field-pieces to meet De Bougainville, and, if possible, check his
+advance. The demonstration sufficed; the French soldiers, demoralized by
+the defeat of their general-in-chief, were in no condition to meet a
+victorious enemy; they recoiled before the resolute front of the British
+force, and retreated with precipitation up the left bank of the St.
+Lawrence. There Townshend did not deem it prudent to follow; the ground
+was swampy, and, for the most part, still covered with the primeval
+forest, affording every advantage to a retreating enemy.
+
+As soon as the action was over, Townshend began to intrench his camp,
+and to widen the road up the cliff for the convenience of the artillery
+and stores. De Bougainville did not halt till he reached Cape Rouge, and
+M. de Vaudreuil,[188] with his 1500 Canadians, deserted the lines west
+of the Montmorency, left all his artillery, ammunition, tents, and
+stores behind him, and made a hurried retreat toward Jacques Cartier.
+
+The loss of the English in this memorable battle amounted to 55 killed
+and 607 wounded of all ranks; that of the French has never been clearly
+ascertained, but it was not probably less than 1500 in killed and
+wounded and prisoners. Moreover, a very large proportion of the Canadian
+militia dispersed and never rejoined their colors. On the British side,
+the Louisburg Grenadiers upon the right, and the 58th and 78th upon the
+left, suffered the most severely. The five regular French battalions
+were almost destroyed, and one of the two pieces of artillery which they
+had brought into action was captured by the victors.[189]
+
+While the British troops were carrying all before them, their young
+general's life was ebbing fast away. When struck for the third time, he
+sank down; he then supported himself for a few minutes in a sitting
+posture, with the assistance of Lieutenant Brown, Mr. Henderson, a
+volunteer, and a private soldier, all of the Grenadier company of the
+22d; Colonel Williamson, of the Royal Artillery, afterward went to his
+aid. From time to time, Wolfe tried, with his faint hand, to clear away
+the death-mist that gathered on his sight; but the effort seemed vain;
+for presently he lay back, and gave no signs of life beyond a heavy
+breathing and an occasional groan. Meantime the French had given way,
+and were flying in all directions. The grenadier officers, seeing this,
+called out to those around him, "See, they run." The words caught the
+ear of the dying man; he raised himself, like one aroused from sleep,
+and asked eagerly, "Who runs?" "The enemy, sir," answered the officer:
+"they give way every where." "Go one of you to Colonel Burton," said
+Wolfe: "tell him to march Webbe's (the 48th) regiment with all speed
+down to the St. Charles River, to cut off the retreat." His voice grew
+faint as he spoke, and he turned as if seeking an easier position on his
+side; when he had given this last order, he seemed to feel that he had
+done his duty, and added feebly, but distinctly, "Now, God be praised, I
+die happy." His eyes then closed, and, after a few convulsive movements,
+he became still.[190] Despite the anguish of his wounds, he died happy;
+for through the mortal shades that fell upon his soul, there rose, over
+the unknown world's horizon, the dawn of an eternal morning.
+
+
+"GENERAL ORDERS.
+
+"_14th of September, 1759. Plains of Abraham._
+
+"Parole--WOLFE. Countersign--ENGLAND.
+
+"The remaining general officers fit to act take the earliest opportunity
+to express the praise which is due to the conduct and bravery of the
+troops; and the victory, which attended it, sufficiently proves the
+superiority which this army has over any number of such troops as they
+engaged yesterday. They wish that the person who lately commanded them
+had survived so glorious a day, and had this day been able to give the
+troops their just encomiums. The fatigues which the troops will be
+obliged to undergo, to reap the advantage of this victory, will be
+supported with a true spirit, as this seems to be the period which will
+determine, in all probability, our American labors."
+
+Deep and sincere was the sorrow of the English army for the loss of
+their chief; they almost grieved over their dearly-purchased victory.
+
+Late on the evening of the 14th of September Montcalm also died. When
+his wound was first examined, he asked the surgeon if it was mortal; and
+being answered that it was, he said, "I am glad of it: how long can I
+survive?" "Perhaps a day, perhaps less," replied the surgeon. "So much
+the better," rejoined Montcalm; "I shall not live to see the surrender
+of Quebec." When his wound was dressed, M. de Ramsay, the governor of
+the city, visited him, and desired to receive his commands for the
+defense; but he refused to occupy himself any longer with worldly
+affairs: "My time is very short," continued he, "so pray leave me. I
+wish you all comfort, and to be happily extricated from your present
+perplexities." He then called for his chaplain, who, with the bishop of
+the colony, administered the last offices of religion, and remained with
+him till he expired.
+
+An officer of the 43d regiment, whose carefully-kept journal furnishes
+much valuable information on the subject of this campaign, states that
+Montcalm paid the English army the following compliment after the
+battle: "Since it was my misfortune to be discomfited and mortally
+wounded, it is a great consolation to me to be vanquished by so great
+and generous an enemy. If I could survive this wound, I would engage to
+beat three times the number of such forces as I commanded this morning
+with a third of their number of British troops."
+
+Townshend, on the day succeeding the battle, busied himself incessantly
+in pushing on works against the city, and cutting off from the besieged
+all communication with the country. On the 17th, Admiral Saunders moved
+the whole of the British fleet into the basin, and prepared to attack
+the Lower Town; and by that evening no less than sixty-one pieces of
+heavy, and fifty-seven of light ordnance, were mounted on the British
+batteries and ready to open fire. The besieged had endeavored to retard
+these proceedings by constantly plying all their available guns, but
+did not succeed in inflicting any annoyance of importance. Before
+nightfall, an officer, bearing a flag of truce, approached the English
+camp, and was conducted to the general; to him he gave the governor, M.
+de Ramsay's, proposition to surrender if not relieved by the following
+morning.
+
+In the mean time, M. de Vaudreuil, who had, with his disorganized
+followers, joined De Bougainville at Cape Rouge on the evening of the
+13th, dispatched a courier to M. de Levi,[191] at Montreal, with tidings
+of the disaster, and to require his immediate presence to command the
+army in Montcalm's room. This done, the marquis summoned his principal
+officers to a council of war, and gave his opinion "that they should
+take their revenge on the morrow, and endeavor to wipe off the disgrace
+of that fatal day." But this bold proposition met with no more support
+in the council than it really possessed in De Vaudreuil's own mind. The
+officers were unanimously of opinion "that there was an absolute
+necessity for the army to retire to Jacques Cartier, and that no time
+should be lost." In consequence of this decision, the French immediately
+resumed their retreat, leaving every thing behind them, and marched all
+night to gain Point aux Trembles, which was fixed as the rendezvous of
+the whole remaining force.
+
+On the receipt of the disastrous news of Montcalm's defeat and death, M.
+de Levi instantly departed from Montreal to take the command of the
+shattered army. On the 16th he arrived; after a few hours' conference
+with the Marquis de Vaudreuil, it was agreed to send the following
+message to M. de Ramsay: "We exhort you, by all means, to hold out to
+the last extremity. On the 18th the whole army shall be in motion: a
+disposition is made to throw in a large supply of provisions, and to
+relieve the town." The courier reached the besieged early on the 18th,
+but it was too late; the governor was already in treaty with Townshend,
+and on that morning, the 18th day of September, 1759, QUEBEC
+SURRENDERED.[192] In the evening the keys of the city were delivered up,
+and the Louisburg Grenadiers marched in, preceded by a detachment of
+artillery and one gun, with the British flag hoisted on a staff upon the
+carriage: this flag was then placed upon the highest point of the
+citadel. Captain Palliser, of the navy, with a body of seamen, at the
+same time took possession of the Lower Town.
+
+The news of these great events reached England but two days later than
+Wolfe's discouraging dispatch of the 9th of September;[193] an
+extraordinary Gazette was immediately published and circulated
+throughout the country, and a day of thanksgiving was appointed by
+proclamation through all the dominions of Great Britain.
+
+"Then the sounds of joy and grief from her people wildly rose:"
+
+never, perhaps, have triumph and lamentation been so strangely
+intermingled. Astonishment and admiration at the splendid victory, with
+sorrow for the loss of the gallant victor, filled every breast.
+Throughout all the land were illuminations and public rejoicings, except
+in the little Kentish village of Westerham, where Wolfe was born, and
+where his widowed mother[194] now mourned her only child.
+
+Wolfe's body was embalmed, and borne to the river for conveyance to
+England. The army escorted it in solemn state to the beach: they mourned
+their young general's death as sincerely as they had followed him in
+battle bravely. Their attachment to him had softened their toils, their
+confidence in him had cheered them in disasters, and his loss now turned
+their triumph into sadness. When his remains arrived at Plymouth they
+were landed with the highest honors; minute guns were fired; the flags
+were hoisted half-mast high, and an escort, with arms reversed, received
+the coffin on the shore. He was then conveyed to Greenwich, and buried
+beside his father, who had died but a few months before.
+
+The House of Commons, on the motion of Mr. Pitt, unanimously voted that
+a monument should be erected to Wolfe's memory in Westminster Abbey[195]
+at the public expense. The monument was accordingly executed, and
+inscribed with a eulogistic memorial in Latin. Not many years since, a
+pillar was erected by Lord Dalhousie, on a lofty situation in the city
+of Quebec, to Wolfe and Montcalm, bearing a remarkably graceful Latin
+inscription by Dr. Fisher, of Quebec. Lord Aylmer has also placed a
+small and simple monument on the Plains of Abraham, on which the date
+and the following words only are engraved:
+
+ "HERE WOLFE DIED VICTORIOUS."
+
+[Footnote 181: See Appendix, No. LXXII.]
+
+[Footnote 182: "The following circumstance had nearly proved fatal to
+the general's scheme of landing where he did. In the twilight of the
+evening preceding the battle, two French deserters from the Regiment of
+La Sarre came in, and, being carried on board a ship of war, commanded
+by Captain Smith, then lying near the north shore, gave information that
+that very night the garrison of Quebec expected a convoy of provisions
+from M. de Bougainville's detachment, which was higher up the river.
+These deserters, some time after, perceiving the English boats gliding
+down the river in the dark, supposed them to be the expected convoy; and
+on this a noise ensued, which General Wolfe fortunately heard time
+enough to prevent the resolution which occasioned it; for Captain Smith,
+not having been informed of the general's intentions, was making
+preparations to fire into the boats, believing that they were the convoy
+the deserters had been speaking of; and had he done so, would have not
+only considerably hurt his friends, but sufficiently alarmed the French
+to frustrate the attempt. Again, the French sentries posted along the
+shore were in expectation of the convoy, and, therefore, when the
+English boats came near their posts, and properly answered their usual
+challenge, they suffered them to pass without the least
+suspicion."--Mante's _History of the Late Wars in America_, p. 262.]
+
+[Footnote 183: Graham's _History of the United States_, vol. iv., p.
+51.]
+
+[Footnote 184: "At the late presentation of colors to the 30th Regiment,
+in Dublin garrison, on the 21st of July, 1834, their colonel-in-chief,
+Lieutenant-general Sir John Oswald, G.C.B., mentioned in the course of
+his address, that when he first joined the regiment in 1791, he found in
+it several of the companions of Wolfe. The colonel-in-chief was
+Fletcher, of a distinguished Scottish family. He led the 35th, under
+General Wolfe, through the surf of Louisburg, placed them first after
+the British Grenadiers in line on the Plains of Abraham, and there,
+during the contest, charging the French Grenadiers, carried off the
+_white plume_ which for half a century this battalion bore. His majesty,
+George III., was so pleased with Colonel Fletcher's conduct, that when a
+lieutenant-colonel of only four years' standing, he gave him the
+colonelcy-in-chief."--_Picture of Quebec._]
+
+[Footnote 185: When Wolfe was shot, "The Treasury of Fortification," by
+John Barker, Esq., was found in his pocket. On the spare leaf is
+written, in his own hand-writing, "This is an exceeding book of
+Fortification.--WOLFE." This book is now in the Royal Artillery Library
+at Woolwich.]
+
+[Footnote 186: "Ewen Cameron, a Highlander, killed nine Frenchmen, two
+being officers. When his sword-arm was carried off by a shot, he seized
+a bayonet and wounded several men, but a bullet in his throat slew
+him."--Letter from an Officer in Lascelles's Regiment, Quebec, 20th
+September, 1759; _Gentleman's Mag._, 1759, p. 553.]
+
+[Footnote 187: "There is one incident very remarkable, and which I can
+affirm from my own personal knowledge, that the enemy were extremely
+apprehensive of being rigorously treated; for, conscious of their
+inhuman behavior to our troops upon a former occasion, the officers who
+fell into our hands, most piteously, with hats off, sued for quarter,
+repeatedly declaring they were not at Fort William Henry (by them called
+Fort St. George) in the year 1757."--Knox's _Historical Journal_, vol.
+ii., p. 72.]
+
+[Footnote 188: "Had he (M. de Vaudreuil) fallen into our hands, our men
+were determined to scalp him, he having been the chief and blackest
+author of the cruelties exercised on our countrymen. Some of his letters
+were taken, in which he explicitly and basely said that 'Peace was the
+best time for making war on the English.'"--Walpole's _Memoirs of George
+II._, p. 387.]
+
+[Footnote 189: "Tandis que les Anglais entraient dans Surate a
+l'embouchure du fleuve Indus, ils prenoient Quebec et tout le Canada au
+fonds de l'Amerique septentrionale; les troupes qui ont hasarde un
+combat pour sauver Quebec ont ete battues et presque detruites, malgre
+les efforts du General Montcalm, tue dans cette journee et tres regrette
+en France. On a perdu ainsi en un seul jour quinze cents lieues de
+pays."--Voltaire's _Precis du Siecle de Louis XV._, p. 291.]
+
+[Footnote 190: "The horror of the night, the precipice scaled by Wolfe,
+the empire he with a handful of men added to England, and the glorious
+catastrophe of contentedly terminating life where his fame began ...
+ancient story may be ransacked, and ostentatious philosophy thrown into
+the account, before an episode can be found to rank with
+Wolfe's."--Pitt's Speech on the Motion for erecting a Monument to Wolfe,
+related in Walpole's _Memoirs of George II._, p. 393.]
+
+[Footnote 191: "You know they pique themselves much upon their Jewish
+name, and call cousins with the Virgin Mary. They have a picture in the
+family, where she is made to say to the founder of the houses,
+'Couvrez-vous, mon cousin.' He replies, 'Non pas, mas tres sainte
+cousine, je sais trop bien le respect que je vous dois.' There is said
+to have been another equally absurd picture in the same family, in which
+Noah is represented going into the ark, carrying under his arm a small
+trunk, on which was written, 'Papiers de la Maison deLevis.'"--Walpole's
+_Letters to Sir H. Mann_, August 17th, 1749.]
+
+[Footnote 192: See Appendix, No. LXXI.]
+
+[Footnote 193: "The notification of a probable disappointment at Quebec
+came only to heighten the pleasure of the conquest. You may now give
+yourself what airs you please; you are master of East and West Indies.
+An embassador is the only man in the world whom bullying becomes. I beg
+your pardon, but you are spies, if you are not bragadocios. All
+precedents are on your side: Persians, Greeks, Romans, always insulted
+their neighbors when they had taken Quebec. It was a very singular
+affair, the generals on both sides slain, and on both sides the second
+in command wounded--in short, very near what battles should be, in which
+only the principals ought to suffer. If their army has not ammunition
+and spirit enough to fall again upon ours before Amherst comes up, all
+North America is ours! Poetic justice could not have been executed with
+more rigor than it has been on the perjury, treachery, and usurpations
+of the French.... It appears that the victory was owing to the
+impracticability, as the French thought, and to desperate resolution on
+our side. What a scene! an army in the night dragging itself up a
+precipice by stumps of trees to assault a town and attack an army
+strongly intrenched and double in numbers. Adieu! I think I shall not
+write to you again this twelvemonth; for, like Alexander, we have no
+more worlds left to conquer.
+
+"P.S.--Monsieur Fleurot is said to be sailed with his tiny squadron; but
+can the lords of America be afraid of half a dozen canoes? Mr. Chute is
+sitting by me, and says nobody is more obliged to Mr. Pitt than you are:
+he has raised you from a very uncomfortable situation to hold your head
+above the Capitol."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, October 19,
+1759.]
+
+[Footnote 194: "The late Mrs. Wolfe, the mother of the brave general of
+that name, has very humanely left the residue of her estate and effects,
+after debts and legacies are paid, to be disposed of among the widows
+and families of the officers who were employed in the military land
+service under her son, General Wolfe.
+
+"The executors of the late Mrs. Henrietta Wolfe, mother of the brave
+General Wolfe, have paid a legacy of L1000, left by her, to the
+Incorporated Society in Dublin for promoting English Protestant working
+schools in Ireland."--_Annual Register_, 1765.]
+
+[Footnote 195: See Appendix, No. LXVII.]
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+On the 18th of October, Admiral Saunders, with the whole fleet--the
+Race-horse of twenty, and the Porcupine of eighteen guns,
+excepted--weighed anchor and dropped down the river to Isle aux Coudres,
+there to await a fair wind to sail for Halifax and England. Brigadier
+Monckton embarked at the same time for New York, where he soon recovered
+from his wound, and Brigadier Townshend proceeded direct to London. The
+government of Quebec was intrusted to Brigadier Murray, with Colonel
+Burton as lieutenant-governor, and all the soldiers of the several
+regiments engaged in the campaign, who were still fit for duty, remained
+to form the garrison: the number of all ranks and arms now only amounted
+to 7300 men. The sick and wounded, whose recovery was remote or
+improbable, were sent home with the admiral. Having left a squadron at
+Halifax, the fleet reached England in safety ere the severity of the
+winter had set in.
+
+Before the close of the navigation, the French governor and intendant of
+Canada intrusted their melancholy dispatches to M. Cannon, who succeeded
+in passing Quebec unobserved, by taking advantage of a favorable wind
+and a thick fog. Having escaped the many other dangers which beset his
+voyage, he arrived safely in France. These dispatches were filled with
+criminations and recriminations: M. de Vaudreuil animadverted bitterly
+upon M. de Ramsay for his "precipitate surrender" of Quebec, while from
+other quarters heavy complaints were put forward against M. de
+Vaudreuil for his retreat, or rather flight, from the lines of
+Montmorency.
+
+The condition of the once splendid colony of France was now very
+lamentable. To the east, Quebec; to the west, Niagara; to the south,
+Crown Point and Ticonderoga--all the strongest positions in the northern
+continent of America, had passed from their hands in one disastrous
+campaign. Many of their veteran soldiers had found graves in the land
+which they had bravely but vainly striven to defend, or had been borne
+away as prisoners across the Atlantic. Provisions of all kinds were
+scarce, almost to famine; the prices during winter rose to an enormous
+height: wheat was commonly sold at 30 or 40 livres a bushel; a cow was
+worth 900 livres; a pair of oxen, 1500 or 2000; and sheep from 200 to
+300 livres apiece. Many people actually died of want; and at length no
+money would induce the farmers to part with their produce, when life
+itself depended upon their retaining such supplies as they possessed.
+The politic Indians were quick to observe the fallen condition of the
+French, their poverty, and their weakness: a general defection among
+doubtful allies was the consequence, increased activity of enemies, and
+a more measured assistance from friends.
+
+As the winter approached, the Chevalier de Levi retreated to Montreal,
+where he put the greater part of his army into cantonments. He, however,
+busied himself during that period of forced military inaction in
+preparations for a bold attempt to wipe out the memory of last year's
+disasters by the reconquest of Quebec. At the first opening of spring he
+began to refit such of the shipping as still bore the French flag,
+repaired the small craft, built galleys, and at Sorel embarked the
+necessary stores and ammunition, which he had drawn from the depots of
+St. John's and Chambly. M. de Vaudreuil seconded these exertions by the
+publication of an address to the Canadian people, representing in a
+highly colored style the imaginary cruelties and oppressions of the
+British governor of Quebec. He also endeavored to raise their hopes
+while he stimulated their animosity. "We have a numerous and gallant
+army," said he, "and well-grounded assurances of powerful assistance
+from France." His appeal met with no echo from a starving and
+discontented people.
+
+During the winter the French made several demonstrations against the
+British outposts at Point Levi, Cape Rouge, St. Foy, and Lorette,
+without, however, any result beyond bloodshed and mutually inflicted
+suffering; but on the 6th of April, M. de Bourlemaque, with three
+battalions of regular troops and a body of militia, marched from Jacques
+Cartier upon Cape Rouge, with the hope of surprising the English
+detachment at that place. His troops lay on their arms that night, with
+the exception of two companies of Grenadiers, whom he sent to
+reconnoiter. On their return the main body became alarmed, supposing
+them to be English troops, and fired among them; the Grenadiers returned
+the fire, and the disastrous mistake was not discovered until twenty-two
+of their men were killed and wounded. Before dawn the unlucky expedition
+returned to their quarters at Jacques Cartier.
+
+On the 17th of April, 1760, De Levi left Montreal with all his available
+force, and, collecting on his way the several detached corps, arrived in
+the neighborhood of Cape Rouge with eight battalions of regular troops,
+recruited to 4500 men, 6000 Canadians, of whom 200 were cavalry and 250
+Indians. His heavy artillery, ammunition, and stores, followed his march
+by the river in bateaux and other vessels.
+
+Meanwhile Murray lost no time in strengthening his position at Quebec.
+He erected eight timber redoubts outside the works of the city, and
+armed them with artillery; he broke up the neighboring roads, laid in
+eleven months' provision, and repaired 500 of the houses, which the
+English shot had ruined, for quarters for his troops. The outposts which
+he had established in the country round Quebec proved of considerable
+advantage: by them his movements were concealed, and those of the enemy
+watched. The inhabitants of eleven parishes in the vicinity placed
+themselves under British protection, and swore allegiance to the British
+crown: they subsequently proved very useful in supplying fresh
+provisions and firewood for the army to their utmost ability.
+Nevertheless, Murray's troops were obliged to undergo great hardship in
+collecting fuel for themselves: no less than a fourth of the whole army
+had to march ten miles each day, for many successive days, to cut timber
+in the forests, and numbers of the men were frost-bitten, or sank
+altogether under the trial. The scurvy raged also with extraordinary
+violence in the garrison; many fell victims to that dreadful disease;
+but a decoction of the hemlock spruce, recommended by an old Canadian,
+was at length successfully employed as a remedy. The severity of the
+duty and the monotony of the winter proved intolerable to not a few of
+the British soldiers; designing Frenchmen were at hand to profit by this
+opportunity; they persuaded many of the soldiers to leave their colors,
+and the spirit of desertion was not checked till some of those taken in
+the act were hanged, and their abettors subjected to a like punishment.
+
+When Murray was apprized of the approach of the French army, he marched
+out on the 27th of April with the whole disposable force to cover the
+retreat of his advanced posts: in this he succeeded with the loss of
+only two men. He then broke down all the bridges, and retired into the
+city the same evening. De Levi crossed the little stream at Cape Rouge,
+and cantoned his army, upward of 10,000 strong, in and about the village
+of St. Foy; at nine the following morning he advanced within three miles
+of Quebec.
+
+The British general, unwarned by Montcalm's fate, formed the
+unaccountable resolution of giving battle to the French in the open
+field with his feeble army, which was now reduced by sickness,
+desertion, and the sword to 3000 available men. In his letter to the
+Secretary of State reporting the consequent events, he states the
+following not very conclusive reasons for having taken this unfortunate
+step: "Well weighing my peculiar position, and well knowing that, in
+shutting myself up within the walls of the city, I should risk the whole
+stake on the chance of defending a wretched fortification, which could
+not be lessened by an action in the field."
+
+At daylight on the 28th of April, Murray marched out to the Plains of
+Abraham with his ten skeleton battalions and twenty pieces of
+artillery. His light troops easily drove in those of the French; he then
+proceeded to form his line of battle. On the right, Colonel Burton led
+the 15th, the 48th, and the second battalion of the 60th. The center
+consisted of the 43d and 58th, under Colonel James, and the left of the
+28th, 47th, and 78th, under Colonel Fraser. The 35th, and the third
+battalion of the 60th, formed the reserve. Major Dalling's Light
+Infantry covered the right flank, and some Volunteers and the Rangers
+the left. The guns were distributed in the most suitable positions.
+
+When the formations were completed, Murray rode to the front to
+reconnoiter the enemy's position: he found them occupied in putting
+their arms, which had been damaged by heavy rains during the night, in
+order, and in other respects unprepared for action. This seemed to
+afford a favorable opportunity for striking a blow, and accordingly he
+returned in all speed, and gave orders to attack without delay. The
+little army joyfully obeyed, and moved forward in admirable order over
+the brow of the heights, thence down the slope into the plains beyond.
+
+At first De Levi could not bring himself to believe that the British
+were abandoning their vantage-ground to grapple with his overwhelming
+force; but when he perceived their colors still steadily advancing
+almost within gunshot range, he called his men "to arms." The French
+hurried together, and formed their front of battle, not, however,
+without some confusion and alarm. Two companies of Grenadiers were in
+the mean time pushed forward into the woods above Sillery as a covering
+party; here they came in collision with the volunteers and Rangers of
+the British left, and, after a short encounter, they retired leisurely
+upon the main body. Murray's irregulars, now joined by the Light
+Infantry, pursued with unlucky zeal: this hasty advance exposed them to
+the fire of their own artillery, and compelled its silence; finally they
+were repulsed and broken by the French battalions, which had by that
+time attained to a steady formation. They then fell to the rear, and
+showed no more during the combat.
+
+De Levi's army was by this time ranged in battle array. Bourlemaque,
+with three battalions of Regulars, held the right; the general in
+person, with a like force, held the left; and M. Dumas, with two
+battalions, occupied the center. The lines were formed three deep, and
+in the intervals between the bodies of veteran troops the Canadian
+levies were formed. Some companies of the Marine or Colony troops, with
+the Indians, were posted in a wood somewhat in advance of the right of
+the position. The French had no artillery.
+
+When the flight of the light troops opened the front of battle, a column
+of French Infantry was seen winding up through the suburbs of St. Roch,
+so as to threaten Murray's right. Major Morris, with the 35th from the
+reserve, were quickly called into action, and they checked this
+movement. But, in the mean time, the British left was altogether
+over-matched. Fraser, with his brigade, had boldly attacked the French
+right, and at first gained some advantage, having, by an impetuous
+charge, driven Bourlemaque from two redoubts; but the superior weight of
+the enemy's fire soon told upon his weak battalions, and they were
+speedily reduced to a mere handful of men. The 43d from the center and
+the 3d battalion of the 60th from the reserve, now came to his aid, and
+still he bravely held his own ground against the overwhelming numbers of
+the French. At this critical time the Royal Roussillon from De Levi's
+center, who had not, as yet, fired a shot, charged in upon the British
+left, and bore down all resistance. The whole of Fraser's brigade then
+gave way, and retired in confusion; Burton's men, on the right, already
+hardly pressed, soon followed; all the artillery was lost; and, had it
+not been for the firm front presented by the 15th and 58th, the disaster
+might have proved irreparable. Even as it was, the carnage was almost
+unexampled in proportion to the numbers engaged: Murray left no less
+than 300 dead upon the field, and upward of 700 more of his men were
+wounded.[196]
+
+The triumph of the French was sullied by unusual cruelty to their
+gallant but unfortunate foes. Quarter was in vain asked by some of the
+British officers: four of them, being conducted to the officers of the
+Regiment of La Sarre, were received with a wave of the hand, and
+"Allez-vous-en," which speedily decided their bloody fate. Of the great
+number of wounded Englishmen who were unavoidably abandoned in the
+retreat, twenty-eight only were sent to the hospitals; the rest were
+given up to glut the rage of the Indians. Murray's artillery, and the
+steady fire of his veterans, caused the French to purchase victory at a
+very heavy cost: by their own computation, 1800 of their men were killed
+and wounded.
+
+De Levi followed up his success by intrenching himself before the city
+and preparing for the siege. Murray was not idle. No more than 2200 of
+the British troops were now fit for duty; but even the wounded assisted
+as far as they were able; nearly 600 men, unable to walk without
+crutches, seated themselves on the ramparts, made sand-bags for the
+works, and cartridges for the cannon. The women were also active in
+tending the wounded, and cooking rations for the soldiers, who were now
+too much occupied to perform those offices for themselves. By
+unremitting exertion, 132 guns were soon mounted on the ramparts; and,
+as many of the Infantry had during the winter been trained by the
+artillerymen, Murray was enabled to keep up a fire which altogether
+overpowered that of the French.
+
+But the hopes of the besieged rested alone for final delivery on the
+arrival of the fleet. On the 9th of May the Leostoffe frigate rounded
+the headland of Point Levi, and stood over for the city. For a time an
+intense anxiety reigned in both armies, as the French also expected a
+squadron with supplies. At length, when the red-cross flag ran up to
+the mizen peak of the strange ship, and a boat put off for the Lower
+Town, the joy of the garrison knew no bounds; officers and soldiers
+together mounted the parapets in the face of the enemy, and for nearly
+an hour together made the air ring with hearty British cheers. On the
+16th, Commodore Swainton arrived with the Vanguard and the Diana
+frigate; the next day he passed the town, and destroyed or captured the
+whole of the French armament upon the river.[197]
+
+De Levi, upon this, raised the siege with inglorious haste. His camp,
+guns, ammunition, stores, provisions, and intrenching tools were all
+abandoned, and his retreat was almost a flight. Murray pushed out his
+Grenadiers and Light Infantry in pursuit, and succeeded in taking some
+of the rear guard prisoners. The French then took up their old quarters
+at Jacques Cartier. This attempt upon Quebec, the results of which were
+so disproportionate to the means employed, was called by the Canadians
+"De Levi's folly."
+
+Although the siege of Quebec lasted but a short time, it gave
+opportunity to the French officers of departments to indulge in enormous
+peculation.[198] The public money was squandered with the utmost
+profusion and with the most unblushing dishonesty. False estimates were
+authorized by the engineers, and paid by the intendant at Montreal.
+Among other charges against the French government was put forward a bill
+for 300,000 moccasins for the Indians; the infamous Cadet managed this
+contract himself, in the name of his clerk, and charged the crown no
+less than 300,000 livres for the fraudulent supply. Large stores were
+constantly furnished to the army, the greater part of which became the
+property of the contractors, and was resold by them to the government at
+an exorbitant rate: meanwhile the soldiers were miserably supplied, and
+the people almost perishing with want.
+
+But this reign of peculation and oppression was fast drawing to a close.
+The successful action at Sillery was "Fortune's parting smile" upon the
+French in Canada. On the 3d of May, General, now Sir Jeffery Amherst,
+the commander-in-chief, embarked at New York and proceeded to
+Schenectady; from thence, with part of his army, he pursued his route to
+Oswego, where he encamped on the 9th of July. General Gage and the rest
+of the force was ordered to follow with all diligence: accordingly, they
+also reached Oswego on the 22d, and Sir William Johnson, with his
+Indians, arrived the following day. In the mean time, Captain Loring, of
+the navy, with two armed vessels, had cleared the Lake Ontario of the
+French cruisers, and driven them for refuge to the beautiful labyrinth
+of the "Thousand Isles."
+
+Amherst's army, now assembled on the shores of Lake Ontario, consisted
+of a detachment of the Royal Artillery, six complete battalions and
+thirteen companies of regular troops, a corps of Grenadiers, and another
+of Light Infantry, with some Rangers, and eight battalions of
+Provincials, in all 10,142 men of all ranks; Johnson's Indians numbered
+706.
+
+The plan of the campaign was again founded on combined movements. The
+general-in-chief, warned by the untoward delays which he had experienced
+in the preceding year, himself chose to descend upon the enemy's capital
+by Lake Ontario and the Upper St. Lawrence, leaving the route of Lake
+Champlain to Colonel Haviland, with a force of some artillery, 1500
+regular troops, 1800 Provincials, and a few Indians, which were
+assembled at Crown Point. At the same time, Murray, with the disposable
+portion of the gallant garrison of Quebec, aided by Lord Rollo and two
+battalions from Louisburg, was to push up the St. Lawrence, and, if
+possible, meet the other two corps under the general-in-chief and
+Haviland on the island of Montreal. Their movements were as follows:
+
+Amherst embarked the grenadiers and light troops, with a battalion of
+Highlanders, on the 7th of August, and dispatched them, under Colonel
+Haldimand, to take post at that end of Lake Ontario from whence issues
+the River St. Lawrence. On the 10th, he himself, with the artillery, the
+remainder of the regular troops, and the Indians, followed in
+whale-boats. The Provincials, under Gage, joined the flotilla on the
+12th, and the following day the whole army reached La Galette, on the
+banks of the Great River. They then dropped down the stream to Isle
+Royale without any occurrence worth record, except the gallant capture
+of an armed vessel by Colonel Williamson with a detachment of troops in
+row-boats.
+
+Upon Isle Royale there was a French post of some strength, called Fort
+Levi, which Amherst determined to subdue, partly because he was
+unwilling to leave an enemy in his rear, but principally because among
+the little garrison were several men well skilled in the dangerous
+navigation of the St. Lawrence, whose services might prove of great
+value to the expedition; accordingly, the fort was completely invested
+by the 20th. On the 23d the British batteries were in readiness, and the
+armed vessels placed in a favorable position, while a detachment of
+grenadiers with scaling-ladders were told off to storm the works. A
+cannonade was opened upon the fort; but the gallant little garrison
+returned the fire with such spirit, that one of the British vessels
+which had got aground was obliged to strike her colors, and was
+abandoned by her crew. Amherst, astonished at this vigorous resistance,
+deferred his contemplated assault to another day. The delay proved
+fortunate in preventing further bloodshed; for M. Pouchot, the French
+commandant, seeing that there was no hope of a successful defense,
+surrendered at discretion on the 25th.
+
+When the fort was delivered up, a circumstance occurred which reflects
+far more honor upon Englishmen than the triumph of their arms. Johnson's
+Indians had secretly determined to seize their opportunity of vengeance,
+and to massacre the gallant band of Frenchmen as soon as they gained
+admission within the works. Happily, Amherst was made aware of this
+atrocious scheme. He immediately gave orders to Sir William to dissuade
+the savages, if possible, from their intention; at the same time, he
+promised them all the stores which might be found in the fort, and
+warned them that if they persisted he would restrain them by force. The
+Indians sullenly submitted and returned to their camp, but they bitterly
+resented the interference, and Johnson informed the general that they
+would probably quit the army in anger. Amherst answered, "Although I
+wish to retain their friendship, I will not purchase it at the expense
+of countenancing barbarity; and tell them that, if they commit any acts
+of cruelty on their return home from the army, I will assuredly chastise
+them." Amherst lost his Indians, but he preserved his honor. Nearly all
+abandoned him; they did not, however, dare to perpetrate any violence on
+their way home.
+
+The British leveled the works at Fort Levi, and continued their route
+down the stream with little difficulty till they reached the dangerous
+passage of the Cedars. About noon on the 4th of September the van of the
+army entered the rapids. Here the vast flood of the St. Lawrence dashes
+swiftly through a comparatively narrow channel; broken rocks, eddies,
+and surging waves render the appearance of this navigation terrible to
+the unaccustomed eye, but under the guidance of experienced pilots light
+boats constantly pass with little or no danger. Amherst expected that
+the enemy would have opposed him at this critical point; he therefore
+did not deem it prudent to permit the boats to descend in the successive
+order which would have best suited the navigation, but, himself leading
+the way, he ordered on a number of boats filled with artillery,
+grenadiers, and light infantry at the same time. Scarcely had they
+entered the boisterous waters when the boats became crowded together;
+some were stove in against each other, and many were dashed to pieces
+upon the rocks. No less than eighty-eight men and sixty-four boats, with
+some artillery and stores, were lost by this lamentable disaster.
+
+On the 6th of September the British army landed on the island of
+Montreal, nine miles from the town; the French retired before them
+within the walls, and the same evening the place was invested in form.
+
+In pursuance of the plan of the campaign, Murray had sailed from Quebec
+on the 14th of June, to co-operate with the expeditions under Amherst
+and Haviland. His army consisted of 2450 men of all ranks, the veterans
+who had conquered under Wolfe. His voyage up the river was an almost
+continuous skirmish. Whenever his vessels approached the shore, they
+were assailed with musketry, and by cannon at all suitable points;
+however, he met with no resistance of a nature materially to delay his
+progress. On the 8th of August the fleet passed Three Rivers, and on the
+12th anchored opposite to Sorel, where M. de Bourlemaque was posted with
+about 4000 men. Here Murray judged it prudent to await Lord Rollo with
+the regiment from Louisburg, and, being joined by this re-enforcement,
+he again sailed upward on the 27th. On the 7th of September the troops
+were disembarked upon the island of Montreal, and on the following day
+they encamped to the northeast of the city. M. de Bourlemaque had
+retired before them within the walls.
+
+Colonel Haviland embarked upon Lake Champlain on the 11th of August; on
+the 16th he encamped opposite the French port at Isle aux Noix, and by
+the 24th opened a fire of mortars upon it. On the night of the 27th, M.
+de Bougainville, the commandant, retired from the fort, leaving a
+garrison of only thirty men, who surrendered the next morning. Without
+any further interruption, Haviland also arrived upon the island of
+Montreal by the 8th of September. A British force of 16,000 men was then
+assembled under the walls of the defenseless city. On the same day the
+Marquis de Vaudreuil signed the capitulation which severed Canada from
+France forever.
+
+All Canada was included in this capitulation, from the fishing stations
+on the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the unknown wilderness of
+the West. The regular troops were permitted to march out from their
+several posts with the honors of war, and were then conveyed to France
+in British ships, under an engagement that they were not again to serve
+before the conclusion of the first peace. The Provincial militia were
+allowed to return unmolested to their homes. The free exercise of
+religion was granted, and private property was held sacred. All the
+civil officers were also conveyed to France, with their families,
+baggage, and papers, except such of the latter as might be deemed useful
+to the conquerors for the future government of the country. The French
+colonists were guaranteed the same civil and commercial privileges as
+British subjects, and were to be allowed to retain their slaves. The
+Indians who had supported the cause of France were to be unmolested in
+person, and the possession of their lands was secured to them.
+
+The total effective force of the French included in the capitulation was
+eight battalions of the line, and two of the colony or marine, being
+4011 regular troops; sixty-four companies of the Quebec militia, 7976;
+nineteen of Three Rivers, 1115, and eighty-seven of Montreal, 7331;
+altogether, 20,433 men. The French had destroyed all their colors, but
+the English regained possession of two of their own, which had been
+taken from Shirley's and Pepperel's Provincial regiments at the capture
+of Oswego.
+
+Although the campaign of 1760 was unmarked by many events of stirring
+interest, its conduct was most creditable to the officers and men of the
+British army. Amherst's plans were as ably executed as they were
+judiciously conceived. By descending the St. Lawrence from Ontario, he
+rendered it impossible for the French to retire westward from Montreal,
+and to prolong the war on the shores of the great lakes. His
+combinations were arranged with admirable accuracy, and carried out by
+his lieutenants with almost unparalleled success. With scarcely any
+loss, three considerable bodies of troops had accomplished journeys of
+uncommon difficulty, by routes of dangerous and almost unknown
+navigation, in the face of a vigilant and still formidable enemy, and
+all three had arrived at the place of meeting within forty-eight hours
+of each other.
+
+While we dwell with pleasure upon the achievements of this British army
+and of their generals, we may not forget the merits of the gallant men
+against whom they fought. With a noble patriotism that no neglect could
+damp, Montcalm and his veterans strove for the honor of their country.
+From first to last they persevered almost against hope; destitute, and
+well-nigh deserted by France, they never for a moment wavered in their
+loyalty; all that skill could accomplish, they accomplished; all that
+devotion could endure, they endured; and all that chivalry could dare,
+they dared. In these later times, when the intoxication of triumph and
+the sting of defeat have long since passed away, the soldiers of France
+and England may alike look back with honest pride to the brave deeds of
+their ancestors in the Canadian war.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One of the most momentous political questions that has ever yet moved
+the human race was decided in this struggle. When a few English and
+French emigrants first landed among the Virginian and Canadian forests,
+it began; when the British flag was hoisted on the citadel of Quebec, it
+was decided. From that day the hand of Providence pointed out to the
+Anglo-Saxon race that to them was henceforth intrusted the destiny of
+the New World.
+
+[Footnote 196: "Who the deuse was thinking of Quebec? America was like a
+book one has read and done with, or, at least, if one looked at the
+book, one just recollected that there was a supplement promised, to
+contain a chapter on Montreal, the starving and surrender of it; but
+here we are on a sudden reading our book backward. An account came two
+days ago that the French, on their march to besiege Quebec, had been
+attacked by General Murray, who got into a mistake and a morass,
+attacked two bodies that were joined when he hoped to come up with one
+of them before he was inclosed, embogged, and defeated. By the list of
+officers killed and wounded, I believe there has been a rueful
+slaughter, and the place, I suppose, will be retaken."--Walpole's
+_Letters to Sir H. Mann_, June 20th, 1760.]
+
+[Footnote 197: "The Pomona, one of the French frigates, was driven on
+shore above Cape Diamond; the other frigate, the Atalanta, ran ashore,
+and was burned at Point aux Trembles."--_Gentleman's Magazine_, vol.
+xxx., p. 297.]
+
+[Footnote 198: "Pour comble de malheur, on accusait des plus horribles
+brigandages presque tous ceux qui etaient employes au nom du roi dans
+cette malheureuse colonie. Ils ont ete juges au Chatelet de Paris,
+tandis que le Parlement informait contre Lalli, 1764. Celui-ci, apres
+avoir cent fois expose sa vie, l'a perdue par la main d'un bourreau,
+tandis que les concussionnaires du Canada n'ont ete condamnes qu'a des
+restitutions et des amendes: tant il est de difference entre les
+affaires qui semblent les memes."--Voltaire's _Precis du Siecle de Louis
+XV._, p. 291.]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+No. I.
+
+"GENEVA, NOV. 6.--Two days after the news arrived here of the taking of
+Quebec, Monsieur de Voltaire gave a grand entertainment at his house in
+the country. In the evening the company retired into a noble gallery, at
+the end of which was erected an elegant theater, and a new piece, called
+Le Patriot Insulaire, was performed, in which all the genius and fire of
+that celebrated poet were exhausted in the cause of liberty. M. de
+Voltaire himself appeared in the principal character, and drew tears
+from the whole audience. The scenes were decorated with emblems of
+liberty, and over the stage was this inscription in Latin and English:
+
+ 'Libertati quieti
+ Musis Sacrum
+ S P of the F.'
+
+The English line means 'Spite of the French.'
+
+"After the play the windows of the gallery flew open, and presented a
+spacious court finely illuminated and adorned with savage trophies. In
+the middle of the court a magnificent fire-work was played off,
+accompanied with martial music; the star of St. George shedding forth
+innumerable rockets, and underneath a lively representation, by
+girandoles, of the cataract of Niagara."--_Public Advertiser_, Nov. 23,
+1759.
+
+
+No. II.
+
+"One of the most singular geographical illusions on record is that which
+for a long while haunted the imaginations of the inhabitants of the
+Canaries. They fancied they beheld a mountainous island, of about ninety
+leagues in length, lying far to the westward. It was only seen at
+intervals, though in perfectly clear and serene weather. To some it
+seemed one hundred leagues distant, to others forty, to others only
+fifteen or eighteen.[199]
+
+"On attempting to reach it, however, it somehow or other eluded the
+search, and was nowhere to be found. Still, there were so many persons
+of credibility who concurred in testifying to their having seen it, and
+the testimony of the inhabitants of different islands agreed so well as
+to its form and position, that its existence was generally believed;
+and geographers inserted it in their maps. It is laid down on the globe
+of Martin Behrm, projected in 1492, as delineated by M. de Murr, and it
+will be found in most of the maps of the time of Columbus, placed
+commonly about 200 leagues west of the Canaries. During the time that
+Columbus was making his proposition to the court of Portugal, an
+inhabitant of the Canaries applied to King John II. for a vessel to go
+in search of this island. In the archives of the Torre di Tombo,[200]
+also, there is a record of a contract made by the crown of Portugal with
+Fernando de Ulmo, cavalier of the royal household, and captain of the
+Island of Terceira, wherein he undertakes to go, at his own expense, in
+quest of an island, or islands, or terra firma, supposed to be the
+Island of the Seven Cities, on condition of having jurisdiction over the
+same for himself and his heirs, allowing one tenth of the revenues to
+the king. This Ulmo, finding the expedition above his capacity,
+associated one Juan Alphonso del Estreito in the enterprise. They were
+bound to be ready to sail with two caravels in the month of March,
+1487.[201] The fate of their enterprise is unknown.
+
+"The name of St. Brandan, or Borondan, given to this imaginary island
+from time immemorial, is said to be derived from a Scotch abbot, who
+flourished in the sixth century, and who is called sometimes by the
+foregoing appellations, sometimes St. Blandano or St. Blandanus. In the
+Martyrology of the order of St. Augustine, he is said to have been the
+patriarch of 3000 monks. About the middle of the sixth century, he
+accompanied his disciple, St. Maclovio or St. Malo, in search of certain
+islands, possessing the delights of paradise, which they were told
+existed in the midst of the ocean, and were inhabited by infidels. After
+these most adventurous saints-errant had wandered for a long time upon
+the ocean, they at length landed upon an island called Ima. Here St.
+Malo found the body of a giant lying in a sepulcher. He resuscitated
+him, and had much interesting conversation with him, the giant informing
+him that the inhabitants of that island had some notions of the Trinity,
+and, moreover, giving him an account of the torments which Jews and
+pagans suffered in the infernal regions. Finding the giant so docile and
+reasonable, St. Malo expounded to him the doctrines of the Christian
+religion, converted him, and baptized him by the name of Mildum. The
+giant, however, either through weariness of life, or eagerness to enjoy
+the benefits of his conversion, begged permission, at the end of fifteen
+days, to die again, which was granted him.
+
+"According to another account, the giant told them he knew of an island
+in the ocean, defended by walls of burnished gold, so resplendent that
+they shone like crystal, but to which there was no entrance. At their
+request he undertook to guide them to it, and, taking the cable of their
+ship, threw himself into the sea. He had not proceeded far, however,
+when a tempest arose and obliged them all to return, and shortly after
+the giant died.[202] A third legend makes the saint pray to Heaven, on
+Easter day, that they may be permitted to find land where they may
+celebrate the offices of religion with becoming state: an island
+immediately appears, on which they land, perform a solemn mass, and the
+sacrament of the Eucharist; after which, reembarking and making sail,
+they behold to their astonishment the supposed island suddenly plunge to
+the bottom of the sea, being nothing else than a monstrous _whale_.[203]
+When the rumor circulated of an island seen from the Canaries, which
+always eluded the search, the legends of St. Brandan were revived, and
+applied to this unapproachable land. We are told, also, that there was
+an ancient Latin manuscript in the archives of the cathedral church of
+the Grand Canary in which the adventures of these saints were recorded.
+Through carelessness, however, this manuscript disappeared.[204] Some
+have maintained that this island was known to the ancients, and was the
+same mentioned by Ptolemy among the Fortunate or Canary Islands by the
+name of Aprositus,[205] a Greek word signifying 'inaccessible,' and
+which, according to Friar Diego Philipo, in his book on the Incarnation
+of Christ, shows that it possessed the same quality in ancient times of
+deluding the eye, and being unattainable to the feet of mortals.[206]
+But, whatever belief the ancients may have had on the subject, it is
+certain that it took a strong hold on the faith of the moderns during
+the prevalent rage for discovery; nor did it lack abundant testimonials.
+Don Joseph de Viera y Clavijo says there never was a more difficult
+paradox or problem in the science of geography, since to affirm the
+existence of this island is to trample upon sound criticism, judgment,
+and reason, and to deny it, one must abandon tradition and experience,
+and suppose that many persons of credit had not the proper use of their
+senses.[207]
+
+"The belief in this island has continued long since the time of
+Columbus. It was repeatedly seen, and by various persons at a time,
+always in the same place and the same form. In 1626, an expedition set
+off for the Canaries in quest of it, commanded by Fernando de Troya and
+Fernando Alvarez. They cruised in the wonted direction, but in vain; and
+their failure ought to have undeceived the public. 'The phantasm of the
+island, however,' says Viera, 'had such a secret enchantment for all who
+beheld it, that the public preferred doubting the good conduct of the
+explorers than their own senses.' In 1570 the appearances were so
+repeated and clear, that there was a universal fever of curiosity
+awakened among the people of the Canaries, and it was determined to send
+forth another expedition. That they might not appear to act upon light
+grounds, an exact investigation was previously made of all the persons
+of talent and credibility who had seen these apparitions of land, or who
+had other proofs of its existence.
+
+"Alonzode Espinosa, governor of the island of Ferro, accordingly made a
+report, in which more than one hundred witnesses, several of them
+persons of the highest respectability, deposed that they had beheld the
+unknown island about forty leagues to the northwest of Ferro; that they
+had contemplated it with calmness and certainty, and had seen the sun
+set behind one of its points.
+
+"Testimonials of still greater force came from the islands of Palma and
+Teneriffe. There were certain Portuguese who affirmed that, being driven
+about by a tempest, they had come upon the island of St. Borondon. Pedro
+Vello, who was the pilot of the vessel, asserted that, having anchored
+in a bay, he landed with several of the crew. They drank fresh water in
+a brook, and beheld in the sand the print of footsteps, double the size
+of those of an ordinary man, and the distance between them was in
+proportion. They found a cross nailed to a neighboring tree, near to
+which were three stones placed in form of a triangle, with signs of fire
+having been made among them, probably to cook shell-fish. Having seen
+much cattle and sheep grazing in the neighborhood, two of their party,
+armed with lances, went into the woods in pursuit of them. The night was
+approaching, the heavens began to lower, and a harsh wind arose. The
+people on board the ship cried out that she was dragging her anchor,
+whereupon Vello entered the boat and hurried on board. In an instant
+they lost sight of land, being, as it were, swept away in the hurricane.
+When the storm had passed away, and sea and sky were again serene, they
+searched in vain for the island; not a trace of it was to be seen, and
+they had to pursue their voyage, lamenting the loss of their two
+companions who had been abandoned in the wood.[208]
+
+"A learned licentiate, Pedro Ortez de Funez, inquisitor of the Grand
+Canary, while on a visit at Teneriffe, summoned several persons before
+him who testified having seen the island. Among them was one Marcos
+Verde, a man well known in those parts. He stated that, in returning
+from Barbary, and arriving in the neighborhood of the Canaries, he
+beheld land, which, according to his maps and calculations, could not be
+any of the known islands. He concluded it to be the far-famed St.
+Borondon. Overjoyed at having discovered this land of mystery, he
+coasted along its spell-bound shores until he anchored in a beautiful
+harbor, formed by the mouth of a mountain ravine. Here he landed with
+several of his crew. 'It was now,' he said, 'the hour of Ave Maria, or
+of vespers. The sun being set, the shadows began to spread over the
+land. The navigators, having separated, wandered about in different
+directions, until out of hearing of each other's shouts. Those on board,
+seeing the night approaching, made signals to summon back the wanderers
+to the ship. They re-embarked, intending to resume their investigations
+on the following day. Scarcely were they on board, however, when a
+whirlwind came rushing down the ravine with such violence as to drag the
+vessel from her anchor and hurry her out to sea, and they never saw any
+thing more of this hidden and inhospitable island.'
+
+"Another testimony remains on record in a manuscript of one Abreu
+Galindo, but whether taken at this time does not appear. It was that of
+a French adventurer, who, many years before, making a voyage among the
+Canaries, was overtaken by a violent storm, which carried away his
+masts. At length the furious winds drove him to the shores of an unknown
+island covered with stately trees. Here he landed with part of his crew,
+and, choosing a tree proper for a mast, cut it down, and began to shape
+it for his purpose. The guardian power of the island, however, resented,
+as usual, this invasion of his forbidden shores. The heavens assumed a
+dark and threatening aspect; the night was approaching; and the
+mariners, fearing some impending evil, abandoned their labor, and
+returned on board. They were borne away, as usual, from the coast, and
+the next day arrived at the island of Palma.[209]
+
+"The mass of testimony collected by official authority in 1570 seemed so
+satisfactory that another expedition was fitted out in the same year in
+the island of Palma. It was commanded by Fernando de Villalobos, regidor
+of the island, but was equally fruitless with the preceding. St.
+Borondon seemed disposed only to tantalize the world with distant and
+serene glimpses of his ideal paradise, or to reveal it amid storms to
+tempest-tossed mariners, but to hide it completely from the view of all
+who diligently sought it. Still, the people of Palma adhered to their
+favorite chimera. Thirty-four years afterward, in 1605, they sent
+another ship on the quest, commanded by Gaspar Perez de Acosta, an
+accomplished pilot, accompanied by the Padre Lorenzo Pinedo, a holy
+Franciscan friar, skilled in natural science. San Borondon, however,
+refused to reveal his island to either monk or mariner. After cruising
+about in every direction, sounding, observing the skies, the clouds, the
+winds, every thing that could furnish indications, they returned without
+having seen any thing to authorize a hope.
+
+"Upward of a century now elapsed without any new attempt to seek this
+fairy island. Every now and then, it is true, the public mind was
+agitated by fresh reports of its having been seen. Lemons and other
+fruits, and the green branches of trees, which floated to the shores of
+Gomara and Ferro, were pronounced to be from the enchanted groves of San
+Borondon. At length, in 1721, the public infatuation again rose to such
+a height that a fourth expedition was sent, commanded by Don Gaspar
+Dominguez, a man of probity and talent. As this was an expedition of
+solemn and mysterious import, he had two holy friars as apostolical
+chaplains. They made sail from the island of Teneriffe toward the end of
+October, leaving the populace in an indescribable state of anxious
+curiosity. The ship, however, returned from its cruise as unsuccessful
+as all its predecessors.
+
+"We have no account of any expedition being since undertaken, though the
+island still continued to be a subject of speculation, and occasionally
+to reveal its shadowy mountains to the eyes of favored individuals. In a
+letter written from the island of Gomara, 1759, by a Franciscan monk to
+one of his friends, he relates having seen it from the village of
+Alaxera, at six in the morning of the third of May. It appeared to
+consist of two lofty mountains, with a deep valley between, and on
+contemplating it with a telescope, the valley or ravine appeared to be
+filled with trees. He summoned the curate, Antonio Joseph Manrique, and
+upward of forty other persons, all of whom beheld it plainly.[210]
+
+"Nor is this island delineated merely in ancient maps of the time of
+Columbus. It is laid down as one of the Canary Islands in a French map
+published in 1704; and Mons. Gautier, in a geographical chart annexed to
+his Observations on Natural History, published in 1759, places it five
+degrees to the west of the Island of Ferro, in the 29th degree of north
+latitude.[211]
+
+"Such are the principal facts existing relative to the island of St.
+Brandan. Its reality was for a long time a matter of firm belief. It was
+in vain that repeated voyages and investigations proved its
+non-existence: the public, after trying all kinds of sophistry, took
+refuge in the supernatural to defend their favorite chimera. They
+maintained that it was rendered inaccessible to mortals by divine
+providence or by diabolical magic. Most inclined to the former. All
+kinds of extravagant fancies were indulged concerning it:[212] some
+confounded it with the fabled island of the Seven Cities, situated
+somewhere in the bosom of the ocean, where, in old times, seven bishops
+and their followers had taken refuge from the Moors. Some of the
+Portuguese imagined it to be the abode of their last king, Sebastian.
+The Spaniards pretended that Roderic, the last of their Gothic kings,
+had fled thither from the Moors after the disastrous battle of the
+Guadalete. Others suggested that it might be the seat of the terrestrial
+paradise--the place where Enoch and Eliiah remained in a slate of
+blessedness until the final day; and that it was made at times apparent
+to the eyes, but invisible to the search of mortals. Poetry, it is said,
+has owed to this popular belief one of its beautiful fictions; and the
+garden of Armida, where Rinaldo was detained enchanted, and which Tasso
+places in one of the Canary Islands, has been identified with the
+imaginary San Borondon.[213]
+
+"The learned father Feyjoo[214] has given a philosophical solution to
+this geographical problem. He attributes all these appearances, which
+have been so numerous and so well authenticated as not to admit of
+doubt, to certain atmospherical deceptions, like that of the Fata
+Morgana, seen at times in the Straits of Messina, where the city of
+Reggio and its surrounding country is reflected in the air above the
+neighboring sea; a phenomenon which has likewise been witnessed in front
+of the city of Marseilles. As to the tales of the mariners who had
+landed on these forbidden shores, and been hurried from thence in
+whirlwinds and tempests, he considers them as mere fabrications.
+
+"As the populace, however, reluctantly give up any thing that partakes
+of the marvelous and mysterious, and as the same atmospherical phenomena
+which first gave birth to the illusion may still continue, it is not
+improbable that a belief in the island of St. Brandan may still exist
+among the ignorant and credulous of the Canaries, and that they at times
+behold its fairy mountains rising above the distant horizon of the
+Atlantic."--Washington Irving, _Life of Columbus_.
+
+[Footnote 199: Feyjoo, _Theatro Critico_, tom. iv., ch. x., s. xx.]
+
+[Footnote 200: Lib. iv. de la Chancelaria del Rey Don Juan II., fol.
+101.]
+
+[Footnote 201: Torre di Tombo, _Lib. das Yihas_, fol. 119.]
+
+[Footnote 202: Fr. Gregorio Garcia, _Origen de los Indios_, lib. i.,
+cap. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 203: Sigeberto, _Epist. ad Fritmar Abbat._]
+
+[Footnote 204: Nunez de la Pena, _Conquist. de la Gran Canaria_.]
+
+[Footnote 205: Ptolemy, tom. iv., lib. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 206: Fr. D. Philipo, lib. viii., fol. 25.]
+
+[Footnote 207: _Hist. Isl. Can._, lib. i., cap. xxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 208: Nunez de la Pena, lib. i., cap. i.; Viera, _Hist. Isl.
+Can._, tom. i., cap. xxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 209: Nunez, _Conquist. de la Gran Canaria_; Viera, _Hist. Isl.
+Can._]
+
+[Footnote 210: Viera, _Hist. Isl. Can._, lib. i., cap. xxvi.]
+
+[Footnote 211: Id. ib., tom. i., cap. xxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 212: Id. ib.]
+
+[Footnote 213: Viera, _Hist. Isl. Can._]
+
+[Footnote 214: _Theatro Critico_, tom. lv., d. x.]
+
+
+No. III.
+
+The following lines in Pulci's "Morgante Maggiore" afford probably the
+most circumstantial prediction that is to be found of the existence of a
+Western World. The devil, alluding to the vulgar superstition respecting
+the Pillars of Hercules, thus addresses Rinaldo:
+
+ "Know that this theory is false; his bark
+ The daring mariner shall urge far o'er
+ The western wave, a smooth and level plain,
+ Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel.
+ Man was in ancient days of grosser mold,
+ And Hercules might blush to learn how far
+ Beyond the limits he had vainly set,
+ The dullest sea-bird soon shall wing her way.
+ Men shall descry another hemisphere,
+ Since to one common center all things tend.
+ So earth, by curious mystery divine,
+ Well-balanced hangs amid the starry spheres.
+ At our antipodes are cities, states,
+ And thronged empires, ne'er divined of yore.
+ But see, the sun speeds on his western path,
+ To glad the nations with expected light."
+
+ _Canto_ xxv., st. 229, 230.
+
+Dante, two centuries before, had indicated more vaguely his belief in an
+undiscovered quarter of the globe:
+
+ "De' vostri sensi, ch'e del rimanente
+ Non vogliate negar l'esperienza
+ Diretro al sol, del mondo senza gente."
+
+_Inferno, Canto_ xxvi., st. 115.
+
+The prophetic lines of Seneca are well known:
+
+ "Nil, qua fuerat sede, reliquit
+ Pervius orbis.
+ Indus gelidum potat Araxem,
+ Albim Persae, Rhenumque bibunt
+ Venient annis saecula seris
+ Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum
+ Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus,
+ Tethysque novos detegat orbes,
+ Nec sit terris ultima Thule."
+
+ _Medea_, Act II., v. 371, _et seq._ _Chorus in Fine._ Ed. Bip.
+
+On which the learned Acosta remarks:
+
+"Sed utrum divinarit Seneca, an fortuito ac temere cecinerit, quaeri
+potest. Mihi vero divinasse videtur, sed eo genere divinationis, quod
+prudentes viri familiare habent."
+
+Acosta further on writes thus:
+
+"Scribit Hieronymus in epistolam ad Ephesios--'Quaerirmus quoque quid
+sit. In quibus aliquando ambulastis secundum saeculum sit mundi hujus
+utrumnam et aliud quod non pertineat ad mundum istum, sed ad mundos
+alios, de quibus et Clemens in epistola sua scribit, oceanus et mundi
+qui transipsum sunt.'"--J. Acosta, Societatis Jesu, _De Natura Novi
+Orbis_, lib. i., cap. xi.
+
+"Lorsq' Alfonso V. permit en 1461 a Dom Henry de peupler les iles
+Acores, on trouva en celle de Cuervo une statue representant un cavalier
+qui, de la main gauche, tenoit la bride de son cheval, et de la droite
+montroit l'occident, precisement du cote d'Amerique--on voyoit sur le
+roc une inscription en caracteres inconnus, dont il seroit a souhaiter
+qu'on eut pris soin d'aporter l'empreinte en Europe; mais ces premiers
+navigateurs cherchoient des tresors et non des nouvelles
+lumieres."--_Histoire de France_, par M. de Villaret, vol. xvi., p. 376.
+
+
+No. IV.
+
+The fable of Welsh Indians is of very old date. In the time of Sir
+Walter Raleigh, a confused report was spread over England that on the
+coast of Virginia the Welsh salutation had been heard; has, honi, iach.
+Owen Chapelain relates that in 1669, by pronouncing some Celtic words,
+he saved himself from the hands of the Indians of Tuscarora, by whom he
+was on the point of being scalped. The same thing, it is pretended,
+happened to Benjamin Beatty, in going from Virginia to Carolina. This
+Beatty asserts that he found a whole Welsh tribe, who preserved the
+tradition of the voyage of Madoc ap Owen, which took place in 1170. John
+Filson, in his "History of Kentucky," has revived these tales of the
+first travelers. According to him, Captain Abraham Chaplain saw Indians
+arrive at the post of Kaskasky, and converse in the Welsh language with
+some soldiers, who were natives of Wales. Captain Isaac Stewart asserts
+that on the Red River of Natchitoches, at the distance of 700 miles
+above its mouth, in the Mississippi, he discovered Indians with a fair
+skin and red hair, who conversed in Welsh, and possessed the titles of
+their origin. "They produced, in proof of what they said of their
+arrival on the eastern coast, rolls of parchment, carefully wrapped up
+in otter skins, and on which great characters were written in blue,
+which neither Stewart, nor his fellow-traveler, Davey, a native of
+Wales, could decipher." We may observe, first, that all these
+testimonies are extremely vague for the indication of places. The last
+letter of Mr. Owen, repeated in the journals of Europe (of the 11th
+February, 1819), places the posts of the Welsh Indians on the Madwaga,
+and divides them into two tribes, the Brydones and the Chadogians. "They
+speak Welsh with greater purity than it is spoken in the principality of
+Wales(!), since it is exempt from Anglicisms; they profess Christianity,
+strongly mixed with Druidism." We can not read such assertions without
+recollecting that all those fabulous stories which flatter the
+imagination are renewed periodically under new forms. The learned and
+judicious geographer of the United States, Mr. Warden, inquires justly,
+why all the traces of Welsh colonies and the Celtic tongue have
+disappeared, since less credulous travelers, and who, in some sort,
+control one another, have visited the country situated between the Ohio
+and the Rocky Mountains. Mackenzie, Barton, Clarke, Lewis, Pike, Drake,
+Mitchill, and the editors of the "New Archaeologia Americana," have found
+nothing, absolutely nothing, which denotes the remains of European
+colonies of the 12th century.--Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol.
+vi., p. 326. See Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 1; Powell's _History of Wales_,
+p. 196, &c.
+
+Lord Lyttleton, in his notes to the 5th book of his "History of Henry
+II.," p. 371, has invalidated the story of Madoc's discoveries by
+arguments of great weight; and Mr. Pennant, in "Philosophical
+Transactions," vol. lviii., p. 91, has overthrown many of the arguments
+upon which the existence of a Welsh settlement among the Indians was
+founded. General Bowles, the Cherokee, was questioned when in England as
+to the locality of the supposed descendants of Madoc: he laid his finger
+on one of the branches of the Missouri. Pike's "Travels" had lessened
+the probability of finding such a tribe; and Lewis and Clarke's "Travels
+to the Source of the Missouri" have entirely destroyed it, as
+acknowledged by Mr. Southey in his "Madoc."--See note to the Preface of
+_Madoc_.
+
+"It is much to be wished, that in our days, when a healthy tone of
+criticism is very much in use, without assuming a scornful character,
+the ancient inquiries of Powell ('Powell's History of Wales,' p. 196)
+and Richard Hakluyt ('Voyages and Navigations,' vol. iii., p. 4) might
+again be taken up in England. I do not participate in the notion of
+rejecting inquiries, by which the traditions of nations are frequently
+observed; I prefer much to hold the firm conviction that, with more
+diligence and perseverance, many of the historical problems which have
+hitherto remained unknown to us will one day be cleared up by actual
+discoveries."--Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. ii., p. 456.
+
+By some antiquarians traces have been supposed to have been found of the
+discovery of America by the Irish before the year 1000. The Esquimaux
+related to the Normans who were settled in Winland, that further
+southward, on the other side of Chesapeake Bay, there dwelt "white men,
+who walked about in long white clothes, before them sticks to which
+white cloths were attached, and crying with a loud voice." This account
+was interpreted by the Christian Normans to signify processions, in
+which they carried flags and sang hymns. In the oldest traditions, and
+in the historical narrative of Thorfinn Karlsefue, and the Iceland
+Landnama Book, these southern coasts, between Virginia and Florida, are
+indicated by the name of "Whiteman's Land." They were, in the country
+itself, certainly called "Great Ireland" (Irland it Mikla), and it was
+supposed that they were peopled by the Irish. According to testimony
+extending as far back as the year 1064, before Leif discovered Winland,
+Ari Marsson, of the powerful Iceland race of Ulf, on a voyage southward
+from Iceland, was driven by a storm upon the coasts of "Great Ireland,"
+and there baptized as a Christian, and not being allowed to go away, was
+subsequently recognized there by people from the Orkneys and Iceland. It
+is the present opinion of some northern antiquarians that Iceland was
+not peopled immediately from Europe, but from Virginia and Carolina
+(that is, from Great Ireland), by the Irish, who had early migrated to
+America.... The assiduous attempt to diffuse religious doctrines paved
+the way, at one time, for warlike undertakings, at another for the
+spread of peaceful ideas and commercial intercourse. The zeal which is
+so peculiar to the religions systems of India, Palestine, and Arabia,
+and which is altogether free from the indifference of Grecian and Roman
+polytheism, kept alive the study of geography in the first half of the
+Middle Ages. Letronne, the commentator of the Irish monk Dicuil, has
+proved, in an acute way, that after the Irish missionaries were driven
+out of the Faeroee Islands by the Normans, they began to visit Iceland
+about the year 795. The Normans, when they came to Iceland, found there
+Irish books, bells for ringing for mass, and other objects, which former
+strangers, who were called Papar, had left behind. These Papae (fathers)
+were the Clerici of Dicuil. Now if, as we must suppose from his
+testimony, those objects belonged to the Irish monks, who came from the
+Faeroee Islands, the question is, why are the monks (Papar) called in
+their native traditions "Westmen"--men who have come from the west over
+the sea? Respecting the connection of Prince Madoc's voyage to a great
+western country in 1170, with the "Great Ireland" of the Iceland
+traditions, all accounts are enveloped in deep obscurity. Compare the
+inquiries in _Rafn Antiq. Amer._, p. 203, 206, 446, 451; and Wilhelmi
+upon Iceland, _Hvitramannaland_, the Land of White Men, p. 75, 81;
+Letronne, _Recherches Geog. et Crit. sur le Livre de Mensura Orbis
+Terrae, compose en Irelande par Dicuil_, 1814, p. 129, 146.
+
+The celebrated stone of Taunton River may date its hieroglyphics from
+the time that Norwegian navigators visited the shores of "Great
+Ireland." "Anglo-American antiquaries have made known an inscription,
+supposed to be Phoenician, and which is engraved on the rocks of
+Dighton, near the banks of Taunton River, twelve leagues south of
+Boston.... The natives who inhabited these countries at the time of the
+first European settlements preserved an ancient tradition, according to
+which strangers in wooden houses had sailed up Taunton River, formerly
+called Assoonet. These strangers, having conquered the red men, had
+engraved marks on the rock, which is now covered by the waters of the
+river. Count de Gebelin does not hesitate, with the learned Dr. Stiles,
+to regard these marks as a Carthaginian inscription. He says, with that
+enthusiasm which is natural to him, but which is highly injurious in
+discussions of this kind, that this inscription comes happily at the
+moment from the New World to confirm his ideas on the origin of nations,
+and that it is clearly demonstrated to be a Phoenician monument, a
+picture which in the foreground represents an alliance between the
+American people and the foreign nation, coming by the winds of the north
+from a rich and industrious country. I have carefully examined the four
+drawings of the celebrated stone of Taunton River, which M. Loot
+published in England in the Memoirs of the Antiquarian Society."
+(_Archaeologia_, vol. viii., p. 296.) "Far from recognizing a symmetrical
+arrangement of simple letters and syllabic characters, I discover a
+drawing scarcely traced, like those that have been found on the rocks of
+Norway, and in almost all the countries inhabited by the Scandinavian
+nations." (Suhm, _Samlinger til ten Danske Historic_, b. ii., p. 215.)
+"In the sketch we distinguish, from the form of the heads, five human
+figures surrounding an animal with horns, much higher in the fore than
+in the hind part of the body."--Humboldt's _Researches in America_, vol.
+i., p. 153.
+
+
+No. V.
+
+"The great and splendid work of Marco Polo (Il Milione di Messer Marco
+Polo), as we see in the corrected edition of Count Baldelli, is wrongly
+called a book of travels: it is chiefly a descriptive, and, we may add,
+a statistical work, in which it is difficult to distinguish what the
+traveler himself saw and what he derived from others, or gathered from
+the topographical descriptions which are so plenty in Chinese
+literature, and which he had an opportunity of attaining through his
+Persian interpreter. The striking similarity of the report of the
+travels of Hinan-tschang, the Buddhist pilgrim of the seventh century,
+with that of Marco Polo, of the Pamir Highlands, in 1277, early
+attracted my attention.... However much the more recent travelers have
+been inclined to enter into an account of their own personal adventures,
+Marco Polo, on the other hand, endeavors to mix up his own observations
+with the official accounts communicated to him, which were probably
+numerous, as he held the post of governor of the town of Zangui. The
+plan of compiling adopted by the famous traveler renders it intelligible
+how he was able to dictate his book to his fellow-prisoner and friend,
+Messer Rustigielo, of Pisa, from the documents before him, while in
+prison in Genoa in 1295."--Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. ii., p. 400.
+
+Humboldt elsewhere says, that "it has frequently been supposed, and
+declared with remarkable decision, that the truthful Marco Polo had a
+great influence upon Columbus, and even that he was in possession of a
+copy of Marco Polo's work upon his first voyage of discovery."--Navarrete,
+_Collecion de los Viajos y Descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los
+Espanoles_, vol. i., p. 261.
+
+Marco Polo is called by Malte Brun "the creator of modern Oriental
+geography--the Humboldt of the thirteenth century."
+
+"The work of Marco Polo is stated by some to have been originally
+written in Latin, though the most probable opinion is that it was
+written in Italian. Copies of it in manuscript were multiplied, and
+rapidly circulated; translations were made into various languages, until
+the invention of printing enabled it to be widely diffused throughout
+Europe. In the course of these translations and successive editions, the
+original text, according to Purchas, has been much vitiated, and it is
+probable many extravagances in numbers and measurements with which Marco
+Polo is charged may be the errors of translators and printers. Francis
+Pepin, author of the Brandenburgh version, styles Polo a man commendable
+for his devoutness, prudence, and fidelity. Athanasius Kircher, in his
+account of China, says that none of the ancients have described the
+kingdoms of the remote parts of the East with more exactness. Various
+other learned men have borne testimony to his character, and most of the
+substantial points of his work have been authenticated by subsequent
+travelers. It is manifest, however, that he dealt much in exaggeration.
+The historical part of his work is full of errors and fables. He
+confuses the names of places, is very inexact as to distances, and gives
+no latitude of the places he visited."--Washington Irving's _Columbus_,
+vol. iv., p. 294.
+
+Marco Polo returned from Tartary to his native city, Venice, in 1295,
+having pursued his mercantile peregrinations in Asia upward of
+twenty-six years.
+
+
+No. VI.
+
+"Sir John Mandeville was born in the town of St. Alban's. He was devoted
+to study from his earliest childhood, and, after finishing his general
+education, applied himself to medicine. He left England in 1332, and,
+according to his own account, visited Turkey, Armenia, Egypt, Upper and
+Lower Libya, Syria, Persia, Chaldea, Ethiopia, Tartary, Amazonia, and
+the Indies, residing in their principal cities. He wrote a history of
+his travels in three languages, English, French, and Latin. The
+descriptions given by Mandeville of the Grand Khan, of the province of
+Cathay, and the city of Camhalee, are scarcely less extravagant than
+those of Marco Polo. The royal palace was more than two leagues in
+circumference; the grand hall had twenty-four columns of copper and
+gold; there were more than 300,000 men occupied, and living in and about
+the palace, of which more than 100,000 were employed in taking care of
+the elephants, of which there were 10,000, &c., &c.
+
+"Mandeville has become proverbial for indulging in a traveler's
+exaggerations; yet his accounts of the countries which he visited have
+been found far more veracious than had been imagined. His descriptions
+of Cathay and the wealthy province of Mangi, agreeing with those of
+Marco Polo, had great authority with Columbus."--Washington Irving's
+_Columbus_, vol. iv., p. 308.
+
+
+No. VII.
+
+"The Western nations, the Greeks, and the Romans, knew that magnetism
+could be communicated for a length of time to iron ('sola haec materia
+ferri vires a magneti lapide accipit, retinetque longo tempore.'--Plin.,
+xxxiv., 14). The great discovery of the terrestrial directive force,
+therefore, depended alone on this, that no one in the West happened to
+observe that a longish piece of magnetic iron ore, or a magnetized iron
+rod, floated at liberty upon water by means of a piece of wood, or
+balanced and suspended freely in the air by means of a thread. But a
+thousand years and more before the commencement of our era, in the dark
+epoch of Codru, and the return of the Heraclidae to the Peloponnesus, the
+Chinese had already magnetic cars, upon which the movable arm of a human
+figure pointed invariably to the south, as a means of finding the way
+through the boundless grassy plains of Tartary. In the third century,
+indeed, of the Christian era, at least 700 years, therefore, before the
+introduction of the ship's compass upon European seas, Chinese craft
+were sailing the Indian Ocean under the guidance of magnetic southern
+indication. This early knowledge and application of the magnetic needle
+gave the Chinese geographers great advantages over those of early Greece
+and Rome, to whom, for example, the true course of the Apennines and
+Pyrenees was never known.
+
+"Magnetism is one of the numerous forms in which electricity manifests
+itself. The ancient suspicion of the identity of electrical and
+magnetical attraction has been demonstrated in the present age. 'If
+electrum (amber),' says Pliny, in the sense of the Ionic natural
+philosophy of Thales, 'becomes inspired by friction and warmth, it
+attracts bark and dried leaves, exactly like the magnetic iron
+stone.'[215] The same words occur in the discourse laudatory of the
+magnet of the Chinese natural philosopher Kuopho, who lived in the
+fourth century. It was not without surprise that I myself observed,
+among the children at play on the woody banks of the Orinoco, the
+offspring of native tribes in the lowest grade of civilization, that the
+excitement of electricity by friction was known. The boys rubbed the
+dry, flat, and shining seeds of a creeping leguminous plant (probably a
+negretia) until they attracted fibers of cotton wool and chips of the
+bamboo. This amusement of these coppery children is calculated to leave
+a deep and solemn impression behind it. What a chasm lies between the
+electrical play of these savages and the discovery of the lightning
+conductor, of the chemically decompounding pile, of the light-evoking
+mechanical apparatus! In such gulfs, millenniums in the history of the
+intellectual progress of mankind lie buried."--Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol.
+i., p. 180; Klaproth, _Lettre a M.A. de Humboldt, sur l'Invention de la
+Boussole_, p. 125. 1834.
+
+"The application of the magnetic needle's direction toward the north and
+south, that is, the use of the mariner's compass in Europe, is probably
+due to the Arabs, who have to thank the Chinese for their knowledge of
+it. The Arabic words 'Zohron' and 'Aphron,' meaning north and south,
+like the numerous Arabic names of the stars in use at the present day,
+testify the route through which the West became acquainted with it. In
+European Christendom, the use of the magnetic needle is spoken of as
+something well known, first in a political and satirical poem, entitled
+'La Bible,' written by Guyot of Provence in 1190, and in the description
+of Palestine, by Jacob of Vitry, bishop of Ptolemais, between the years
+1204 and 1215. Also Dante (_Paradiso_, xii., 29) mentions in a simile
+the needle (ajo) 'which points southward.' The discovery of the
+mariner's compass was for a long time attributed to Flavius Gioja: he
+probably made some improvements in the apparatus for managing it in
+1302. A much earlier employment of the compass in the European seas is
+seen in a naval work by Raymundus Lullus of Majorca, a wonderfully
+talented and scientific man. In his book, entitled 'Fenix de las
+Maravillas del Orbe,' published in 1286, Lullus says that the mariners
+of his times made use of the magnetic needle. Navarrete, in his
+'Discurso Historico sobre los Progressos del Arte de Navegar en Espana,'
+p. 28, 1802, records a remarkable passage in the Leyes de las Partidas
+of the middle of the thirteenth century: 'The needle which guides the
+mariner in the dark night, and shows him in good and bad weather the
+direction which he must take, is the mediatrix (medianera) between the
+magnetic stone (la piedra) and the north star."--Humboldt's _Cosmos_,
+vol. ii., p. 291, 462.
+
+[Footnote 215: Plin., lib. xxxvii., p. 3; Plato, in _Timao_, p. 80;
+Martin, _Etudes sur le Timee_, tom. II., p. 343-346; Strabo, lib. xv.,
+p. 703, Casaub.; Clemens Alex., _Strom._, li., p. 370. When Thales, in
+Aristot., _De Anima_, lib. i., p. 2, and Hippias, in _Diag. Laertio_,
+lib. i., p. 24, attribute a soul to the magnet and to amber, this
+animation only refers to a moving principle.]
+
+
+No. VIII.
+
+"In the fifteenth century almost all the mercantile nations sought for
+slaves at the Canary Islands, as we seek them at present on the Coast of
+Guinea. Every individual made prisoner before he received the rite of
+baptism was a slave. At this period no attempt had yet been made to
+prove that the blacks were an intermediary race between men and animals.
+The swarthy Guanche and the African negro were sold simultaneously in
+the market of Seville, without a question whether slavery ought to weigh
+only on men with a black skin and frizzled hair. The archipelago of the
+Canaries was divided into several small states hostile to each other.
+The trading nations kept up intestine warfare; one Guanche then became
+the property of another, who sold him to the Europeans; several, who
+preferred death to slavery, killed themselves and their children. What
+remained of the Guanches perished mostly in 1494, in the terrible
+pestilence called the _modorra_, which was attributed to the quantity of
+dead bodies left exposed to the air by the Spaniards after the battle of
+La Laguna. The nation of the Guanches was therefore extinct at the
+beginning of the seventeenth century. It is very certain that no native
+of pure race exists in the whole island; and some travelers, who may
+otherwise be relied upon, are mistaken when they assert that their
+guides to the Peak were some of those slender and nimble-footed
+Guanches. (It is asserted that they could seize the rabbit or wild goat
+in its course.) It is true that a few Canarian families boast of their
+relationship to the last shepherd king of Guimar; but these pretensions
+do not rest on very solid foundations, and are renewed from time to
+time, when some Canarian of a more dusky hue than his countrymen is
+prompted to solicit a commission in the service of the King of Spain.
+
+"The Guanches, famed for their tall stature, were the Patagonians of the
+Old World. I never saw Guanche mummies but in the cabinets of Europe. A
+considerable number, however, might be found, if miners were employed to
+open the sepulchral caverns which are cut in the rock on the eastern
+slope of the Peak. These mummies are in a state of desiccation so
+singular, that whole bodies with their integuments, frequently do not
+weigh above six or seven pounds, or a third less than the skeleton of an
+individual of the same size recently stripped of the muscular flesh. The
+conformation of the skull has some slight resemblance to that of the
+white race of the ancient Egyptians.... The only monument that can throw
+some light on the origin of the Guanches is their language; but,
+unhappily, there are not above 150 words remaining. It has long been
+imagined that the language of the Guanches had no analogy with the
+living tongues; but since the travels of Hornemann, and the ingenious
+researches of Marsden and Venturi, have drawn the attention of the
+learned to the Berbers, who, like the Sarmatic tribes, occupy an immense
+extent of country in the north of Africa, we find that several Guanche
+words have common roots with words of the Chilha and Gebali dialects.
+This is at least an indication of the ancient connection between the
+Guanches and Berbers, a tribe of mountaineers, in which the Numidians,
+the Getuli, and the Garamanti are confounded, and who extend themselves
+from the eastern extremity of Atlas by Harutsch and Fezzan, as far as
+the Oasis of Siwah and Angela. The description which Scylax gives in his
+'Periplus' of the inhabitants of Cerne, a shepherd people of a tall
+stature and long hair, reminds us of the features which characterize the
+Canary Guanches.... The people who succeeded the Guanches descended from
+the Spaniards, and in a less degree from the Normans. Though these two
+races have been exposed during three centuries past to the same climate,
+the latter is distinguished by a whiter skin. The descendants of the
+Normans inhabit the Valley of the Teganana. The names of Grandville and
+Dampierre are still pretty common in this district. The whole
+archipelago does not contain 160,000 inhabitants, and the Islennos are
+perhaps more numerous in the Spanish settlements of America than in
+their own country."--Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. i., p. 280.
+
+
+No. IX.
+
+"Pomponius Mela, qui vivoit a une epoque assez rapprochee du temps de
+Cornelius Nepos, raconte, et Pline repete que Metellus Celer, tandis
+qu'il etoit proconsul dans les Gaules, avoit recu en cadeau, d'un roi
+des Boii (Pline le nomme roi des Sueves) quelques Indiens qui, chasses
+des mers de l'Inde par des tempetes, avoient aborde sur les cotes de la
+Germanie...... Il ne peut rester aucun doute que Pomponius Mela n'ait
+cru que les Indiens etoient arrives sur les cotes nord-est de
+l'Allemagne par la circumnavigation de l'Asie orientale et boreale. Il
+dit, 'Vi tempestatum ex Indieis aequoribus abrepti.'..... Comme il est
+reconnu que malgre le grand perfectionnement de la navigation moderne,
+l'accumulation des glaces s'oppose a toute navigation par le detroit de
+Behring le long des iles de la Nouvelle Zemble on a souleve la question
+de savoir de quelle race peuvent avoir ete les hommes de couleur que le
+proconsul Metellus Celer a pris pour des Indiens. Gomara dit que, 'Les
+Indiens de Quintus Metellus Celer etoient peut-etre de la Terre du
+Laboureur, et l'on se trompe (sur leur vraie origine) a cause de leur
+couleur.'...... Il paraissoit peu probable que des Eskimaux fussent
+venus aux cotes d'Allemagne; et tandis que Vossius, le savant
+commentateur de Mela, ne voyait dans les Indiens de Cornelius Nepos que
+des Bretons, dont le corps etoit farde de pastel, d'autres commentateurs
+adoptant l'explication de Gomara et de Wytfleet, substituoient au
+Suevorum Rex, un prince Scandinave qui avoit recueille des naufrages sur
+les cotes de Norwege. L'analogie du fait non conteste de l'arrivee
+d'Eskimaux aux iles Orcades, semble jeter une vive lumiere sur le fait
+que nous examinons ici; et quand on considere les nombreux exemples
+d'individus tombes entre les mains des barbares et traines comme captifs
+de nation a nation loin du lieu du naufrage, on trouve moins surprenant
+que des etrangers aient ete conduits dans les Gaules, en passant des
+iles Britanniques en Batavie et on Germanie: mais ce qui est bien
+etrange, c'est que dans des evenemens semblables et egalement
+enigmatiques, du moyen-age, il ne soit toujours questions que de cotes
+Germaniques. Ces evenemens sont rapportes aux regnes des Othons et de
+Frederic Barberousse; ils sont, par consequent, du dixieme et du
+douzieme siecle. 'Nos apud Othonem legimus,' dit le pape AEneas Sylvius,
+'sub imperatoribus teutonicis indicam navem et negotiatores Indos in
+_Germanico littore_ fuisse deprehensos.' Et dans Gomara, on lit, 'On
+assure aussi que, du temps de l'empereur Frederic Barberousse on amena a
+Lubec certains Indiens dans un canot.' Sir Humphrey Gilbert apres avoir
+discuti prolixement en trois chapitres le passage de Cornelius Nepos,
+ajoute 'L'an 1160, quelques Indiens arriverent, sous le regne de
+Frederic Barberousse, _upon the coast of Germanie_.' J'ai perdu beaucoup
+de temps dans de vaines recherches sur la premiere source de ces faits
+curieux. D'ou Gomara, historien generalement tres exact, a-t-il su que,
+'Les Indiens ont ete amenes a Lubec?' Comment les continuateurs des
+Annales d'Othon de Freising, et le Franciscain Ditmar, auteur de
+l'excellente Chronique de Lubec, n'ont ils rien sur de ces pretendus
+Indiens?... a la maison ou se reunit la corporation des marins de Lubec
+on conserve un canot groenlandois dans lequel se trouve une figure
+d'Eskimau en bois. Le canot a ete repare plusieurs fois; la premiere
+inscription ne porte que l'annee 1607; mais d'apres une tradition tres
+vague, un navire de Lubec doit avoir capture ce pecheur Eskimau, il y a
+trois cent ans, dans les mers de l'ouest. On agrandit la pensee, en
+renaissant, sous un pointe de vue general, les preuves de ces
+communications lointaines, favorisees par le hazard; on voit comment les
+mouvemens de l'ocean et de l'atmosphere ont pu, des les epoques les plus
+reculees, contribuer a repandre les differentes races d'hommes sur la
+surface du globe; on comprend avec Colomb (sida del Almirante, cap.
+viii.) comme un continent a pu ses reveler a l'autre."--Humboldt's
+_Examen Critique du Geographie du Nouveau Continent_, vol. ii., p. 278.
+
+
+No. X.
+
+Herodotus relates that a Phoenician fleet, fitted out by Necho, king of
+Egypt, took its departure about six hundred and four years before the
+Christian era, from a port in the Red Sea, doubled the southern
+promontory of Africa, and, after a voyage of three years, returned by
+the Straits of Gades to the mouth of the Nile. Eudoxus of Cyzicus is
+said to have held the same course, and to have accomplished the same
+arduous undertaking.--Herod., lib. iv., cap. xlii.; Plin., _Nat. Hist._,
+lib. ii., cap. lxvii.
+
+These voyages, if performed in the manner narrated, may justly be
+reckoned the greatest efforts of navigation in the ancient world; and if
+we attend to the imperfect state of the art at that time, it is
+difficult to determine whether we should most admire the courage and
+sagacity with which the design was formed, or the conduct and good
+fortune with which it was executed. But, unfortunately, all the original
+and authentic accounts of the Phoenician and Carthaginian voyages,
+whether undertaken by public authority or in prosecution of their
+private, have perished. Whatever acquaintance with the remote regions of
+the earth the Carthaginians or Phoenicians may have acquired, was
+concealed from the rest of mankind with a mercantile jealousy. Every
+thing relating to the course of their navigation was not only a mystery
+of trade, but a secret of state. Extraordinary facts are recorded
+concerning their solicitude to prevent other nations from penetrating
+into what they wished should remain undivulged (_Strab., Geogr._, lib.
+iii., p. 265; lib. xviii., p. 1154). Many of their discoveries seem
+accordingly to have been scarcely known beyond the precincts of their
+own states. The navigation round Africa, in particular, is recorded by
+the Greek and Roman writers rather as a strange, amusing tale, which
+they either did not comprehend or did not believe, than as a real
+transaction which enlarged their knowledge and influenced their
+opinion. As neither the progress of the Phoenician and Carthaginian
+discoveries, nor the extent of their navigation, were communicated to
+the rest of mankind, all memorials of their extraordinary skill in naval
+affairs seem, in a great measure, to have perished when the maritime
+power of the former was annihilated by Alexander's conquest of Tyre, and
+the empire of the latter was overturned by the Roman arms. The Periplus
+Hannonis is the only authentic monument of the Carthaginian skill in
+naval affairs, and one of the most curious fragments transmitted to us
+by antiquity. Montesquieu and De Bougainville have established its
+authenticity by arguments that appear to me unanswerable. Hanno sailed
+from Gades to the island of Cerne in twelve days. This is probably what
+is known to the moderns by the name of the island of Arguim. His
+furthest advance was to a promontory, which he named the South Horn,
+manifestly Cape de Tres Puntas, about five degrees north of the
+line.--Robertson's _America_, vol. i., p. 9-250.
+
+
+No. XI.
+
+The importance of this discovery, and of the European settlements
+consequent upon it, is chiefly interesting with regard to the
+intellectual and moral effects produced by the sudden increase in the
+stock of ideas upon the improvement and the social condition of mankind.
+Since that grand era, a new and active state of the intellect and
+feelings, bold wishes and hopes scarcely to be restrained, have
+gradually penetrated into the whole of civil society; the scanty
+population of a hemisphere, especially the coasts opposite Europe,
+favored the settlement of colonies, which, in rendering themselves
+extensive and independent in position, have overturned unlimited states
+by their choice of a free form of government; and, lastly, the
+Reformation, a forerunner of vast political revolutions, had to pass
+through different phases of its development in one country which had
+become the place of refuge for all religious opinions, and for the most
+varied ideas of divinity. The boldness of the Genoese mariner is the
+first link in the immeasurable chain of these pregnant events.... We
+might be induced to suppose that the value of these great discoveries,
+and of the double victory in the physical and intellectual world, was
+first acknowledged in our times, since the history of the civilization
+of the human race has been treated in a philosophical way. Such a
+supposition is refuted by Columbus's cotemporaries. The most talented of
+them anticipated the influence which the events of the latter years of
+the fifteenth century would exercise upon mankind. "Each day," says
+Peter Martyr, in his letters of the years 1493 and 1494, "bring us new
+wonders from a new world, from the Western antipodes, which a certain
+Genoese traveler has discovered.... Our friend Pomponius Laetus could
+scarcely restrain his tears of joy when I communicated to him the first
+accounts of so unexpected an event.... What aliment more delicious than
+such tidings can be set before an ingenious mind.... It is like an
+accession of wealth to a miser. Our minds, soiled with vices, become
+meliorated by contemplating such glorious events."
+
+"Sebastian Cabot mentioned that he was in London when news was brought
+there of the discovery, and that it caused great talk and admiration in
+the court of Henry VII., being affirmed to be a thing more divine than
+human."--Hakluyt, p. 7.
+
+"The mind of men became sharpened in order to comprehend the boundless
+store of new phenomena, to work them out, and by comparison to employ
+them for the attainment of general and higher views of the creation. If
+we carefully examine the original works of the earliest historians of
+the _Conquista_, we are astonished at finding, in a Spanish author of
+the sixteenth century, the germs of so many important physical truths.
+Upon the occasion of the discovery of a continent, which appeared to be
+separated from all the other regions of the creation, in the distant
+solitude of the ocean, a great number of the same questions with which
+we are employed at the present day occurred to the excited curiosity of
+the travelers, and to those who were collected together by their
+narratives; these questions were, Of the unity of the human race, and
+the derivation of its varieties from a common original form; of the
+migration of nations, and the affinities of language; of the possibility
+of varieties in the species of plants and animals; of the causes of the
+trade winds, and of the constant currents in the ocean; of the regular
+decrease of temperature at the declivities of the Cordilleras, and in
+the various strata of water at different depths of the ocean; and of the
+respective effects of chains of volcanic mountains, and their influence
+upon the frequency of earthquakes, and the extension of the range of the
+volcanic forces. The foundation of what is at the present day called
+physical geography is, exclusive of mathematical considerations, found
+in the works of the Jesuit, Joseph Acosta, and in the work of Oviedo,
+which appeared scarcely twenty years after the death of Columbus. In no
+other period of time since the existence of man in a social condition
+has the range of ideas in respect to the external world, and the
+relations of different places, been so suddenly and so wonderfully
+extended, or the necessity of observing natural phenomena in different
+latitudes and at different elevations above the level of the sea, or of
+multiplying the means of examining them, so deeply felt."--Humboldt's
+_Cosmos_, vol. ii., p. 295-337.
+
+
+No. XII.
+
+More than ten places have disputed the glory of having given birth to
+Columbus: Genoa, Cogoleto (Cucchereto, Cugureo, Cogoreo, Cucurco
+d'Herrera, et Cugurco de Puffendorf), Bugiasco, Finale, Quinto et Nervi,
+dans la Riviera di Genova, Savone, Palestrella, et Arbizoli, Cosseria,
+la vallee d'Oneglia, Castello di Cuccaro, la ville de Plaisance, et
+Pradello. "Le nombre de ces lieux s'est accru progressivement avec
+l'illustration du heros, car ses contemporains, Pierre Martyr, le cura
+de los Palacios, Geraldine, Pietro Coppo da Isola, l'eveque Giustiniani,
+le chancelier Antonio Gallo et Senerega l'ont unanimement appelle
+Genois.... Un voyageur moderne, dit en parlant de Cogoleto: Ce lieu n'a
+pas renonce a l'honneur d'avoir vu naitre Colomb, malgre la multitude de
+recherches et de dissertations d'apres lesquelles le grand homme paroit
+tout simplement Genois. On pretend meme a Cogoleto indiquer sa maison,
+espece de cabanne, sur le bord de la mer, que je trouvai assex
+convenablement occupee par un gardecote, et sur laquelle on lit, a la
+suite d'autres inscriptions pitoyables, ce beau vers _improvise_ par M.
+Gagliuffi.
+
+ "Unus erat Mundus; Duo sint, nit iste: fuere."
+
+ _Voyages Hist. et Litter. en Italie de M. Valery_, tom. v., p. 73.
+
+
+No. XIII.
+
+"Christophe Colomb, Cortez et Raleigh ont eprouve que le genie ne regne
+que sur l'avenir et que son pouvoir est tardive. Ils ont pendant
+quelques tems, excite au plus haut degre l'admiration de leurs
+contemporains; mais la bienveillance publique a abandonne leur
+viellesse, on ne s'est souvenu d'eux que pour les affliger dans leur
+isolement.[216] Le siecle qui les a vus naitre n'a pas compris ce que
+leur action successive a produit et prepare de changements dans l'etat
+des peuples de l'occident. L'influence que ces peuples exercent sur tous
+les points du globe ou leur presence se fait sentir simultanement, la
+preponderance universelle qui en est la suite, ne datent que de la
+decouverte de l'Amerique et du voyage de Gama. Les evenemens qui
+appartiennent a un petit group de six annees (1492-1498) ont determine
+pour ainsi dire le partage du pouvoir sur la terre. Des-lors le pouvoir
+de l'intelligence, geographiquement limite, restreint dans des bornes
+etroites a pu prendre un libre essor; il a trouve un moyen rapide
+d'etendre, d'entretenir, de perpetuer son action. Les migrations des
+peuples, les expeditions guerrieres dans l'interieur d'un continent, les
+communications par caravanes sur des routes invariablement suivies
+depuis des siecles, n'ont produit que des effets partiels et
+generalement moins durables. Les expeditions les plus lontaines ont ete
+devastatrice, et l'impulsion a ete donnee par ceux qui n'avoient rien a
+ajouter aux tresors de l'intelligence deja accumules. Au contraire, les
+evenemens de la fin du quinzieme siecle, qui ne sont separes que par un
+intervalle de six ans, ont ete longuement prepares dans le moyen-age,
+qui a son tour avoit ete feconde par les idees des siecles anterieures,
+excite par les dogmes et les reveries de la geographie systematique des
+Hellenes. C'est seulement depuis l'epoque que nous venons de signaler
+que l'unite homerique de l'ocean s'est fait sentir tous son heureuse
+influence sur la civilisation du genre humain. L'element mobile qui
+baigne toutes les cotes en est devenu le lien moral et politique, et les
+peuples de l'occident, dont l'intelligence active a cree ce lien et qui
+ont compris son importance, se sont eleves a une universalite d'action
+qui determine la preponderance du pouvoir sur le globe."--Humboldt's
+_Geographie du Nouveau Continent_, vol. iv., p. 23.
+
+[Footnote 216: _Ces Nouvelles Indes_ que Colomb nomma sa propriete (cosa
+que era suya) etoient inabordables pour celui qui les avoient refusees a
+la France, a l'Angleterre et au Portugal. Les lettres que l'amiral
+adresse a sa famille et ses amis depuis l'annee 1502, ne respirent que
+la douleur.
+
+The following is an extract from one of Columbus's mournful appeals to
+Ferdinand and Isabella:
+
+"Such is my fate, that the twenty years of service through which I have
+passed with so much toil and danger have profited me nothing, and at
+this very day I do not possess a roof in Spain that I can call my own:
+if I wish to eat or sleep, I have nowhere to go but to the inn or
+tavern, and most times lack wherewith to pay the bill.... I was
+twenty-eight years old when I came into your highnesses' service, and
+now I have not a hair upon me that is not gray; my body is infirm, and
+all that was left to me, as well as to my brothers, has been taken away
+and sold, even to the frock that I wore, to my great dishonor.... The
+honest devotedness I have always shown to your majesties' service, and
+the so unmerited outrage with which it has been repaid, will not allow
+my soul to keep silence, however much I may wish it. I implore your
+highnesses to forgive my complaints. I am, indeed, in as ruined a
+condition as I have related. Hitherto I have wept over others: may
+Heaven now have mercy upon me, and may the earth weep for me. Weep for
+me, whoever has charity, truth, and justice!"--_Select Letters of
+Columbus_, published by the Hakluyt Society.]
+
+
+No. XIV.
+
+"Per necessita d'acque mandammo il battello a terra con venticinque
+huomini: dove per le grandissime e frequente onde che gettava il mare al
+lito per esser la spiaggia aperta, non fu possibile che alcuno potesse
+smontare in terra senza pericolo di perder il battello: vedemmo quivi
+molte genti che venivano al lito, facendo varij segni d'amicizia e
+dimostrando contentezza che andassimo a terra, e per pruova li
+conoscemmo molto umani e cortesi come per il successo caso V.M.
+intendera. Per mandarli delle cose nostre, e da Indiani communimente
+molto desiderate, e apprezzate come sono fogli di charta, specchi,
+sonagli e altri simile cose, mandammo a terra un giovane de nostri
+marinari, quale ponendosi a nuoto, nell' approssimarsi (ritrovandosi in
+acqua da tre, o quattro braccia di terra lontano) di lor non
+confidandosi gliele getto nel lito, poi nel voler ritornar a dietro,
+dall onde con tanta furea fu traportato alla riva, che vi si trovo di
+modo straccho, e sbattuto, che vi resto quasi morto. Il che veduto da
+gli Indiani corsero a pigliarlo, e tiratolo fuora lo portarono alquanto
+dal mare lontano. Risentito il giovane e vedendosi da lor portato, alla
+disgrazia prima vi s'aggiunse il spavento, per il quale metteva
+grandissimi gridi, e il simile facevano gl' Indiani che
+l'accompagnavano, nel volerlo assicurare e li davano cuore di non
+temere: di poi avendolo posto in terra al pie d'un picciolo colle in
+faccia del sole, con atti d'admirazione lo riguardavano, maravigliandosi
+della bianchezza della sua carne, e ignudo spogliatolo lo fecero ad un
+grandissimo fuoco restaurare, non senza timore di noi altri, che eramo
+nel battello restati, che a quel fuoco arrostendolo, lo volessero
+divorare. Riavute le forze il giovane, e con loro avendo alquanto
+dimorato, con segni li dimostro voler alla nave far ritorno: da quali
+con grandissimo amore, tenendolo sempre stretto, con varij
+abbracciamenti, fu accompagnato sino al mare, e per piu assicurarlo,
+allargandosi andarono sopra un colle eminente, e quivi fermatislo
+stellero a riguardare sino che nel battello fu entrato."--_Verazzano in
+Ramusio_, tom, iii., p. 420.
+
+
+No. XV.
+
+"Commission de Francois I. a Jacques Quartier, pour l'etablissement du
+Canada, du 17e Octobre, 1540.[217]
+
+"Francois, par la grace de Dieu, Roi de France: a tous ceux que ces
+presentes lettres verront, salut. Comme pour le desir d'entendre et
+avoir connoissance de plusieurs pays qu'on dit inhabites, et autres etre
+possedes par gens sauvages, vivant sans connoissance de Dieu et sans
+usage de raison, eussions des pie-ca, a grands frais et mises envoye
+decouvrir les dits pays par plusieurs bons pilotes, et autres nos sujets
+de bons entendement, savoir et experience, qui d'iceux pays nous avoient
+amene divers hommes que nous avons par long-tems tenus en notre royaume,
+les faisant instruire en l'amour et crainte de Dieu et de sa sainte loix
+et doctrine Chretienne en intention de les faire ramener es dits pays en
+compagnie de bon nombre de nos sujets de bonne volonte, afin de plus
+facilement induire les autres peuples d'iceux pays a croire en notre
+sainte foi; et entr'autres y eussions envoye notre cher et bien aime
+Jacques Quartier, lequel auroit decouvert grands pays des terres de
+Canada et Hochelaga faissant un bout de l'Asie du cote de l'Occident;
+lesquels pays il trouve (comme il nous a rapporte), garnis de plusieurs
+bonnes commodites, et les peuples d'iceux bien fournis de corps et de
+membres; et bien dispose d'esprit et d'entendement; desquels il nous a
+semblablement amene aucun nombre, que nous avons par long-tems fait voir
+et instruire en notre dite sainte foi avec nos dits sujets: en
+consideration de quoi, et de leur bonne inclination, nous avons avise et
+delibere de renvoyer le dit Quartier es dits pays de Canada et
+Hochelaga, et jusques en la terre de Saguenai (s'il peut y aborder) avec
+bonne nombre de navires, et de toutes qualites, arts et industrie pour
+plus avant entrer es dits pays, converser avec les peuples d'iceux, et
+avec eux habiter (si besoin est) afin de mieux parvenir a notre dite
+intention et a faire chose agreable a Dieu notre Createur et Redempteur,
+et que soit a l'augmentation de son saint et sacre nom, et de Notre Mere
+Sainte Eglise Catholique, de laquelle nous sommes dits et nommes premier
+fils; par quoi soit besoin pour meilleur ordre et expedition de la dite
+entreprise, deputer et etablir un Capitaine General et Maitre pilote des
+dits navires, qui ait regard a la conduite d'iceux, et sur les gens,
+officiers et soldats y ordonnes et etablis; savoir faisons, que nous a
+plein confians de la personne du dit Jacques Quartier et de ses sens,
+suffisance, loyaute, prud'hommie hardiesse, grande diligence et bonne
+experience, icelui pour ces causes et autres a ce nous, mouvans, avons
+faits constitue et ordonne, faisons, constituons, ordonnons et
+etablissons par ces presentes, Capitaine Generale et Maitre pilote de
+tous les navires et autres vaisseaux de mer, par nous ordonnes etre
+menes pour la dite entreprise et expedition, pour le dit etat et charge
+de Capitaine Generale et Maitre Pilote d'iceux navires et vaisseaux,
+avoir tenir, et exercer par le dit Jacques Quartier aux honneurs,
+prerogatives, pre-eminences, franchises, libertes, gages et bienfaits
+tels que par nous lui seront pour ce ordonnes, tant qu'il nous plaira.
+Et lui avons donne, et donnons puissance et autorite de mettre, etablir,
+et instituer aux dits navires tels lieutenants, patrons, pilotes et
+autres ministres necessaires pour le fait et conduite d'iceux, en tel
+nombre qu'il verra et connoitra etre besoin et necessaire pour le bien
+de la dite expedition. Si donnons en mandement par ces dites presentes,
+a notre Admiral au Vice Admiral que prins et recue du dit Jacques
+Quartier le serment pour ce on est accoutume, icelui mettent et
+instituent on fassent mettre et instituer de par nous en possession et
+saisine du dit etat de Capitaine Generale et Maitre Pilote; et d'icelui,
+ensemble des honneurs, prerogatives, pre-eminences, franchises,
+libertes, gages et bienfaits, tels que par nous lui seront pour ce
+ordonnes, le fassent, souffrent et laissent, jour et user pleinement et
+paisiblement et a lui obeir et entendre de tous ceux, et ainsi qu'il
+appartiendra es choses touchant et concernant le dit etat et charge: et
+outre lui fasse, souffre et permette prendre le petit galion, appelle
+l'Emerillon que de present il a de nous, lequel est ja vieil et caduc,
+pour servir a l'adoub de ceux des navires qui en auront besoin, et
+lequel nous voulons etre prins et applique par le dit Quartier pour
+l'effet dessus dit, sans qu'il soit tenus en rendre aucun autre compte
+et reliquat; et duquel compte et reliquat nous l'avons decharge et
+dechargeons par icelles presentes: par lesquels nous mandons aussi a nos
+Prevots de Paris; Bailliffs de Rouen, de Caen, d'Orleans, de Blois, et
+de Tours; Senechaux du Maine, d'Anjou, et Guienne, et a tous nos autres
+Bailliffs, Senechaux, Prevots, Alloues, et autres nos Justiciers et
+officiers, tant de notre royaume que de notre pays de Bretagne uni a
+icelui pardevers lesquels sont aucuns prisonniers, accuses, ou prevenus
+d'aucuns crimes quels qu'ils soient, fors de crimes de leze-Majeste
+divine et humaine envers nous, et de faux monnoyeurs qu'ils aient
+incontinent a delivrer, rendre et bailler es mains du dit Quartier, ou
+ces commis ou deputes partans ces presentes, on le duplicate d'icelles
+pour notre service en la dite entreprise et expedition, ceux des dits
+prisonniers qu'il connoitra etre propres, suffisans, et capables pour
+servir en icelle expedition jusqu'au nombre de cinquante personnes, et
+selon le choix que le dit Quartier en fera, iceux premierement juges et
+condamnes selon leur demerites et la gravite de leurs mefaits, si juges
+et condamnes ne sont; et satisfaction aussi prealablement ordonnee aux
+parties civiles et interesses, si fait n'avoit ete: Pour laquelle
+toutefois nous ne voulons la deliverance de leur personne es dites mains
+du dit Quartier (s'il les trouve de service) etre retardee ne retenue;
+mais se prendra la dite satisfaction sur leurs biens seulement: et
+laquelle delivrance des dits prisonniers accuses ou prevenus, nous
+voulons etre faite es dites mains du dit Quartier pour l'effet dessus
+dits par nos dits justiciers et officiers respectivement, et par chacun
+d'eux en leur regard, pouvoir et jurisdiction, nonobstant oppositions ou
+appellations quelconque faites ou a faire, relevees, ou a relever, et
+sans que par le moyen d'icelles, icelle delivrance en la maniere dessus
+dite, soit aucunement differee; et afin que le plus grand nombre n'en
+soit tire, outre les dits cinquante, nous voulons que la delivrance que
+chacun de nos dits officiers en fera au dit Quartier soit ecrite et
+certifiee en la marge de ses presentes, et que neanmoins registre en
+soit par eux fait et envoyee incontinent pardevers notre ame et fial
+Chancellier, pour connoitre le nombre et la qualite de ceux qui auront
+ete baille et delivres: Car tel est notre plaisir. En temoin de ce, nous
+avons fait mettre notre scel a ces dites presentes. Donne a Saint Pris
+le dix septieme jour d'Octobre, l'an de grace, mil cinq cent quarante,
+et de notre regne le vingt-septieme.
+
+"Ainsi signe sur le repli, par le Roi, vous Monseigneur le Chancellier
+et autres persons.
+
+"DE LA CHESNAIE.
+
+"Et scelle sur le repli a simple queue de cire jaune."
+
+[Footnote 217: _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, par L'Escarbot, p. 397;
+et _Memoires sur les l'ossessions en Amerique_, tom. iii., p. 280.]
+
+
+No. XVI.
+
+The following account of the romantic expedition of De Gourgues is
+extracted from the "Picture of Quebec:"
+
+"The French and Spaniards had been long at bitter enmity, and the wars
+between them were carried on with all the exasperation of ancient
+rivalry and mutual hatred. The encroachments of the former upon the
+territories claimed by the Spaniards in Florida raised the liveliest
+indignation in the minds of a people not less martial and chivalrous
+than the French; and when we add that these encroachments had been
+chiefly made by the Huguenots, a race held in sovereign detestation by
+the Catholic Spaniard, and persecuted to a degree of intensity by Philip
+II., the height of animosity to which they were excited can easily be
+conceived. Nor were the French less susceptible of angry and vindictive
+feelings, to which may be added the poignant stings of offended national
+pride. They had never forgiven the captivity of their popular and
+gallant prince, Francis I.; the memory of this supposed disgrace still
+rankled in the population; nor was it even wholly eradicated until
+adequate reparation was made to the national honor by the accession of a
+French prince to the throne of Spain many years afterward.
+Notwithstanding a short cessation of the warfare between these two
+great powers, the passions we have attempted to describe remained in
+full force.
+
+"Laudonniere passed the winter of 1564 in the fort which he had built
+near the mouth of St. Mary's River, and which he called _La Caroline_.
+In August, 1565, having experienced the mutinous disposition of part of
+his force, superadded to the horrors of famine, he was preparing to
+abandon the enterprise and to return to France, when he was joined by
+Ribaut with seasonable supplies. On the 4th of September, they were
+surprised by the appearance in the road of six large vessels, which
+proved to be a Spanish fleet, under the command of Don Pedro Menendez.
+Hostilities were immediately commenced; and the French, having an
+inferior force of four vessels, were obliged to put to sea, chased by
+the Spaniard. The former, however, being the better sailors, after
+distancing their opponents, returned to the coast, and relanded their
+troops about eight leagues from the fort of La Caroline. Three of the
+Spanish vessels kept the open sea, while the others lay in the road
+watching an opportunity to attack the French fort. Ribaut, who was a
+brave but obstinate man, persisted in his resolution to put to sea
+again, for the purpose of meeting and fighting with the Spanish vessels.
+The season was extremely tempestuous, and Laudonniere, having first
+vainly endeavored to dissuade his colleague from the rash attempt,
+fortified himself, and made every preparation to resist the attack which
+he anticipated. At length, notwithstanding the very heavy and
+long-continued rains, the Spaniards were descried by the French
+sentinels advancing to the assault on the 29th of September. The
+ramparts, maintained with spirit by a small force, were soon surmounted
+and carried--the gallant defenders slain in the breaches. Laudonniere,
+fighting his way bravely, was the last to leave the fort, and succeeded
+in escaping to the woods, where he rallied a few of his straggling
+countrymen, and whence he ultimately returned to France. The remainder,
+with the fort, fell into the hands of the Spaniards. Nor did the
+disasters of the French end here. The vessels commanded by Ribaut were
+driven on shore by the storms then prevalent--many of the people
+lost--the survivors and their commander became prisoners to the
+Spaniards. The French were cruelly, and with bitter taunts, put to
+death. Several were hung from neighboring trees with this insulting
+legend: '_Ceux-ci n'ont pas ete traite de la sorte en qualite de
+Francois, mais comme heretiques et ennemis de Dieu._'
+
+"Ample chastisement was, however, about to be inflicted. Champlain, who
+writes of this transaction with the blunt and honest indignation of a
+soldier, in his own familiar and quaint style, observes, 'Ceux-ci furent
+payes de la meme monnaye, qu'ils avoient payes les Francois' ('they were
+repaid in the same coin with which they had paid the French').
+
+"So Shakspeare truly says,
+
+                         'In these cases,
+ We still have judgment here: that we but track
+ Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
+ To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice
+ Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
+ To our own lips.'
+
+"This outrage excited the deepest indignation in France, but the avowed
+hatred of the court toward Coligny and the Huguenots prevented public
+satisfaction being demanded from Philip II. The instrument of a just
+retribution was not wanting to the emergency, but it was reserved for a
+private individual to redeem the honor of the French name. 'En l'an
+1567,' says Champlain, 'se presenta le brave Chevalier de Gourgues, qui
+plein de valeur et de courage, pour venger cet affront fait a la nation
+Francois, et recognoissant qu'aucun d'entre la noblesse, dont la France
+foisonne, ne l'offroit pour tirer raison d'une telle injure, entreprint
+de le faire.' ('In the year 1567, there presented himself the brave
+Chevalier de Gourgues, who, full of valor and courage, to avenge the
+insult on the French nation, and observing that none among the nobility,
+with whom France abounded, offered to obtain satisfaction for such an
+injury, undertook himself to do so.') He was a gentleman of Gascony, and
+there were at that period few inferior officers in France, or perhaps in
+all Europe, who had acquired a more brilliant reputation in war, or had
+undergone greater vicissitudes. When very young he had served in Italy
+with honor; and on one occasion, having the command of a small band of
+thirty men, near Sienna in Tuscany, he was able for a considerable time
+to withstand and repulse the assault of a part of the Spanish army,
+until, all his men being slain, he yielded himself prisoner. Contrary to
+the usage of war among generous foes, he was sent to the galleys in
+chains as a robber-slave. The galley to which the indignant De Gourgues
+was condemned was afterward captured by the Turks on the Sicilian coast,
+and sent into Rhodes. Again putting to sea with a Turkish crew, it was
+encountered and taken by the galleys of the Knights of Malta, and De
+Gourgues recovered his liberty and his sword. He afterward made several
+passages to Brazil and the coast of Africa, still treasuring up
+vengeance on the Spaniards; and he had just returned to France from one
+of his voyages, with the reputation of the bravest and most able among
+her navigators, when he heard of the disastrous tale of La Caroline, and
+the disgraceful manner in which his countrymen had been put to death by
+the Spaniards. Like a patriot, he felt keenly for the honor of his
+country; and as a man, he burned for an opportunity of satiating his
+long-dormant revenge on the perfidious Spaniards for their unworthy
+treatment of himself. At this time, too, there was circulated in France
+a narrative, entitled the 'Supplication of the Widows and Children of
+those who had been massacred in Florida,' calculated to rouse the
+national feeling to the highest pitch. These united motives urged De
+Gourgues to a chivalrous undertaking--no less than to chase the
+murderous invaders from the coasts of Florida, at the sword's point, or
+to die in the attempt. He accordingly proceeded to make his
+preparations, which, however, were concealed with great skill and
+address. He raised a considerable sum by selling his property, and by
+loans obtained from his friends; and, disguising his real purpose, gave
+out that he was bound, as before, to the African coast. The squadron
+consisted of three vessels, with crews amounting to 250 souls, amply
+provided for twelve months. Thus equipped, he sailed, on the 23d of
+August, 1567, from Bordeaux, and after some time began to unfold his
+real design, expatiating in glowing language on the glory of the attempt
+and the righteousness of the quarrel.
+
+"_Speech of De Gourgues, from Champlain_: 'Mes compagnons et fideles
+amis de ma fortune, vous n'estes pas ignorans combien je cheris les
+braves courages comme vous, et l'avez assez tesmoigne par la belle
+resolution que vous avez prise de me suivre et assister en tous les
+perils et hazards honorables que nous aurons a souffrir et essuyer,
+lorsqu'ils se presenteront devant nos yeux, et l'estat que je fais de la
+conservation de vos vies; ne desirant point vous embarquer au risque
+d'un _enterprise_ que je ne scaurois reussir, a une ruine sans honneur:
+ce seroit a moy une trop grand et blamable temerite, de hazarder vos
+personnes a un dessein d'un accez si difficile; ce que je ne croy pas
+estre, bien que j'aye employe une bonne partie de mon bien et de mes
+amis, pour equipper ces vaisseaux et les mettre en mer, estant le seul
+entrepreneur de tout le voyage. Mais tout cela ne me donne pas tant de
+sujet de m'affliger, comme j'en ay de me resjouir, de vous voir tous
+resolus a une autre entreprise, que retournera a votre gloire, scavoir
+d'aller venger l'injure que nostre nation a receuee des Espagnols, qui
+ont fait une telle playe a la France, qu'elle saignera a jamais, par les
+supplices et traictemens infames qu'ils ont fait souffrir a nos
+Francois, et excerce des cruautez barbares et inouis en leur endroit.
+Les ressentimens que j'en ay quelquefois, m'en font jetter des larmes de
+compassion, et me relevent le courage de telle sort, que je suis resolu
+avec l'assistance de Dieu, et la vostre, de prendre une juste vengeance
+d'une telle felonnie et cruaute Espagnolle, de ces coeurs laches et
+poltrons, qui ont surpris mal-heureusement nos compatriots, qu'ils
+n'eussent ose regarder sur la defense de leurs armes. Ils sont assez mal
+logez, et les surprendrons aisement. J'ay des hommes en mes vaisseaux
+qui cognaissent tres-bien le pais, et pouvous y allez en seurete. Voicy,
+chers compagnons, un _subject_ de relever nos courages, faites paroietre
+que vous avez autant de bonne volonte a executer ce bon dessein, que
+vous avez d'affection a me suivre: ne serez vous pas contents de
+remporter les lauriers triomphans de la despouille de vos ennemis?'
+
+"'Companions, and faithful friends of my fortunes, you are not ignorant
+how highly I value brave men like yourselves. Your courage you have
+sufficiently proved by your noble resolution to accompany me in all the
+dangers which we shall have to encounter, as they successively present
+themselves: my regard for you I have shown by the care I have taken for
+the safety of your lives. I desire not to embark you in any enterprise
+which may result in dishonorable failure: it would be in me a far too
+great and blamable temerity to hazard your safety in any design so
+difficult of accomplishment, which, however, I do not consider this one
+to be, seeing that I have employed in it a good part of my own fortune,
+and that of my friends, in equipping these vessels, and putting to sea,
+myself being the sole undertaker of the voyage. But all this does not
+give me so much cause for regret, as I have reason to rejoice, seeing
+you all resolved upon another enterprise, which will redound to your
+glory, namely, to avenge the insult suffered by our nation from the
+Spaniards, who have inflicted an incurable wound upon France by their
+infamous treatment, and the barbarous and unheard-of cruelties they have
+exercised upon our countrymen. The description of these wrongs has
+caused me to shed tears of pity, and inspires me now with such
+determination, that I am resolved, with the assistance of God and your
+aid, to take a just revenge for this felonious outrage on the part of
+the Spaniards--those base and cowardly men, who unhappily destroyed our
+friends by surprise, whom, with arms in their hands, they dared not to
+have looked in the face. The enemy is poorly lodged, and may be easily
+surprised. I have on board persons who know the country well, and we can
+reach it in safety. Here, my dear companions, here is a subject to rouse
+our courage! Let me see that you have as good will to perform this noble
+design, as you had affection to follow my person! Will you not rejoice
+to bear away triumphant laurels, bought by the spoil and ruin of our
+enemies?'
+
+"This enthusiastic speech produced its full effect. Each soldier shouted
+assent to the generous proposal, and was ready to reply with Euryalus,
+
+ 'Est hic, est animus lucis contemptor, et istum
+ Qui vita bene credat emi, quo tendes, honorem!'
+
+ 'Like thine, this bosom glows with martial flame,
+ Burns with a scorn of life, and love of fame;
+ And thinks, if endless glory can be sought
+ On such low terms, the prize is cheaply bought.'
+
+"Having thus obtained the full co-operation of his gallant band, De
+Gourgues steered for the coast of Florida, and passed some time in
+reconnoitering the position of the Spaniards, and in acquiring from the
+Indians full particulars of their strength and resources. These were,
+indeed, sufficiently formidable, amounting to 400 fighting men, provided
+with every munition of war. No way discouraged by this superiority of
+numbers and of position, De Gourgues made a furious attack upon the two
+forts, on the day before the Sunday called the Quasimodo, in April,
+1658, intending to capture them by escalade. The Spaniards offered a
+very gallant resistance; but the fury and impetuosity of the French,
+stimulated by national antipathy, by the particular nature of the
+revenge which they contemplated, and fired by the valor and personal
+example of their heroic chief, soon surmounted all opposition. 'Nostre
+genereux Chevalier De Gourgues,' says Champlain, exultingly, 'le
+coutelas a la main, leur enflamme le courage, et comme un lion a la
+teste des siens, gaigne le dessus du rampart, repousse les Espagnols, se
+fait voye parmi eux.' 'Our brave Chevalier De Gourgues, sword in hand,
+inflames their courage, and, like a lion at the head of his troop,
+mounts the rampart, overthrows the Spaniards, and cuts his way through
+them.' The fate of the Spaniards was sealed; many were killed in the
+forts, the rest taken, or put to death by the Indians. De Gourgues, thus
+crowned with victory, and having fully succeeded in an enterprise which
+to him seemed so truly glorious, brought all the prisoners to the spot
+where the French had been massacred, and where the inscription of
+Menendez yet remained. Alter reproaching his fallen enemies with their
+cruelty and perfidy, he caused them to be hung from the same trees,
+affixing this writing in the place of the former: 'Je n'ay pas fait
+pendre ceux-ci comme Espagnols, mais comme traitres, voleurs, et
+meurtriers.' 'I hang these persons, not as being Spaniards, but as
+traitors, robbers, and murderers.'
+
+"De Gourgues, on developing his real design and destination to Florida,
+which he did in the first instance to his chosen friends, had
+pathetically complained that ever since he had heard of the Spanish
+outrage at La Caroline, he had been unable, however wearied with toil,
+to obtain his usual rest by night; that his imagination was ever
+occupied by the semblance of his countrymen hanging from the trees of
+Florida; that his ears were startled with piercing cries for vengeance;
+and that sleep, 'Nature's soft nurse,' would never visit him again--
+
+ 'No more would weigh his eyelids down,
+ And steep his senses in forgetfulness'--
+
+until he had won her offices by a full and exquisite revenge on the
+Spaniards. The accomplishment of his cherished purpose must have been a
+high and vivifying relief to an ardent spirit like De Gourgues. He now
+declared with exulting delight, that sleep, that 'balm of hurt minds,'
+had once more deigned to visit his couch, and that his rest was now
+sweet, like that of a man delivered from a burden of misery too great to
+bear!
+
+"Having accomplished this remarkable expedition, and inflicted, in a
+spirit accordant with that of the times, a terrible retribution on the
+Spaniards, De Gourgues sailed from the coast of Florida on the 3d of
+May, and arrived in France on the 6th of June, where he was received by
+the people with every token of joy and approbation. In consequence,
+however, of the demand of the King of Spain for redress, he was
+compelled to absent himself for some time, until the anger of the court
+permitted him to reappear. The narrative of this expedition was long
+preserved in the family of De Gourgues.
+
+"Champlain, in whose _Voyages_ this romantic story is to be found, seems
+to have been a passionate admirer of the conduct of De Gourgues, and
+thus enthusiastically concludes his account of the expedition:
+
+"'Ainsi ce genereux chevalier repara l'honneur de la nation Francoise,
+que les Espagnols avoient offensee; ce q'autrement eust ete un regret a
+jamais pour la France, s'il n'eust venge l'affront receu de la nation
+Espagnolle. Entreprise genereuse d'un gentilhomme qui l'executa a ses
+propres cousts et despens, seulement pour l'honneur, sans autre
+esperance: ce qui lui a reussi glorieusement, et ceste gloire est plus a
+priser que tous les tresors du monde.' 'Thus did this brave knight
+repair the honor of the French nation, insulted by the Spaniards, which
+otherwise had been an everlasting subject of regret to France, if he had
+not avenged the affront received from the Spanish people. A generous
+enterprise, undertaken by a gentleman, and executed at his own cost, for
+honor's sake alone, without any other expectation, and one which
+resulted in obtaining for him a glory far more valuable than all the
+treasures of the world.'"
+
+
+No. XVII.
+
+"Un ancien missionnaire, le Pere Paul le Jeune, a fait une description
+de la maniere de vie des missionnaires parmi les sauvages du Canada. Il
+parle ici des Montagnais qu'il a suivi dans une chasse pendant l'hiver,
+je vais transcrire sa relation presque mot pour mot:
+
+"'Ces sauvages habitent un pays extremement rude et inculte, mais il ne
+l'est pas encore autant que celui, qu'ils choisissent pour leurs
+chasses. Il faut marcher long-tems pour y arriver, et porter sur son dos
+tout ce dont ou peut avoir besoin pendant cinq ou six mois, par des
+chemins quelquefois si affreux, que l'on ne comprend pas comment les
+Betes Fauves peuvent y passer; si on n'avoit pas la precaution de se
+fournir d'ecorces d'Arbres, ou ne trouveroit pas de quoi se mettre a
+couvert de la pluye et de la neige pendant le chemin. Des qu'on est
+parvenu au terme on s'accommode un peu mieux, mais ce mieux ne consiste,
+qu'en ce qu'on n'y est pas sans cesse expose a toutes les injures de
+l'air.
+
+"'Tout le monde y travaille, et les missionnaires, qui dans ces
+commencemens n'avoient personne pour les servir, et pour qui les
+sauvages n'avoient aucune consideration, n'etoient pas plus epargnes que
+les autres, on ne leur donnait pas meme de cabanne separee, et il
+falloit qu'ils se logeassent dans la premiere, ou l'on vouloit bien les
+recevoir. Ces cabannes, parmi la plupart des Nations Algonquines, sont a
+peu pres de la figure de nos Glacieres, rondes, et terminees en cone;
+elles n'ont point d'autres soutiens, que de perches plantes dans la
+neige, attachees ensemble par les extremites, et couvertes d'ecorces
+assez mal jointes, et mal attachees aussi le vent y entre-t-il de toutes
+parts.
+
+"'Leur fabrique est l'ouvrage d'une demie heure au plus, des branches de
+Sapin y tiennent lieu de nattes, et on n'y a point d'autres lits. Ce
+qu'il y a de commode, c'est qu'on peut les changer tous les jours; les
+neiges ramassees tout autour forment une espece de parapet, qui a son
+utilite, les vents n'y penetrent point. C'est le long et a l'abri de ce
+parapet qu'on dort aussi tranquillement sur ces branchages, couverts
+d'une mechante peau que dans le meilleur lit; il en coute a la verite au
+missionnaires pour s'y accoetumer, mais la fatigue et la necessite les y
+reduisent bientot. Il n'en est pas tout-a-fait de meme de la fumee, que
+presque toujours remplit tellement le haut de la cabanne, qu'on ne peut
+y etre de bout, sans avoir la tete dans une espece de tourbillon. Cela
+ne fait aucune peine aux sauvages, habitues des l'enfance a etre assis
+a terre, ou couches tout le tems, qu'ils sont dans leurs cabannes, mais
+c'est un grand supplice pour les Francois, a qui cette inaction ne
+convient pas.
+
+"'D'ailleurs le vent, qui entre comme je l'ai remarque, par tous les
+cotes, y souffle un froid, qui transit d'une part, tandis qu'on etouffe,
+et qu'on est grille de l'autre. Souvent on ne se voit point a deux ou
+trois pieds, on perd les yeux a force de pleurer, et il y a des tems,
+ou, pour respirer un peu, il faut se tenir couche sur le ventre, et
+avoir la bouche presque collee contre la terre; le plus court seroit de
+sortir dehors, mais la plupart du tems on ne le peut pas; tantot a cause
+d'une neige si epaisse, qu'elle obscurcit le jour, et tantot par ce
+qu'il souffle un vent sec, qui coupe le visage, et fait eclater les
+arbres dans les forets. Cependant un missionnaire est oblige de dire son
+office, de celebrer la messe, et de s'acquitter de toutes les autres
+fonctions de son ministere.
+
+"'A toutes ces incommodites il en faut ajouter une autre, qui d'abord
+vous paroitra peu de chose, mais qui est reellement tres-considerable;
+c'est la persecution des chiens. Les sauvages en ont toujours un fort
+grand nombre, qui les suivent par tout, et leur sont tres-attaches; peu
+caressans, par ce qu'on ne les caresse jamais, mais hardis et habiles
+chasseurs: j'ai deja dit qu'on les dresse de bonne heure pour les
+differentes chasses, ausquelles on veut les appliquer; j'ajoute qu'il
+faut en avoir beaucoup pour chacune, parce-qu'il en perit un grand
+nombre par les dents et par les cornes des Betes fauves, qu'ils
+attaquent avec un courage, que rien ne rebute. Le soin de les nourrir
+occupe tres-peu leurs maitres, ils vivent de ce qu'ils peuvent attraper,
+et cela ne va pas bien loin, aussi sont ils toujours fort maigres;
+d'ailleurs ils ont peu de poil, ce qui les rend fort sensibles au
+froid.'
+
+"Pour s'en garantir, s'ils ne peuvent approcher du feu, ou il est
+difficile qu'ils puissent tenir tous, quand meme il n'y auroit personne
+dans la cabanne, ils vont se coucher sur les premiers, qu'ils
+rencontrent, et souvent on se reveille la nuit en sursaut, presque
+etouffe par deux ou trois chiens. S'ils etoient un peu plus discrets, et
+se placoient mieux, leur compagnie ne seroit pas trop facheuse, on s'en
+accommoderoit meme assez, mais ils se placent ou ils peuvent; on a beau
+les chasser, ils reviennent d'abord. C'est bien pis encore le jour; des
+qu'il paroit quelque chose a manger, il faut voir les mouvemens qu'ils
+se donnent pour en avoir leur part. Un pauvre missionnaire est a demi
+couche aupres du feu pour dire son breviaire, ou pour lire un livre, en
+luttant de son mieux contre la fumee, et il faut qu'il essuye encore
+l'importunite d'une douzaine de chiens, qui ne font que passer et
+repasser sur lui, en courant apres un morceau de viande, qu'ils ont
+appercu. S'il a besoin d'un peu de repos, a peine trouvera-t'il un petit
+recoin, ou il soit a l'abri de cette vexation. Si on lui apporte a
+manger, les chiens ont plutot mis le museau dans son plat, qu'il n'y a
+porte la main; et souvent tandis qu'il est occupe a defendre sa portion
+contre ceux, qui l'attaquent de front, il en vieut un par derriere, qui
+lui enleve la moitie, ou qui en le heurtant, lui fait tomber le plat des
+mains, et repandre sa sagamite dans les cendres.
+
+"Assez souvent les maux, dont je viens de parler, sont effaces par un
+plus grand, et au prix duquel tous les autres ne sont rien; c'est la
+faim. Les provisions, qu'on a apportees, ne durent pas lontems, on a
+compte sur la chasse, et elle ne donne pas toujours. Il est vrai que les
+sauvages scavent endurer la faim avec autant de patience, qu'ils
+apportent peu de precautions pour s'en garantir; mais ils se trouvent
+quelquefois reduits a une si grande extremite, qu'ils y succombent. Le
+missionnaire, de qui j'ai tire ce detail, fut oblige dans son premier
+hyvernement, de manger les peaux d'aguilles et d'elans, dont il avoit
+rapetasse sa soutanne; apres quoi il lui fallut se nourrir des jeunes
+branches, et des plus tendres ecorces des arbres. Il soutint neanmoins
+cette epreuve, sans que sa sante en fut alteree, mais tous n'en ont pas
+eu la force.
+
+"La seule malproprete des cabannes, et l'infection, qui en est une suite
+necessaire, sont pour tout autre qu'un sauvage, un vrai supplice; il est
+aise de juger jusqu'ou l'une et l'autre doivent aller parmi des gens,
+qui ne changent de hardes, que quand les leurs tombent par lambeaux, et
+qui n'ont nul soin de les nettoyer. L'ete ils se baignent tous les
+jours, mais ils se frottent aussitot d'huile ou de graisse d'une odeur
+forte. L'hyver ils demeurent dans leur crasse, et dans tous les tems on
+ne peut entrer dans leurs cabannes, qu'on ne soit empeste.
+
+"Non seulement tout ce qu'ils mangent est sans appret, et ordinairement
+fort insipide, mais il regne dans leurs repas une malproprete, qui passe
+tout ce qu'on en peut dire: ce que j'en ai vu, et ce qu'on m'en raconte
+vous feroit horreur. Il y a bien peu d'animaux, qui ne mangent plus
+proprement.
+
+"Comme les villages sont toujours situes, ou aupres des bois, ou sur le
+bord des eaux, des que l'air commence a s'echauffer, les Maringonins et
+une quantite prodigieuse d'autres moucherons, excitent une persecution
+bien plus vive encore que celle de la fumee, qu'on est meme souvent
+oblige d'appeller a son secours car il n'y a presque point d'autre
+remede contre la piques de ces petites insectes, qui vous mettent tout
+le corps en feu, et ne vous permettent point de dormir en repos. Ajoutez
+a cela les marches souvent forcees, et toujours tres rudes, qu'il faut
+faire a la suite de ces barbares, tantot dans l'eau jusqu'a la ceinture,
+tantot dans la fange jusqu'aux genoux; dans les bois aux travers des
+ronces et des epines, avec danger d'en etre aveugle; dans les campagnes,
+ou rien ne garantit d'un soleil aussi ardent en ete que le vent est
+piquant pendant l'hiver. Si l'on voyage en canot, la posture genante, ou
+il faut s'y tenir, l'inaction ou l'on y est, le peu de societe qu'on
+peut avoir avec des gens qui ne scavent rien, qui ne parlent jamais
+quand ils sont occupes, qui vous infectant par leur mauvaise odeur, et
+qui vous remplissent de saletes et de vermine, les caprices et les
+manieres brusques qu'il en faut essuyer, les avarices, aux quelles on
+est expose de la part d'un ivrogne, ou d'un homme que quelque accident
+inopine, un songe, un souvenir facheux, font entrer en mauvaise humeur,
+la cupidite qui nait aisement dans le coeur de ces barbares, et qui a
+coute la vie a plus d'un missionnaire, et si la guerre est declaree
+entre les nations parmi lesquelles on se trouve, le danger qu'on court
+sans cesse, ou de se voir tout a coup reduit a la plus dure servitude,
+ou de perir dans les plus affreux tourmens. Voila la vie qu'ont mene
+surtout les premiers missionnaires."--Charlevoix, vol. vi., p. 59.
+
+The lives of hardship here described were in many cases terminated by
+horrible deaths. The following is one relation, out of many of the same
+nature:
+
+"Ils avoient avec eux les PP. Jean de Breboeuf et Gabriel Lallemant,
+neveu des PP. Charles et Jerome Lallemant, dont nous avons parle; et ils
+n'avoient pu engager ni l'un ni l'autre a se mettre en lieu de surete.
+Il eut pourtant ete mieux qu'ils se fussent partages et que le P. de
+Breboeuf eut use de son autorite pour obliger son compagnon de suiver
+ceux, qui avoient pris la fuite; mais l'exemple tout recent du P.
+Daniel, et le danger, ou etoient un grand nombre de catechumenes de
+mourir sans Bapteme, leur firent croire a tous les deux qu'ils ne
+devoient pas desemparer. Ils prirent donc leur poste chacun a une des
+extremites de l'attaque, et ils furent toujours aux endroits les plus
+exposes, uniquement occupes a baptiser des mourans, et a encourager les
+combattans a n'avoir que Dieu en vue.
+
+"Enfin tous les Hurons furent tues ou pris, et les deux missionnaires
+furent du nombre des derniers. Les vainqueurs mirent ensuite le feu aux
+cabannes, et reprirent avec les prisonniers et tout le butin, le chemin
+de S. Ignace.
+
+"De St. Ignace, ou j'ai dit qu'on les avoit conduits d'abord, ils
+avoient ete ramenes a St. Louis, et ils y furent recus, comme on a
+coutume de recevoir les prisonniers de guerre; on les epargna meme
+d'autant moins, que leur proces etoit fait, et qu'on avoit resolu de ne
+les pas mener plus loin. Le P. de Breboeuf, que vingt annees de travaux
+les plus capables de faire mourir tous les sentimens naturels, un
+caractere d'esprit d'une fermete a l'epreuve de tout; une vertu nourrie
+dans la vue toujours prochaine d'une mort cruelle, et portee jusqu'a en
+faire l'objet de ses voeux les plus ardens; prevenu d'ailleurs par plus
+d'un avertissement celeste que ses voeux seroient exauces, se rioit
+egalement et des menaces et des tortures memes; mais la vue de ses chers
+neophytes cruellement traites a ses yeux, repandoit une grande amertume
+sur la joye, qu'il ressentoit de voir ses esperances accomplies.
+
+"Son compagnon, Gabriel Lallemant, qui ne faisoit que d'entrer dans la
+carriere apostolique, ou il avoit apporte plus de courage que de force,
+et qui etoit d'une complexion sensible et delicate, fut surtout pour lui
+jusqu'au dernier soupir un grand sujet de douleur et d'inquietude. Les
+Iroquois connurent bien d'abord qu'ils auroient a faire a un homme, a
+qu'ils n'auroient pas le plaisir de voir echaper la moindre foiblesse,
+et comme s'ils eussent apprehende qu'il ne communiquat aux autres son
+intrepidite, ils le separerent apres quelque tems de la troupe des
+prisonniers, le firent monter seul sur un echafant, et s'acharnerent de
+telle sorte sur lui, qu'ils paroissoient hors d'eux-memes de rage et de
+desespoir.
+
+"Tout cela n'empechoit point le serviteur de Dieu de parler d'une voix
+forte, tantot aux Hurons, qui ne le voyoient plus, mais qui pouvoient
+encore l'entendre; tantot a ses bourreaux, qu'il exhortait a craindre la
+colere du ciel, s'ils continuoient a persecuter les adorateurs du vrai
+Dieu. Cette liberte etonna les barbares, et ils en furent choques,
+quoiqu' accoutumes a essuyer les bravades de leurs prisonniers en
+semblables occasions. Ils voulurent lui imposer silence, et n'en pouvant
+venir a bout, ils lui couperent la levre inferieure, et l'extremite du
+nez, lui appliquerent par tout le corps des torches allumees, lui
+brulerent les gencives, et enfin lui enforcerent dans le gosier un fer
+rougi dans le feu.
+
+"L'invincible missionnaire se voyant par ce dernier coup la parole
+interdite, parut avec un visage assure, et un regard si ferme qu'il
+sembloit donner encore la loy a ses ennemis. Un moment apres on lui
+amena son compagnon dans un equipage bien capable de toucher un coeur
+comme le sien, aussi tendre et aussi compatissant sur les maux d'autrui,
+qu'il etoit insensible aux siens propres. On avoit mis d'abord le jeune
+religieux tout nud et apres l'avoir tourmente quelque tems, on l'avoit
+enveloppe depuis les pieds jusqu'a la tete d'ecorce de sapin, et on se
+preparoit a y mettre le feu.
+
+"Des qu'il appercut le P. de Breboeuf dans l'affreux etat, ou on l'avoit
+mis, il fremit d'abord, ensuite lui dit ces paroles de l'Apotre, _Nous
+avons ete mis spectacle au monde, aux anges, et aux hommes_.[218] Le
+pere lui repondit par une douce inclination de tete, et dans ce moment
+le P. Lallemant se trouvant libre, courut se jetter a ses pieds, baisa
+respectueusement ses playes, et le conjura de redoubler aupres du
+seigneur ses prieres, pour lui obtenir la patience, et la foy, qu'il
+voyoit, ajouta-t-il avec beaucoup de confusion, sur le point de lui
+echapper a tout moment. On le reprit aussitot, et on mit le feu aux
+ecorces, dont il etoit couvert.
+
+"Les bourreaux s'arreterent quelque tems pour gouter le plaisir de le
+voir bruler lentement, et d'entendre ses soupirs et les gemissemens,
+qu'il ne pouvoit s'empecher de pousser. Ils le laisserent ensuite
+quelque tems, pour faire rougir des haches de fer, dont ils firent un
+collier, qu'ils mirent au cou du P. de Breboeuf; mais ce nouveau
+supplice n'ebranla pas plus le saint martyr, qui n'avoient fait les
+autres, et comme les barbares cherchoient quelque nouveau tourment, pour
+tacher de vaincre un courage qui les irritoit, un Huron apostat se mit a
+crier qu'il falloit jetter aux deux missionnaires de l'eau boueillante
+sur la tete, en punition de ce qu'ils en avoient jette tant de froide
+sur celle des autres, et cause par-la tous les malheurs de sa nation, et
+on la repandit lentement sur la tete des deux confesseurs de Jesus
+Christ.
+
+"Cependant la fumee epaisse qui sortoit des ecorces, dont le P.
+Lallemant etoit revetu lui remplissoit la bouche, et il fut assez
+lontems sans pouvoir articuler une seule parole. Ses liens etant brules,
+il leva les mains au ciel, pour implorer le secours de celui qui est la
+force des foibles, mais on les lui fit baisser, en le frappant a grands
+coups de cordes. Enfin les deux corps n'etant plus qu'une playe, ce
+spectacle bien loin de faire horreur aux Iroquois, les mit de bonne
+humeur; ils se disoient les uns aux autres que la chair des Francois
+devoit etre bonne, et ils en couperent sur l'un et sur l'autre de grands
+lambeaux, qu'ils mangerent. Puis ajoutant la raillerie a la cruaute, ils
+dirent au P. de Breboeuf, 'Tu nous assurois tout a l'heure que plus on
+souffre sur la terre, plus on est heureux dans le ciel; c'est par amitie
+pour toi que nous nous etudions a augmenter tes souffrances, et tu nous
+en auras obligation.'
+
+"Quelques momens apres ils lui enleverent toute la peau de la tete, et
+comme il respiroit encore, un chef lui ouvrit le cote, d'ou le sang
+sortant en abondance, tous les barbares accoururent pour en boire; apres
+quoi le meme, qui avoit fait la playe, decouvrit le coeur, l'arracha, et
+le devora. Le P. de Breboeuf etoit du diocese de Bayeux, et oncle du
+traducteur du Pharsale. Il etoit d'une taille avantageuse, et mangre son
+abstinence extreme, et vingt annees du plus penible apostolat, il avoit
+assez d'embonpoint. Sa vie fut un heroisme continuel, et sa mort fut
+l'etonnement des bourreaux memes.
+
+"Des qu'il eut expire, le P. Lallemant fut reconduit dans la cabanne, ou
+son martyre avoit commence; il n'est pas meme certain qu'il soit demeure
+aupres du Pere de Breboeuf jusqu'a ce que celui-ci eut rendu les
+derniers soupirs; on ne l'avoit amene la, que pour attendrir son
+compagnon, et amollir, s'il etoit possible, le courage de ce heros. Il
+est au moins constant par le temoignage de plusieurs Iroquois, qui
+furent acteurs dans ce tragedie, que ce dernier mourut le seize, et
+qu'il ne fut que trois heures dans le feu, au lieu que le supplice du P.
+Lallemant dura dix-sept heures, et qu'il ne mourut que le dix-sept.
+
+"Quoiqu'il en soit, sitot qu'il fut rentre dans sa cabanne il recut
+au-dessus de l'oreille gauche, un coup de hache, qui lui ouvrit le
+crane, et lui en fit sortir de la cervelle. On lui arracha ensuite un
+oeil, a la place duquel on mit un charbon ardent; c'est tout ce qu'on a
+pu scavoir de ce qui se passa alors jusqu'a ce qu'il eut expire; tous
+ceux, qui assisterent a sa mort s'etant contentes de dire que les
+bourreaux s'etoient surpasses en cruaute. Ils ajouterent que de tems en
+tems il jettoit des cris capables de percer les coeurs les plus durs, et
+qu'il paroissoit quelquefois hors de lui-meme; mais qu'aussitot on le
+voyoit s'elever au-dessus de la douleur, et offrir a Dieu ses
+souffrances avec une ferveur admirable. Ainsi la chair etoit souvent
+foible, et prete a succomber; mais l'esprit fut toujours prompt a la
+relever, et la soutint jusqu'au bout. Le P. Lallemant etoit de Paris,
+fils et petit fils de lieutenans-criminels. Il etoit extremement maigre,
+et il n'y avoit guere que six mois, qu'il etoit arrive dans la Nouvelle
+France. Il mourut dans sa trente-neuvieme annee."--Charlevoix, vol. ii.,
+p. 12.
+
+[Footnote 218: 1 Corinth., iv., 9.]
+
+
+No. XVIII.
+
+"The Jesuits are commonly very learned, studious, and are very civil and
+agreeable in company. In their whole deportment there is something
+pleasing; it is no wonder, therefore, that they captivate the minds of
+the people. They seldom speak of religious matters, and if it happens,
+they generally avoid disputes. They are very ready to do any one a
+service, and when they see that their assistance is wanted, they hardly
+give one time to speak of it, falling to work immediately to bring about
+what is required of them. Their conversation is very entertaining and
+learned, so that one can not be tired of their company. Among all the
+Jesuits I have conversed with in Canada, I have not found one who was
+not possessed of these qualities in a very eminent degree. They do not
+care to become preachers to a congregation in the town or country, but
+leave these places, together with the emoluments arising from them, to
+the priests. All their business here is to convert the heathen; and with
+that view their missionaries are scattered over every part of the
+country. Near every town and village peopled by converted Indians are
+one or two Jesuits, who take great care that they may not return to
+paganism, but live as Christians ought to do. Thus there are Jesuits
+with the converted Indians in Tadoussac, Lorette, Becancourt, St.
+Francois, Sault St. Louis, and all over Canada. There are likewise
+Jesuit missionaries with those who are not converted, so that there is
+commonly a Jesuit in every village belonging to the Indians, whom he
+endeavors on all occasions to convert. In winter he goes on their great
+hunts, where he is frequently obliged to suffer all imaginable
+inconveniences, such as walking in the snow all day, lying in the open
+air all winter, lying out both in good and bad weather, lying in the
+Indian huts, which swarm with fleas and other vermin, &c. The Jesuits
+undergo all these hardships for the sake of converting the Indians, and
+likewise for political reasons. The Jesuits are of great use to their
+king; for they are frequently able to persuade the Indians to break
+their treaty with the English, to make war upon them, to bring their
+furs to the French, and not to permit the English to come among them.
+There is much danger attending these exertions; for, when the Indians
+are in liquor, they sometimes kill the missionaries who live with them,
+calling them spies, or excusing themselves by saying that the brandy had
+killed them. These are the chief occupations of the Jesuits in Canada.
+They do not go to visit the sick in the town; they do not hear the
+confessions, and attend to no funerals. I have never seen them go in
+procession in honor of the Virgin Mary or other saints. Every body sees
+that they are, as it were, selected from other people on account of
+their superior genius and abilities. They are here reckoned a most
+cunning set of people, who generally succeed in their undertakings, and
+surpass all others in acuteness of understanding. I have therefore
+several times observed that they have enemies in Canada. They never
+receive any others into their society but persons of very promising
+parts, so that there are no blockheads among them. The Jesuits who live
+here are all come from France, and many of them return thither again
+after a stay of a few years here. Some who were born in Canada went over
+to France, and were received among the Jesuits there, but none of them
+ever came back to Canada. I know not what political reason hindered
+them. During my stay in Quebec, one of the priests, with the bishop's
+leave, gave up his priesthood and became a Jesuit. The other priests
+were very ill pleased with this, because it seemed as if he looked upon
+their condition as too mean for himself."--Kalm, in Pinkerton, vol.
+xiii., p. 648.
+
+"The Recollets are a third class of clergymen in Canada. They have a
+fine large dwelling-house here, and a fine church, where they officiate.
+Near it is a large and fine garden, which they cultivate with great
+application.
+
+"In Montreal and Trois Rivieres they are lodged in almost the same
+manner as here. They do not endeavor to choose cunning fellows among
+them, but take all they can get. They do not torment their brains with
+much learning; and I have been assured that, after they have put on
+their monastic habit, they do not study to increase their knowledge, but
+forget even what little they knew before. At night they generally lie on
+mats, or some other hard mattresses. However, I have sometimes seen good
+beds in the cells of some of them. They have no possessions here, having
+made vows of poverty, and live chiefly on the alms which people give
+them. To this purpose the young monks, or brothers, go into the houses
+with a bag, and beg what they want. They have no congregations in the
+country, but sometimes they go among the Indians as missionaries.
+
+"In each fort, which contains forty men, the king keeps one of these
+monks instead of a priest, who officiates there. The king gives him
+lodging, provisions, servants, and all he wants, besides two hundred
+livres a year. Half of it he sends to the community he belongs to; the
+other half he reserves for his own use. On board the king's ships are
+generally no other priests than these friars, who are therefore looked
+upon as people belonging to the king. When one of the chief priests[219]
+in the country dies, and his place can not immediately be filled up,
+they send one of these friars there, to officiate while the place is
+vacant. Part of these monks come over from France, and part are natives
+of Canada.
+
+"There are no other monks in Canada besides these, except, now and then,
+one of the order of St. Austin, or some other who comes with one of the
+king's ships, but goes off with it again.
+
+"The priests are the second and most numerous class of the clergy in
+this country; for most of the churches, both in towns and villages (the
+Indian converts excepted), are served by priests. A few of them are
+likewise missionaries. In Canada are two seminaries: one in Quebec, the
+other in Montreal. The priests of the seminary of Montreal are of the
+order of St. Sulpitius, and supply only the congregation on the isle of
+Montreal, and the town of the same name. At all the other churches in
+Canada the priests belonging to the Quebec seminary officiate. The
+former, or those of the order of St. Sulpitius, all come from France;
+and I was assured that they never suffer a native of Canada to come
+among them.
+
+"In the seminary at Quebec, the natives of Canada make the greater part.
+
+"In order to fit the children of this country for orders, there are
+schools at Quebec and St. Joachim, where the youths are taught Latin,
+and instructed in the knowledge of those things and sciences which have
+a more immediate connection with the business they are intended for.
+
+"However, they are not very nice in their choice, and people of a
+middling capacity are often received among them.
+
+"They do not seem to have made great progress in Latin; for,
+notwithstanding the service is read in that language, and they read
+their Latin breviary and other books every day, yet most of them find it
+very difficult to speak it.
+
+"All the priests in the Quebec seminary are consecrated by the bishop.
+Both the seminaries have got great revenues from the king; that in
+Quebec has above thirty thousand livres. All the country on the west
+side of the River St. Lawrence, from the town of Quebec to Bay St. Paul,
+belongs to this seminary, besides their other possessions in the
+country. They lease the land to the settlers for a certain rent, which,
+if it be annually paid, according to their agreement, the children or
+heirs of the settlers may remain in an undisturbed possession of the
+lands.
+
+"A piece of land three arpents[220] broad, and thirty, forty, or fifty
+arpents long, pays annually an ecu,[221] and a couple of chickens, or
+some other additional trifle. In such places as have convenient
+water-falls, they have built water-mills or saw-mills, from which they
+annually get considerable sums. The seminary of Montreal possesses the
+whole ground on which that town stands, together with the whole isle of
+Montreal. I have been assured that the ground rent of the town and isle
+is computed at seventy thousand livres, besides what they get for saying
+masses, baptizing, holding confessions, attending at marriages and
+funerals, &c. All the revenues of ground rent belong to the seminaries
+alone, and the priests in the country have no share in them. But the
+seminary in Montreal, consisting only of sixteen priests, has greater
+revenues than it can expend; a large sum of money is annually sent over
+to France, to the chief seminary there. The land rents belonging to the
+Quebec seminary are employed for the use of the priests in it, and for
+the maintenance of a number of young people, who are brought up to take
+orders. The priests who live in the country parishes get the tithe from
+their congregation, together with the perquisites on visiting the sick,
+&c. In small congregations the king gives the priests an additional sum.
+When a priest in the country grows old, and has done good service, he is
+sometimes allowed to come into the seminary in town. The seminaries are
+allowed to place the priests on their own estates, but the other places
+are in the gift of the bishop."--_Ibid._
+
+"After the conquest of Quebec, the British government prohibited the
+religious male orders from augmenting their numbers, excepting the
+priests. The orders were allowed to enjoy the whole of their revenues as
+long as a single individual of the body existed; then they reverted to
+the crown. The revenue of the Jesuit Society was upward of L12,000 per
+annum when it fell into the possession of the government. It had been
+for several years enjoyed solely by an old father, who had survived all
+the rest. He was a native of Switzerland; his name, Jean Joseph Casot.
+In his youth he was no more than porter to the convent, but, having
+considerable merit, he was promoted, and in course of time received into
+the order. He died at a very advanced age, in 1800, with a high
+character for kindness and generosity: his large income was entirely
+employed in charitable purposes. The lands belonging to the Jesuits, as
+well as to the other religious orders, are by far the best in the
+country, and produce the greatest revenues."--Lambert's _Travels in
+Canada_, vol. i., p. 59.
+
+"The Jesuits, who in the early settlement of the country were merely
+missionaries, obtained a patent (_Petits Droits des Colonies
+Francaises_, vol. ii., p. 441), by which they acquired a license to
+purchase lands, and hold property as in France. The property the Jesuits
+possessed in this country in after times was acquired by grants from the
+kings of France; by grants from the Company of New France; by gifts from
+individuals, and by purchase."--Smith's _History of Canada_, vol. i., p.
+27; Weld, p. 249. Smith estimates the revenues of the society, when,
+after P. Casot's death, they reverted to the crown, at only L1600 per
+annum. Weld comes nearer to the statement of Lambert. He visited Quebec
+in 1796, four years before P. Casot's death, and states that the great
+possessions of the Jesuits had centered in him, and amounted to L10,000
+per annum. It is to be remembered that in 1764 the order of Jesuits was
+abolished by the King of France, and the members of the society became
+private individuals.
+
+"The college of the Jesuits at Quebec was long considered as the first
+institution on the continent of North America for the instruction of
+young men. The advantages derived from it were not limited to the better
+class of Canadians, but were extended to all whose inclination it was to
+participate in them, and many students came thither from the West
+Indies. From the period of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the states
+of Europe, and the consequent abolition of their order on that
+continent, this establishment, although protected by the British
+government, began rapidly to decline.
+
+"When, by the death of the last Canadian Jesuit, the landed property
+devolved to the crown, it was designed by the sovereign as a recompense
+for the services of the late Lord Amherst, who commanded the troops in
+North America at the time of the conquest of Canada, and Who completed
+the reduction of that province under the British government. The claim
+of these estates has been relinquished by his successor for a pension.
+The revenue arising from them has been appropriated by the Legislature
+of Lower Canada for the purpose of establishing in the different
+parishes schools for the education of children. The Jesuits' college is
+now converted into a commodious barrack for the troops."--Heriot's
+_Canada_, p. 30.
+
+[Footnote 219: Pasteur.]
+
+[Footnote 220: A French acre.]
+
+[Footnote 221: French coin, value about a crown English.]
+
+
+No. XIX.
+
+The Mississippi is the only river in North America, which, for grandeur
+and commodiousness of navigation, comes in competition with the St.
+Lawrence, or with that river which runs from Lake Ontario to the ocean.
+If, however, we consider that immense body of water that flows from Lake
+Winnipeg through the Lake of the Woods, Lake Superior, &c., down to the
+sea, as one entire stream, and, of course, as a continuation of the St.
+Lawrence, it must be allowed to be a very superior river to the
+Mississippi in every point of view; and we may certainly consider it as
+one stream with as much reason as we look upon that as one river which
+flows from Lake Ontario to the sea; for, before it meets the ocean, it
+passes through four large lakes, not, indeed, to be compared with those
+of Erie or Superior in size, but they are independent lakes,
+notwithstanding, as much as any of the others. The Mississippi is
+principally to be admired for the evenness of its current, and the
+prodigious length of way it is navigable without any interruption for
+bateaux of a very large burden, but in many respects it is a very
+inferior river to the St. Lawrence, properly so called. The Mississippi,
+at its mouth, is not twenty miles broad, and the navigation is there so
+obstructed by banks or bars that a vessel drawing more than twelve feet
+water can not ascend it without very imminent danger. Fresh bars are
+formed or the old bars are enlarged every year, and it is said that
+unless some steps are taken to prevent the lodgments of the trees
+annually brought down at the time of the inundation, the navigation may
+in a few years be still more obstructed than it is at present. The River
+St. Lawrence, however, on the contrary, is no less than ninety miles
+wide at its mouth, and it is navigable for ships of the line as far as
+Quebec, a distance of 400 miles from the sea. The channel, also, instead
+of having been impaired by time, is found to be considerably better now
+than when the river was first discovered, and there is reason to imagine
+that it will improve still more in process of time, as the clear water
+that flows from Lake Ontario comes down with such impetuosity during the
+floods in the spring of the year as frequently to remove banks of gravel
+and loose stones in the river, and thus to deepen its bed. The channel
+on the north side of the island of Orleans, immediately below Quebec,
+which, according to the account of Charlevoix, was not sufficiently deep
+in the year 1720 to admit a shallop of a small size, except at the time
+of high tides, is at present found to be deep enough for the largest
+vessels, and is the channel most generally used.--Weld, p. 336.
+
+
+No. XX.
+
+"Upper Canada, down to the period when it was conquered by England, was
+in a very wild and unreclaimed condition. With the exception of the
+small location on the banks of the Detroit, it contained only detached
+posts at great distances, formed for military defense and the
+prosecution of the fur trade. The real settlement of Upper Canada took
+place in 1783, at the close of the first American war; at that time, not
+only a large body of troops were disbanded, but many inhabitants of the
+United States, who had adhered to Britain during this unfortunate
+contest, sought refuge within her colonies; and as these last were
+generally in a state of great destitution, the government felt disposed
+to treat them liberally, and afford the utmost possible compensation for
+their losses and sufferings. With this view, the whole land along the
+St. Lawrence above the French settlements, and also on Lake Ontario, to
+and around the Bay of Quiete, for the space of 150 miles, was formed
+into townships, originally entitled First, Second, Third, but to which
+regular names were afterward attached. These settlements were termed the
+United Empire Loyalists, and not only received an ample supply of land,
+but farming utensils, building materials, and subsistence for two years.
+A further engagement was made that every member of their families, on
+attaining the age of twenty-one, should have a fresh donation of 200
+acres, which engagement has been strictly fulfilled. Military grants
+were at the same time bestowed at rates varying from 5000 for a field
+officer, to 200 for a private soldier.
+
+"In 1791, Upper Canada had attained to such importance, that when Mr.
+Pitt determined to bestow a constitution on the colony, he formed this
+part into a separate government, giving to it the name of Upper, and to
+the early-settled districts that of Lower Canada. The former was not
+supposed, after all, to contain at that time above 10,000 inhabitants.
+General Simcoe, however, in 1794, founded the town of York,[222] which
+was fixed on as the seat of government, and made the most strenuous
+efforts to encourage colonists to settle in the neighborhood. They came
+in considerable numbers, though chiefly from the United States. It was
+not till 1803 that, through the exertions of Colonel Talbot, emigration
+from Britain was commenced on any large scale. The result of these
+measures was, that in 1811 the country was found to contain about 9623
+persons paying taxes.
+
+"Lower Canada is comprised within the parallels of 45 deg. and 52 deg. north
+latitude, and the meridians of 59.50 deg. to 80.6 deg. west of Greenwich; the
+entire province, as far as its boundaries will admit of estimation,
+contains about a quarter of a million square miles, or 160,000,000 of
+acres. Upper Canada is comprised within the parallels of 41 deg. to 49 deg.
+north, and the meridians of 74 deg. to 117 deg. west of Greenwich, embracing an
+area of about 100,000 square miles, or 64,000,000 acres. The following
+are the words of the order in council by which Canada was in 1791
+divided into two provinces. "To commence at a stone boundary on the
+north bank of the Lake St. Francis, at the cove west of Point au Baudet,
+in the limit between the township of Lancaster and the seigniory of New
+Longueuil, running along the said limit in the direction of N. 34 W. to
+the westernmost angle of the said seigniory of New Longueuil; then along
+the N.W. boundary of the seigniory of Vaudreuil, running N. 25 E. until
+it strikes the Ottawa River; to ascend the said river into the Lake
+Temiscaming, and from the head of the said lake by a line drawn due N.
+until it strikes the boundary of Hudson's Bay, including all the
+territory to the westward and southward of the said line to the utmost
+extent of the country commonly called or known by the name of Canada."
+The want of clearness in the above delineation, added to the
+imperfections of the map on which it was drawn, particularly as regarded
+the westwardly angle of the seigniory of New Longueuil, and the S.W.
+angle of Vaudreuil, which are represented as coincident, when, according
+to Colonel Bouchette, they are nine miles distant from each other, has
+naturally caused disputes as to the boundaries between Upper and Lower
+Canada."--Montgomery Martin's _Hist. of Canada_, p. 62; Murray's _British
+America_, vol. i., p. 287.
+
+[Footnote 222: It has now assumed the Indian name of Toronto.]
+
+
+No. XXI.
+
+"On the 5th of February, 1663, about half past five o'clock in the
+evening, a great rushing noise was heard throughout the whole extent of
+Canada. This noise caused the people to run out of their houses into the
+streets, as if their habitations had been on fire; but, instead of
+flames or smoke, they were surprised to see the walls reeling backward
+and forward, and the stones moving as if they were detached from each
+other. The bells sounded by the repeated shocks. The roofs of the
+buildings bent down, first on one side, and then on the other. The
+timbers, rafters, and planks cracked. The earth trembled violently, and
+caused the stakes of the palisades and palings to dance, in a manner
+that would have been incredible had we not actually seen it in many
+places. It was at this moment every one ran out of doors. Then were to
+be seen animals flying in every direction; children crying and screaming
+in the streets; men and women, seized with affright, stood horror-struck
+with the dreadful scene before them, unable to move, and ignorant where
+to fly for refuge from the tottering walls and trembling earth, which
+threatened every instant to crush them to death, or sink them into a
+profound and immeasurable abyss. Some threw themselves on their knees in
+the snow, crossing their breasts, and calling on their saints to relieve
+them from the dangers with which they were surrounded. Others passed the
+rest of this dreadful night in prayer; for the earthquake ceased not,
+but continued at short intervals with a certain undulating impulse,
+resembling the waves of the ocean; and the same qualmish sensations, or
+sickness at the stomach, was felt during the shocks as is experienced in
+a vessel at sea.
+
+"The violence of the earthquake was greatest in the forest, where it
+appeared as if there was a battle raging between the trees; for not only
+their branches were destroyed, but even their trunks are said to have
+been detached from their places, and dashed against each other with
+inconceivable violence and confusion--so much so, that the Indians, in
+their figurative manner of speaking, declared that all the forests were
+drunk. The war also seemed to be carried on between the mountains, some
+of which were torn from their beds and thrown upon others, leaving
+immense chasms in the places from whence they had issued, and the very
+trees with which they were covered sunk down, leaving only their tops
+above the surface of the earth; others were completely overturned, their
+branches buried in the earth, and the roots only remained above ground.
+During this general wreck of nature, the ice, upward of six feet thick,
+was rent and thrown up in large pieces, and from the openings in many
+parts there issued thick clouds of smoke, or fountains of dirt and sand,
+which spouted up to a very considerable height. The springs were either
+choked up, or impregnated with sulphur; many rivers were totally lost;
+others were diverted from their course, and their waters entirely
+corrupted. Some of them became yellow, others red, and the great river
+of the St. Lawrence appeared entirely white, as far down as Tadoussac.
+This extraordinary phenomenon must astonish those who know the size of
+the river, and the immense body of waters in various parts, which must
+have required such an abundance of matter to whiten it. They write from
+Montreal that, during the earthquake, they plainly saw the stakes of the
+picketing or palisades jump up as if they had been dancing; and that of
+two doors in the same room, one opened and the other shut of their own
+accord; that the chimneys and tops of the houses bent like branches of
+the trees agitated with the wind; that when they went to walk they felt
+the earth following them, and rising at every step they took, something
+sticking against the soles of their feet, and other things in a very
+forcible and surprising manner.
+
+"From Three Rivers they write that the first shock was the most violent,
+and commenced with a noise resembling thunder. The houses were agitated
+in the same manner as the tops of trees during a tempest, with a noise
+as if fire was crackling in the garrets. The shock lasted half an hour,
+or rather better, though its greatest force was properly not more than a
+quarter of an hour, and we believe there was not a single shock which
+did not cause the earth to open either more or less.
+
+"As for the rest, we have remarked that, though this earthquake
+continued almost without intermission, yet it was not always of an equal
+violence. Sometimes it was like the pitching of a large vessel which
+dragged heavily at her anchors, and it was this motion which occasioned
+many to have a giddiness in their heads and a qualmishness in their
+stomachs. At other times the motion was hurried and irregular, creating
+sudden jerks, some of which were extremely violent; but the most common
+was a slight tremulous motion, which occurred frequently with little
+noise. Many of the French inhabitants and Indians, who were
+eye-witnesses to the scene, state that, a great way up the river of
+Trois Rivieres, about eighteen miles below Quebec, the hills which
+bordered the river on either side, and which were of a prodigious
+height, were torn from their foundations, and plunged into the river,
+causing it to change its course, and spread itself over a large tract of
+land recently cleared; the broken earth mixed with the waters, and for
+several months changed the color of the great River St. Lawrence, into
+which that of Trois Rivieres disembogues itself. In the course of this
+violent convulsion of nature, lakes appeared where none ever existed
+before; mountains were overthrown, swallowed up by the gaping, or
+precipitated into adjacent rivers, leaving in their places frightful
+chasms or level plains; falls and rapids were changed into gentle
+streams, and gentle streams into falls and rapids. Rivers in many parts
+of the country sought other beds, or totally disappeared. The earth and
+the mountains were entirely split and rent in innumerable places,
+creating chasms and precipices, whose depths have never yet been
+ascertained. Such devastation was also occasioned in the woods, that
+more than a thousand acres in our neighborhood were completely
+overturned; and where, but a short time before, nothing met the eye but
+one immense forest of trees, now were to be seen extensive cleared
+lands, apparently cut up by the plow.
+
+"At Tadoussac (about 150 miles below Quebec, on the north side) the
+effect of the earthquake was not less violent than in other places; and
+such a heavy shower of volcanic ashes fell in that neighborhood,
+particularly in the River St. Lawrence, that the waters were as
+violently agitated as during a tempest. The Indians say that a vast
+volcano exists in Labrador. Near St. Paul's Bay (about fifty miles below
+Quebec, on the north side), a mountain, about a quarter of a league in
+circumference, situated on the shore of the St. Lawrence, was
+precipitated into the river, but, as if it had only made a plunge, it
+rose from the bottom, and became a small island, forming with the shore
+a convenient harbor, well sheltered from all winds. Lower down the
+river, toward Point Alouettes, an entire forest of considerable extent
+was loosened from the main bank, and slid into the River St. Lawrence,
+where the trees took fresh root. There are three circumstances, however,
+which have rendered this extraordinary earthquake particularly
+remarkable: the first is its duration, it having continued from February
+to August, that is to say, more than six months almost without
+intermission! It is true, the shocks were not always equally violent. In
+several places, as toward the mountains behind Quebec, the thundering
+noise and trembling motion continued successively for a considerable
+time. In others, as toward Tadoussac, the shock continued generally for
+two or three days at a time with much violence.
+
+"The second circumstance relates to the extent of this earthquake,
+which, we believe, was universal throughout the whole of New France,
+for we learn that it was felt from L'Isle Perce and Gaspe, which are
+situated at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to beyond Montreal; as also
+in New England, Acadia, and other places more remote. As far as it has
+come to our knowledge, this earthquake extended more than 600 miles in
+length, and about 300 in breadth. Hence 180,000 square miles of land
+were convulsed in the same day and at the same moment.
+
+"The third circumstance, which appears the most remarkable of all,
+regards the extraordinary protection of Divine Providence, which has
+been extended to us and our habitations; for we have seen near us the
+large openings and chasms which the earthquake occasioned, and the
+prodigious extent of country which has been either totally lost or
+hideously convulsed, without our losing either man, woman, or child, or
+even having a hair of their head touched."--_Jesuits' Journal_, Quebec,
+1663.
+
+
+No. XXII.
+
+"The principle in both instances is alike: in the former, the caloric or
+vital heat of the body passes so rapidly from the hand into the cold
+iron as to destroy the continuous and organic structure of the part; in
+the latter, the caloric passes so rapidly from the hot iron into the
+hand as to produce the same effect: heat, in both cases, being the same;
+its passing into the body from the iron, or into the iron from the body,
+being equally injurious to vitality. From a similar cause, the
+incautious traveler in Canada is burned in the face by a very cold wind,
+with the same sensations as when he is exposed to the blast of an
+eastern sirocco. Milton thus alludes to the effects of cold in his
+description of the abode of Satan and his compeers. After adverting to
+Styx, he says,
+
+ 'Beyond this flood, a frozen continent
+ Lies, dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms
+ Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land
+ Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems
+ Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice;
+ A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog
+ Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old,
+ Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air
+ Burns frore (frozen), and cold performs the effect of fire.'
+
+ _Paradise Lost_, B. 2.
+
+"We also find in Virgil, Georg., i., 93,
+
+'Borea penetrabile frigus adurat.'"--Gray's _Canada_, p. 290.
+
+
+No. XXIII.
+
+"This meteor is strongest and most frequent about the arctic circle, or
+between that and the parallel of 64 deg. It is now ascertained, we think,
+beyond all doubt, that the height of the Aurora, instead of being, as
+supposed by Mr. Dalton and others, above the region of the atmosphere,
+is, in fact, rarely above six or seven miles. This was satisfactorily
+proved by angles taken in the same moment at two distant places, always
+exceedingly small at one or both stations; by the extreme rapidity with
+which a beam darts from one side of the horizon to the opposite side,
+which could not happen if 100 miles high or upward; by its frequently
+darting its beams _beneath_ the clouds, and at very short distances from
+the earth's surface, and by its being acted upon by the wind. Mr. Hood
+was told by one of the partners of the Northwest Company that he once
+saw the coruscations of the Aurora Borealis so vivid and low that the
+Canadians fell on their faces, and began crying and praying, fearing
+lest they should be killed; that he threw away his gun and knife, that
+they might not attract the flashes, for they were within two feet from
+the earth, flitting along with incredible swiftness, and moving parallel
+to the surface; he added that they made a loud rustling noise, like the
+waving of a flag in a strong breeze. This rustling noise, which is
+universally asserted by the servants of the Northwest Company, was not
+heard by any of the officers of Captain Franklin's expedition, but he
+says that it would be an absurd degree of skepticism to doubt the fact
+any longer, for their observations had rather increased than diminished
+the probability of it. It has hitherto been supposed that the magnetic
+needle was not affected by the Aurora; but a vast number of experiments
+given in the tables prove that, in certain positions of the beams and
+arches, the needle was considerably drawn aside, and mostly so when the
+flashes were between the clouds and the earth, or when their actions
+were quick, their light vivid, and the atmosphere hazy."--Franklin's
+_Journey to the Polar Sea_, Nos. II. and III. of the Appendix.
+
+The following is Charlevoix's description of the Aurora Borealis, never
+before witnessed by the French colonists:
+
+"Un autre phenomene, qui paroit dans l'air, meriteroit bien qu'on
+s'etudiat a en decouvrir la cause. Dans le tems le plus serein, on
+appercoit tout a coup au milieu de la nuit de nuages d'une blancheur
+extraordinaire, et au travers de ces nuages une lumiere tres-eclatante.
+Lors meme qu'on ne sent pas un souffle de vent, ces nuages sont chasses
+avec une tres-grande vitesse, et prennent toutes sortes de figures. Plus
+la nuit est obscure, plus la lumiere est vive: elle l'est meme
+quelquefois a un point, qu'on peut lire a sa lueur beaucoup plus
+aisement, qu'a celle de la lune dans son plein.
+
+"On dira peut-etre que ce n'est qu'une refraction des raions du soleil,
+qui par cette hauteur ne s'eloigne pas beaucoup de l'horison pendant les
+nuits de l'ete, et qu'encore qu'il n'y ait point de vent dans la basse
+region de l'air, il peut y en avoir dans la superieure, ce qui est vrai;
+mais ce qui me fait juger qu'il y a encore une autre de ce meteore,
+c'est que pendant l'hyver meme, la lune paroit souvent environnee
+d'arc-en-ciel de couleurs differentes, et toutes tres-vives. Pour moi je
+suis persuade que ces effets doivent etre attribues en partie a des
+exhalaisons nitreuses, qui pendant le jour ont ete attirees et
+enfluencees par le soleil."
+
+
+No. XXIV.
+
+"Very distant posterity will one day decide whether, as Mr. Leslie has
+endeavored to prove by ingenious hypothesis (_An Experimental Inquiry
+into the Nature and Propagation of Heat_, 1804), 2400 years are
+sufficient to augment the mean temperature of the atmosphere a single
+degree. However slow this increment may be, we must admit that an
+hypothesis, according to which organic life seems gradually to augment
+on the globe, occupies more agreeably our imagination than the old
+system of the cooling of our planet and the accumulation of the polar
+ice."--Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. ii., p. 83.
+
+"A point of much interest is the comparison of the actual temperature of
+the globe with that of the same regions in former ages. The evidence
+which justifies the conclusion that no change has occurred but from
+local or superficial causes, is worth studying, were it only for its
+variety and singularity. We might begin with Laplace's conclusion, that
+the mean heat can not be altered by 1 deg. of Reaumur since the time of
+Hipparchus, inasmuch as the dimensions of the globe would be thereby
+changed in a small amount, its angular velocity be increased or
+diminished, and a sensible difference be made in the length of the day,
+which difference does not exist. We might then proceed to the argument
+urged by Biot and Champollion, from the identity of the time of
+inundation in the Nile, 5000 years ago, the periodical rains producing
+which depend upon and indicate the degree and distribution of heat over
+a vast equatorial region. Next we might turn to the method of Professor
+Schaw, in his work on the comparative temperature of ancient and modern
+times, founded on the northern and southern limits of production of
+different animals and plants in any given country, as they come recorded
+to us by ancient writers, compared with the observations of our own day.
+The result of general identity is obtained by this method also; and the
+same remark may be extended to the miscellaneous proofs derived from
+other passages in ancient writers, numerously collated, respecting the
+climate of particular regions and localities. There is no amount of
+diversity shown by this evidence which does not admit of explanation
+from local and accidental causes, many of them belonging to the agency
+of man himself, on the surface of the earth."--_Quarterly Review_,
+September, 1848.
+
+"Several planters attribute the failure of the cotton crop this year
+(1842) to the unusual size and number of the icebergs, which floated
+southward last spring from Hudson's and Baffin's Bays, and may have
+cooled the sea and checked the early growth of the cotton plant, so
+numerous and remote are the disturbing causes of meteorology! Forty
+degrees of latitude intervene between the region where the ice-floes are
+generated and that where the crops are raised, whose death-warrant they
+are supposed to have carried with them."--Lyell's _America_, vol. i., p.
+174.
+
+
+No. XXV.
+
+The theory by which Dr. Brewster seeks to account for the peculiarities
+of the American climate is the following: "He supposes that the poles of
+the globe and the isothermal poles are by no means coincident, and that,
+on the contrary, there exist two different points, within a few degrees
+of the poles, where the cold is greatest in both hemispheres. These
+points are believed by Dr. Brewster to be situated about the eightieth
+parallel of latitude, and in the meridians of 95 deg. east and 100 deg. west
+longitude. The meridians of these isothermal poles[223] he considers as
+lying nearly at right angles to the parallels of what might be called
+the meteorological latitudes, which, according to his theory, appear to
+have an obliquity of direction as regards the equator something like the
+zodiac. Thus the cold circle of latitude that passes through Siberia
+would be the same that traverses the frigid atmosphere of Canada. This
+theory would go some length toward explaining the causes of the gradual
+decrease of the severity of cold in the south of Europe, and lead us to
+the conclusion that eventually the cold meridian of Canada may work its
+way westward, and leave that part of America to an enjoyment of the same
+temperature as those European countries situated in corresponding
+latitudes. That the temperature of the air has been modified by
+agricultural operations can not be denied, but that these operations
+should of themselves be capable of producing the changes known to have
+taken place in the course of ages in Europe, where formerly the Tiber
+used to be often frozen, and snow was by no means uncommon at Rome;[224]
+when the Euxine Sea, the Rhone, and the Rhine, were almost every year
+covered with ice, of sufficient thickness to bear considerable burdens,
+it is scarcely possible rationally to admit; and, indeed, the
+meteorological observations, as far as they go in Canada, serve rather
+to disprove than to establish the fact."--Bouchette, vol. i., p. 335.
+
+"The earliest record of the climate of Canada is that contained in the
+'Fastes Chronologiques,' and refers to the period of Cartier's second
+voyage. On the 15th of November, 1535, Old Style, the vessels in the
+River St. Charles were surrounded by ice, and the Indians informed
+Cartier that the whole river was frozen over as far as Montreal. On the
+22d of February, 1536, the River St. Lawrence became navigable for
+canoes opposite to Quebec, but the ice remained firm in the St. Croix
+harbor. On the 5th of April his vessels were disengaged from the ice. To
+obtain the modern dates, it will be necessary to add eleven days to each
+period.
+
+"The later meteorological statistics do not prove that the progressive
+opening of the country has had so powerful an influence upon the
+temperature of the atmosphere as is generally supposed. Its chief
+tendency seems to be to lengthen the summer, and thus abridge the
+duration of winter. That the gradual removal of the forests to make room
+for open fields contributes to augment the summer temperature, is
+undoubtedly true, since it is well known that the atmosphere itself is
+not heated by the direct rays of the sun, but that its warmth springs
+from the earth, and that the degree of this warmth is entirely governed
+by the quantum of heat absorbed through the earth's surface. The
+progressive settlement of the country may then be expected to benefit
+the climate, by its throwing open to the direct action of the sun a more
+extended surface of territory; and this benefit will be more sensibly
+felt at night, from the earth's having imbibed a sufficient quantity of
+caloric to temper the coolness of the air between the setting and rising
+of the sun. In an agricultural point of view, such an improvement in the
+climate of Canada will be of great moment, as the coldness of the nights
+is generally the cause of blight in tender fruits and plants; and from
+its equalizing the temperature, probably render the climate capable of
+maturing fruits that are indigenous to warm countries.
+
+"Notwithstanding the opposing testimony of meteorological data, we have
+the assertion of some of the oldest inhabitants of the country that the
+climate of Canada has become perceptibly milder within their
+recollection, and are thus left to conciliate this traditional record
+with contradictory facts, and the only mode of doing so appears to be
+the application of their remarks, more to the duration of the mild
+season than the degrees of cold that were indicated by the thermometer
+in the course of the year."--Bouchette, vol. i., p. 334, 340, 1831;
+Lambert's _Travels through Canada_ in 1808, vol. i., p. 119.
+
+Kalm says in 1748, September 12th, "The weather about this time was like
+the beginning of our August, Old Style. Therefore it seems that autumn
+commences a whole month later in Canada than in the midst of
+Sweden."--P. 682.
+
+[Footnote 223: On the theory of the isothermal lines, see the papers of
+Kupfer in Poggend., _Ann._, bd. xv., s., 184, and bd. xxxli., s. 270, in
+the _Voyage dans l'Oural_, p. 382-398, and in the _Edinb. Journal of
+Science_, new series, vol. iv., p. 355. See, also, Kamtz, _Lehrbuch der
+Meteor_, bd. ii., s. 217, and on the ascent of chthon-isothermal lines
+in mountainous countries, Bischoff, s. 174-197; Humboldt's _Cosmos_,
+vol. i., p. 347.]
+
+[Footnote 224: Quebec lies nearly in the same latitude as Paris, and
+from the description which the Emperor Julian has given of the winters
+he quartered there during his command in Gaul, there seems to be little
+difference between the winters of France in this respect and the present
+winters of Canada.--Juliani Imper., _Opera_.
+
+The author of _Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains_ supposes
+the difference in heat between the two continents to be equal to 12
+degrees; that a place 30 degrees from the equator in the Old Continent
+is as warm as one situated 18 degrees from it in America, tom. i., p.
+11. Dr. Mitchell, after observations carried on during thirty years,
+contends that the difference is equal to 14 or 15 degrees of latitude,
+p. 257.--Heriot's _Travels through the Canadas_, p. 117.]
+
+
+No. XXVI.
+
+The Vitis vinifera is found in America in its wild state; in James's
+"Expedition to the Rocky Mountains" it is thus described: "The small
+elms along this valley were bending under the weight of innumerable
+grape vines, now loaded with ripe fruit, the purple clusters crowded in
+such profusion as almost to give a coloring to the landscape. On the
+opposite side of the river was a range of low sand-hills, fringed with
+vines, rising not more than a foot or eighteen inches from the surface.
+On examination, we found these hillocks had been produced exclusively by
+the agency of the grape vines, arresting the sand as it was borne along
+by the wind until such quantities had been accumulated as to bury every
+part of the plant except the end of the branches. Many of these were so
+loaded with fruit as to present nothing to the eye but a series of
+clusters, so closely arranged as to conceal every part of the stem. The
+fruit of these vines is incomparably finer than that of any other native
+or exotic which we have met with in the United States. The burying of
+the greater part of the trunk with its larger branches produces the
+effect of pruning, inasmuch as it prevents the unfolding of leaves and
+flowers on the parts below the surface, while the protruded ends of the
+branches enjoy an increased degree of light and heat from the reflection
+of the sand. It is owing, undoubtedly, to these causes that the grapes
+in question are far superior to the fruit of the same vine under
+ordinary circumstances. The treatment here employed by nature to bring
+to perfection the fruit of the vine may be imitated, but, without the
+peculiarities of soil and exposure, can with difficulty be carried to
+the same magnificent extent. Here are hundreds of acres, covered with a
+movable surface of sand, and abounding in vines, which, left to the
+agency of the sun and of the winds, are, by their operation, placed in
+more favorable circumstances than it is in the power of man to so great
+an extent to afford."--Vol. ii., p. 315, 316.
+
+
+No. XXVII.
+
+"Fir-trees, Thuja, and Cypress-trees are a northern type, which is very
+rare in the tropical regions. The freshness of their evergreen leaves
+cheers the desert winter landscape; it proclaims to the inhabitants of
+these regions that although snow and ice cover the earth, the internal
+life of the plants, like the fire of Prometheus, is never
+extinguished."--_Cosmos_, vol. ii., p. 90.
+
+"There are upward of twenty species of Pinus, of which one half are
+natives of Canada, Nova Scotia, or Newfoundland.
+
+"_Pinus Balsamea_ (Balm of Gilead Fir, or American Silver Fir) grows to
+the height of fifty feet, and is an elegant tree, resembling the silver
+fir of Europe. The resin of this species is the common Canada Balsam,
+which is often substituted for the Balm of Gilead. It is found in small
+blisters on the bark, extracted by incision, and received in a limpid
+state into a shell or cup. This tree has long been cultivated for
+curiosity in England, but in general, though it grows to a considerable
+size and height, scarcely survives above twenty years, which seems to be
+the natural period of its existence. Mr. Lambert mentions some older
+trees of this species at Woburn and Warwick Castle.
+
+"_Pinus Canadensis_ (Hemlock Spruce) is a beautiful and very large tree,
+bearing some resemblance in its foliage to the common yew. Peter
+Collinson records his having introduced this tree to the English
+collections in 1736, and a fine specimen of it is, or was, in his garden
+at Mill Hill.
+
+"_Pinus Nigra_ (Black or Double Spruce) is found from Canada to Nova
+Scotia, and terminates in latitude 65 deg. It was introduced into England
+about the year 1700, but not much cultivated there.
+
+"_Pinus Alba_ (White Spruce) flourishes from latitude 43 deg. northward. Its
+growth is nearly equal to that of the European silver fir, 140 feet in
+height. It is one of the most ornamental of the _Abies_ tribe (those
+having single, not fasciculated leaves); the branches feather down to
+the ground, and the leaves have a beautiful and peculiar glaucous hue.
+From the young shoots of this tree (also from Pinus Nigra) is obtained
+the resinous extract from which spruce beer is made: good turpentine is
+obtained from the bark. This tree was cultivated in England by Bishop
+Compton before 1700.
+
+"_Pinus Resinosa_ (Pitch Pine) grows in Canada in close forests, and is
+distinguished for its great height and smooth red bark, whence it is
+often called Red Pine by the French population. This tree is the glory
+of Canada. Its timber, in color, quality, and durability, appears to be
+in every respect equal to the best Riga, and in one particular superior,
+that of being quite free from knots. It was first raised in England by
+the Duke of Northumberland at Zion House, where many of this species are
+still to be seen flowering in May.
+
+"_Pinus Banksiana_ (Labrador Scrub, or Gray Pine) inhabits cold, barren,
+and rocky situations. The finest trees of this species in England are at
+Pain's Hill and Kew.
+
+"_Pinus Strobus_ (White, or Weymouth Pine) is the largest species on the
+eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, being sometimes 200 feet high, and
+the trunk five feet in diameter. The attention which Lord Weymouth,
+afterward Marquis of Bath, gave to the cultivation of this valuable tree
+has justly stamped it with his name. It is now generally diffused
+through every considerable plantation in England. When growing in open
+situations, it is feathered to the ground; but, as generally found in
+the Canadian forests, it is little more than an immense stick with a
+quantity of brush at its head, in about the same proportion as the hair
+on the tail of an elephant. It is of this tree that in general the
+forests of all British America are composed, and it is, in fact,
+peculiar to America. It is called in commerce White Pine, Yellow Pine,
+or American Pine. The timber is very valuable for masts. The age to
+which this tree arrives is not known: 1500 annular divisions have been
+counted.
+
+"_Pinus Pendula_ (Black Larch, or Hackmatack) is a beautiful and large
+tree, generally resembling the larch of Europe. The buds are black, and
+yield a fine turpentine. This tree was first raised in England by the
+celebrated Peter Collinson, whose original tree, one of the treasures
+of the Mill Hill garden, was cut down about the year 1800 to make a
+rail! Few exotics are more worthy of general cultivation. The wood is at
+least equal to the European larch.
+
+"_Pinus Microcarpa_ (Red Larch) resembles the preceding so much, that
+Michaux and Wildman confounded the two species together. The red larch,
+however, is now clearly distinguished as a distinct kind. It is named by
+the voyageurs L'Epinette Rouge, and by the Hudson's Bay men
+Juniper."--H. Murray's _British America_, vol. iii., p. 328; R. M.
+Martin, p. 254; Rees's _Cyclopaedia_, art. Pinus.
+
+
+No. XXVIII.
+
+"The canoes that navigate the Canadian lakes are among the most
+ingenious and useful of the Indian manufactures, and nothing that
+European ingenuity has devised is so well adapted to the habits and
+necessities of their mode of life. They are made of the bark of the
+birch-tree; and of all the various contrivances for transporting burdens
+by water, these vessels are the most extraordinary. From the slightness
+of their construction, they would appear to be totally inadequate to
+contend against the rapids they are continually exposed to. They are of
+various lengths, from twelve to thirty feet (the latter used only by the
+Hudson's Bay Company); their breadth from four to six feet, diminishing
+to a point at each end without distinction. The exterior is the bark of
+the birch-tree, scarcely the eighth part of an inch in thickness: it is
+kept distended by thin hoops and the bark; the gunwale is a narrow lath,
+to which the hoop and the bark are sewed with narrow strips of the roots
+of the white cedar-tree; and the joinings in the bark are rendered
+water-proof by a species of gum, said to be collected from the wild
+cherry-tree, which soon becomes perfectly hard. No iron work or nails
+are employed in their construction; and they are so light, that the
+common-sized ones are easily carried for several miles by a man of
+moderate strength. They are worked by paddles over the sides, and the
+dexterity of the Indians in working them is surprising. They, of course,
+push them forward, and not backward, as in the operation of rowing. The
+largest description will carry about five tons of merchandise, besides
+eight or ten men. The great objection that attends the use of bark
+canoes is the difficulty of keeping them water-tight. It requires the
+greatest attention to prevent them from touching a rock, or even the
+shore, as they would otherwise break; hence they are never brought near
+to the bank. Two men keep the canoe afloat at a distance, while the rest
+of the crew load or unload her. The canoe is unloaded every night,
+raised out of the water, and left on the beach bottom upward. This is
+also occasionally done when they stop during the day: it affords an
+opportunity of allowing the canoe to dry, otherwise the bark absorbs
+much water, and becomes very heavy. All motion on the part of those on
+board is to be avoided, as it causes the pitch to crack, and renders the
+canoe leaky."--Keating's _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of
+St. Peter's River_, vol. ii., p. 72, quoted in Sir George Simpson's
+_Overland Journey Round the World_, vol. i., p. 14.
+
+La Hontan, in 1684, gives the same description of the bark canoes, and
+complains of "the inconvenience of their brittle and tender fabric. If
+they do but touch or grate upon stone or sand, the cracks of the bark
+fly open, upon which the water gets in, and spoils the provisions and
+merchandise. Every day there is some new chink or seam to be gummed
+over. At night they are always unloaded and carried on shore, where they
+are made fast with pegs, lest the wind should blow them away."
+
+Charlevoix gives a nearly similar account in 1720, vol. v., p. 285. He
+adds: "Tous ces canots, jusqu'au plus petits, portent la voile et avec
+un bon vent peuvent faire vingt lieues par jour. Sans voiles il faut
+avoir de bons canoteurs pour en faire douze dans une eau morte."
+
+
+No. XXIX.
+
+"Many of the species of _Acer_ form large, ornamental, and valuable
+trees. The kinds in most esteem for making sugar are _Acer dasycarpum_
+(white, or soft maple), _Acer nigrum_ (black sugar maple), and _Acer
+saccharinum_ (the sugar maple), the last two yielding the greatest
+quantity of sugar. The process by which the sap is obtained is extremely
+simple, nothing more being necessary than to bore a hole in the tree,
+and conduct the flowing liquid, by means of a hollowed piece of wood,
+into a vessel beneath. Whatever quantity of sap is collected, it must be
+boiled down the same evening, as it is liable to be spoiled by
+fermentation in the course of a few hours. The operation of boiling is
+generally performed in a very primitive way: it is thus described by the
+intelligent authoress of _Backwoods of Canada_: 'A pole was fixed across
+two forked stakes strong enough to bear the weight of the big kettle.
+The employment during the day was emptying the troughs and chopping wood
+to supply the fires. In the evening they lit the fires and began boiling
+down the sap. It was a pretty and picturesque sight to see the sugar
+boilers, with their bright log-fire among the trees, now stirring up the
+blazing pile, now throwing in the liquid, and stirring it down with a
+big ladle. When the fire grew fierce it boiled and foamed up in the
+kettle, and they had to throw in fresh sap to keep it from running over.
+When the sap begins to thicken into molasses, it is then brought to the
+sugar boiler to be finished. The process is simple: it only requires
+attention in skimming, and keeping the mass from boiling over, till it
+has arrived at the sugaring point, which is ascertained by dropping a
+little into cold water. When it is near the proper consistency, the
+kettle or pot becomes full of yellow froth, that dimples and rises in
+large bubbles from beneath. These throw out puffs of steam, and when the
+molasses is in this stage it is nearly converted into sugar. Those who
+pay great attention to keeping the liquid free from scum, and
+understand the precise sugaring point, will produce an article little,
+if at all, inferior to Muscovado.' It is, however, often adulterated
+with flour, which thickens and renders it heavy. It is very hard, and
+requires to be scraped with a knife when used for tea, otherwise the
+lumps would be a considerable time in dissolving. The Canadians say that
+it possesses medicinal qualities, for which they eat it in large lumps.
+It very possibly acts as a corrective to the vast quantity of fat pork
+which they consume, as it possesses a greater degree of acidity than the
+West India sugar. Before salt was in use, sugar was eaten with meat, as
+a corrective; hence, probably, the custom of eating sweet apple-sauce
+with pork and goose, and currant-jelly with hare and venison."--Lambert,
+vol. i., p. 84.
+
+"The production of maple sugar amounted (in 1836) to about 25,000 cwt.
+annually. A plantation of maple is termed 'suegari,' and is considered
+very valuable: the sugar sells from 3_d._ to 6_d._ per pound. A moderate
+tree is said to yield from twenty to thirty gallons of the sap, from
+which may be extracted five or six pounds of sugar. Nor is sugar the
+only product to be obtained from this valuable tree: strong and
+excellent vinegar is made from it, as well as good wine; and, with the
+addition of hops, sound and pleasant beer may be had at a very trifling
+expense."--H. Murray's _Canada_, vol. iii., p. 315; Gray's _Canada_, p.
+224.
+
+"It is a very remarkable fact that these trees, after having been tapped
+for six or seven successive years, always yield more sap than they do on
+being first wounded. This sap, however, is not so rich as that which the
+trees distill for the first time; but, from its coming in an increased
+portion, as much sugar is generally produced from a single tree on the
+fifth or sixth year of its being tapped as on the first.
+
+"The ingenious Mr. Nooth, of Quebec, who is at the head of the general
+hospital in Canada, has made a variety of experiments upon the
+manufacture of maple sugar. He has granulated, and also refined it, so
+as to render it equal to the best lump sugar that is made in England. To
+convince the Canadians also, who are as incredulous on some points as
+they are credulous on others, that it was really maple sugar that they
+saw thus refined, he has contrived to have large lumps, exhibiting the
+sugar in its different stages toward refinement, the lower part of the
+lumps being left hard, similar to the common cakes, the middle part
+granulated, and the upper part refined. Dr. Nooth has calculated that
+the sale of the molasses alone would be fully adequate to the expense of
+refining the maple sugar, if a manufactory for that purpose were
+established. Some attempts have been made to establish one of the kind
+at Quebec, but they have never succeeded, as the persons by whom they
+were made were adventurers that had not sufficient capital for such an
+undertaking."--Weld, 1800, p. 271.
+
+Charlevoix says in his _Journal_, "On me regale ici d'eau d'erable--elle
+est delicieuse, d'un fraicheur admirable et fort saine. Pour qu'elle
+coule avec abondance, il faut qu'il y ait beaucoup de neiges sur la
+terre, qu'il ait gele pendant la nuit, que le ciel soit serein, et que
+le vent ne soit pas trop froid. Nos erables auroient peut-etre la meme
+vertu, si nous avions en France autant de neiges qu'en Canada, et si
+elles y duroient aussi lontems. J'en ai donne a foudre a un refineur
+d'Orleans qui n'y a trouve d'autre defaut que ce qu'il n'avoit pas ete
+suffisamment egoute. Il le croyoit meme de meilleure qualite de
+l'autre."--Vol. v., p. 181.
+
+
+No. XXX.
+
+"Quelques nations tirent leur subsistance, d'une sorte de grain que la
+Nature produit d'elle-meme; on le nomme le folle-avoine, dont les
+Francais ont transporte le nom a quelques-unes de ces nations. C'est une
+plante marecageuse qui approche assez de l'avoine, mais qui est mieux
+nourrie. Les sauvages vont la chercher dans leurs canots, au tems de sa
+maturite. Ils ne font que secouer les epis, les quels s'egraissent
+facilement, de sorte que leurs canots sont bientot remplis, et leurs
+provisions bientot faites, sans qu'ils soient obliges de labourer ni de
+semer."--Lafitau, tom. ii., 96.
+
+This grain is the _Zizania aquatica_ of Linnaeus. Kalm calls it the water
+tare-grass, and says that "the Indians reckon it among their dainty
+dishes. It grows in plenty in their lakes, in stagnant waters, and
+sometimes in rivers which flow slowly. They gather its seeds in October,
+and prepare them in different ways, and chiefly as groats, which take
+almost as well as rice."--Kalm, in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 696.
+
+"Common in all the waters from Canada to Florida, and known by the name
+of Tuscarora,[225] or wild rice."--Pursh. Sir Joseph Banks introduced it
+into this country in 1790, and cultivated it abundantly in the ponds of
+his villa of Spring Grove. The seeds were obtained from Canada in jars
+of water. Mr. Lambert is of opinion that this grain might be cultivated
+in many shallow lakes of Ireland, and turned to considerable advantage.
+
+[Footnote 225: The Tuscaroras, so called from the Wild Rice, were a race
+of the Iroquois. It is of them that the fable was narrated that Owen
+Chapelain (in 1619) saved himself from their hands, when they were about
+to scalp him, by speaking in his Gaelic mother tongue. Catlin is
+inclined to consider the fair and frequently blue-eyed nation of the
+Tuscaroras to be a mixed race, between the ancient Welsh and the
+American aboriginal tribes.]
+
+
+No. XXXI.
+
+"The soil and climate of Canada are admirably adapted to the growth of
+hemp. The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c., assert, in their
+preface to Vol. XXI., 'That they have ascertained, by actual
+experiments, that Canada can furnish hemp equal in quality for the uses
+of the navy to that from the Baltic.' Hemp is one of the most valuable
+and profitable productions of the earth. It enriches the cultivator,
+and furnishes shipping with the most useful and important part of its
+equipment. The several processes of hemp, also, benefit the state, by
+employing many hands that could not be so usefully and profitably
+engaged in other occupations. The advantage, therefore, which a country
+must derive from the culture and manufacture of hemp, throughout its
+several branches, can not be doubted, and is sufficiently proved by the
+importance which Russia has derived from her commerce in that article,
+by which she has, in a manner, rendered the greatest navy in the world
+dependent upon her will and caprice. The importation of hemp from Russia
+has annually amounted to no less than 30,000 tons for the general
+consumption of the country, and for the use of the royal navy. It must,
+therefore, in every point of view, be a great object to Great Britain to
+draw her supplies of hemp from her own colonies. The efforts of
+government to promote its general cultivation have hitherto proved very
+partially successful. The failure is attributed, in a great degree, to
+the attachment of the Canadians to old customs, and the opposition of
+the Romish clergy, hemp not being a tithable article. The wheat
+merchants and the seigniors, who depend for success in trade and for the
+constant employment of their mills, the chief source of their revenues,
+upon abundant crops of wheat, are strongly opposed to the introduction
+of the culture of hemp, which they conceive would partly, if not wholly,
+annihilate that of wheat."--Lambert, vol. i., p. 449.
+
+M. de Talon, the able Intendant of Quebec (in 1665), strongly
+recommended the cultivation of hemp, having ascertained that the nature
+of the soil and climate promised every possible success.
+
+
+No. XXXII.
+
+"It is calculated that there is a greater proportion of wheat soil in
+the Canadas than in England, and that, if this valuable grain were
+cultivated in this latter country in the same defective manner as in
+these provinces, it could not be of much value. Climate, an equally
+important particular, seems, at first sight, less favorable than soil. A
+region which for several months, and, in some districts, for more than
+half the year, remains buried in frost and snow, may well be supposed
+unfriendly to vegetation. The strong, steady heat of summer, however,
+counteracts almost completely this chilling influence, and matures, with
+surprising rapidity, the most valuable plants. Mr. Evans has had wheat
+in ear nine weeks after it was sown. Even the violent alternations of
+frost and thaw, of snow and rain, instead of injuring vegetation, are
+found to pulverize and soften the soil, and thus render it more fertile
+with less culture. The great steadiness of the summer weather exempts
+plants from sundry vicissitudes which they undergo in a more changeable
+climate. From these causes, the _annuals_ suited to a temperate region
+grow in Canada to full perfection, and as these include the grains
+fitted for bread, the food most essential to man, she has little cause
+to envy any other country. In regard to wheat, indeed, the chief of
+those vegetables, this observation must be somewhat restricted. Its
+plants are so far biennial, that to acquire the very first quality they
+must be sown during the preceding autumn. Yet this course has not been
+found safe in Lower Canada, where wheat must be treated as an annual,
+sown in spring, and reaped before the end of the year. The defect is
+owing, not to the rigor of the winter, still less to the depth of snow,
+which, on the contrary, is found to protect and cherish vegetable
+growth, but is ascribed to severe frosts, violent and chilling rains,
+occurring after the snow has left the ground, and the plants have made
+some progress. An opinion is entertained that, with good management,
+autumn wheat might be raised with success. The British American Land
+Company have decidedly adopted this idea, and some successful
+experiments have been made. Mr. Evans, however, is of opinion that, from
+the above causes, unless in some favored situations, it must always be
+an unsafe crop, and peculiarly liable to disease. He had once autumn and
+spring wheats growing on the same field, when, although the first was
+completely ruined by rust and mildew, the other proved excellent. He
+seems to apprehend, therefore, that Lower Canada must be content with
+her good spring growth. It is said, however, to require a soil more
+minutely pulverized, while the grain produced contains a greater
+proportion of gluten, and is thus harder and more difficult to grind. In
+Upper Canada, autumn wheat is raised without any difficulty."--H.
+Murray, vol. i., p. 339.
+
+"Canada wheat is of an excellent quality: it is thought superior to the
+Baltic wheat, being harder, and yielding more flour in proportion to the
+quality. The Canadian farmers are very negligent in preventing the
+growth of weeds, so that the wheat, when thrashed, is very foul, and
+seldom or never in a condition to be shipped until it is cleaned. For
+that purpose, it undergoes the operation of being once or twice put
+through what is called the _cribbles_."--Gray's _Canada_, p. 199.
+
+
+No. XXXIII.
+
+It is still a subject of dispute among naturalists whether the moose
+deer and the elk are the same animal. Professor Kalm and his translator,
+Forster, formed this opinion principally on the Algonquin name for the
+elk, _Musu_, the final u being scarcely sounded. The Algonquins, before
+the Iroquois attained to such great power in America, were the principal
+nation in the northern part of the continent, and their language a kind
+of universal language. Charlevoix says, "Ce qu'on appelle ici Orignal,
+c'est ce qu'en Allemagne, en Pologne, et en Muscovie on nomme Elau, ou
+la Grand Bete." The first mention of this remarkable animal is in a
+tract of Mr. Josselyn's, entitled "New England Rarities." That author
+says, "It is a very fine creature, growing to twelve feet high; the
+horns are extremely beautiful, with broad palms, some of them full
+grown, being two fathoms from the tip of one horn to the tip of the
+other." The same author, in another work, entitled "Two Voyages to New
+England," calls this creature "a monster of superfluity;" and says that,
+"when full grown, it is many times larger than an ox." The best account,
+however, of the moose deer is Mr. Paul Dudley's. This gentleman says
+they are of two kinds: the common light-gray moose deer, called by the
+Indians _Wampoose_, and the larger black moose. The gray moose is the
+same animal which Mr. Clayton, in his account of the Virginian
+quadrupeds, calls the elk; and this is the creature described in the
+Anatomical Discoveries of the Paris Academy under the name of the stag
+of Canada. Horns of this creature have been sent from Virginia, and
+called elks' horns; they are wholly the same with those of our red deer,
+except in size, weighing about twelve pounds, and measuring from the
+burr to the tip about six feet long.--_Phil. Trans._, No. cxliv., p.
+386; Abr., vol. vii., p. 447. Mr. Dudley says that the gray moose is
+like the English deer, and that these creatures herd together thirty or
+more in a company. The black or large moose has been taken, he says,
+measuring 14 spans in height from the withers, which, allowing 9 inches
+to the span, is 10-1/2 feet. The large horns found fossil in Ireland
+have, from their vast dimensions, been supposed to have originally
+belonged to the black moose deer; they are provided with brow antlers
+between the burr and the palm, which the European elk has not, and the
+American has. However, the largest horns of the American moose ever
+brought over are only 32 inches long, and 34 between tip and tip, while
+some of the Irish horns are near 12 feet between tip and tip, and 6 feet
+4 inches long; they may probably be ranked among those remains which
+fossilists distinguish by the title of diluvian.
+
+Professor Kalm says, "They sometimes dig very large horns out of the
+ground in Ireland, and nobody in that country, or any where else in the
+world, knows any animal that has such horns. This has induced many to
+believe that it is the moose deer so famous in North America, and that
+the horns found were of animals of this kind which had formerly lived in
+that island, but were gradually destroyed. It has even been concluded
+that Ireland, in distant ages, either was connected with North America,
+or that a number of little islands, which are lost at present, made a
+chain between them. This led me to inquire whether an animal with such
+excessive great horns as are ascribed to the moose deer had ever been
+seen in any part of this country. Mr. Bertram told me that he had
+carefully inquired to that purpose, and was entirely of opinion that
+there was no such animal in North America. Mr. Franklin related that he
+had, when a boy, seen two of the animals which they call moose deer; but
+he well remembered that they were not near of such a size as they must
+have been if the horns found in Ireland were to fit them. The two
+animals which he saw were brought to Boston in order to be sent to
+England to Queen Anne. The height of the animal up to the back was that
+of a pretty tall horse, but the head and its horns were still higher. On
+my travels in Canada, I often inquired of the Frenchmen whether there
+had ever been seen so large an animal in this country as some people say
+there is in North America, and with such great horns as are sometimes
+dug out in Ireland. But I was always told that they had never heard of
+it, much less seen it; some added that if there was such an animal, they
+certainly must have met with it in some of their excursions in the
+woods."--Kalm, in Pink., vol. xiii., p. 472. In shape the elk or moose
+deer is much less elegant than the rest of the deer kind, having a very
+short and thick neck; a large head; horns dilating immediately from the
+base into a broad, palmated form; a thick, broad upper lip, hanging very
+much over the lower; very high shoulders, and long legs. The hair is a
+dark grayish-brown color, strong, coarse, and elastic, much longer on
+the top of the shoulders and ridge of the neck than on other parts,
+forming together a kind of stiffish mane; the eye and ears are large,
+the hoofs broad, and the tail extremely short. The elk resides
+principally in the midst of forests, for the convenience of browsing the
+boughs of trees, because it is prevented from grazing with facility on
+account of the shortness of the neck and the disproportionate length of
+the legs. Their gait is remarkable; their general pace is described to
+be a high, shambling, but very swift trot, the feet being lifted up very
+high, and the hoofs clattering much during their motion; in their common
+walk they lift their feet very high, and will without difficulty step
+over a gate five feet high. The flesh of the moose is extremely sweet
+and nourishing; the Indians say that they can travel three times further
+after a meal of moose than after any other animal food. The tongues are
+excellent; but the nose is said to be perfect marrow, and is considered
+the greatest delicacy in Canada. The skin makes excellent buff, being
+strong, soft, and light. The Indians dress the hide, and, after soaking
+it for some time, stretch and render it supple by a lather of the brains
+in hot water. They not only make their snow-shoes of the skin, but after
+the chase cover the hull of their canoes with it, in which they return
+home with the spoils of their chase. The hair on the neck, withers, and
+hams of a full-grown elk is of considerable use in making mattresses and
+saddles; and the palmated parts of the horns are further excavated by
+the Indians, and converted into ladles and other culinary articles. An
+ancient superstition has prevailed that the elk is naturally subject to
+epilepsy, and that it finds its cure by scratching its ear with the hoof
+until it draws blood; in consequence of this notion, the hoofs of the
+elk form an article of the ancient Materia Medica. A piece of the hoof
+was anciently set in a ring, and worn as a preservative against the
+complaint above mentioned; sometimes the hoof was held in the patient's
+hand, or applied to the pulse, to the left ear, or suspended from the
+neck.--Rees's _Cyclopaedia_, art. Cervus Alces; Lambert's _Canada_, vol.
+i., p. 414.
+
+Charlevoix speaks of the species having been almost entirely destroyed
+even in his time (1721) by the indiscriminate carnage of the early
+settlers.--Vol. v., p. 184. "Les Orignaux etoient partout a foison,
+lorsque nous decouvrimes a pays, et ils pouvoient faire un objet pour le
+commerce, une douceur pour la vie, si on les avoit mieux menages."--Vol.
+v., p. 193.
+
+La Hontan minutely describes the chase of the elk or moose deer, in
+which laborious amusement he spent three months. Fifty-six elks were
+killed by the party of savages who accompanied him. He says that the
+flesh of the Orignal eats deliciously. He was assured by the savages
+that in summer it would trot for three days and three nights without
+intermission; it neither runs nor skips, he says, but its trot will
+almost keep up with the running of a hart.--La Hontan, in Pinkerton,
+vol. xiii., p. 284.
+
+
+No. XXXIV.
+
+_Ursus Americanus_, a species distinct from the black bear of Europe: it
+has a long, pointed nose, and narrow forehead, the hair of a glossy
+black color, smoother and shorter than that of the European kind, and is
+generally smaller than the European bear. The brown bear, _Ursus
+Arctos_, is also found in some of the northern parts of America. La
+Hontan observed the difference of disposition between the brown and the
+black bear; the latter, he says, "are extremely black, but not
+mischievous, for they never attack one unless they be wounded or fired
+upon." The reddish (_rougeatres_) bears are mischievous creatures, for
+they fall fiercely upon the huntsmen, whereas the black fly from them.
+The former sort are less, and more nimble than the latter. The flesh of
+the black bear, and, above all, their feet, are very nice victuals. The
+savages affirm that no flesh is so delicious as that of bears, and I
+think they are right.[226]--La Hontan, in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 288.
+Charlevoix, vol. v., p. 172.
+
+The _Ursus Maritimus_, or Polar Bear, is confined to the coldest parts
+of the globe, being unknown except on the coasts of Hudson's Bay,
+Greenland, and Spitzbergen. (Lambert says that they have been seen at
+Newfoundland, and La Hontan saw one at a distance at Placentia.) This
+animal grows to so great a size that the skin of some are thirteen feet
+long. They are so fond of human flesh that they will greedily disinter
+dead bodies; they will attack companies of armed men, and will even
+board small vessels. The skins of the Polar Bear were formerly offered
+by the hunters of the Arctic regions to the high altars of cathedral and
+other churches, for the priest to stand on during the celebration of
+mass in winter.--Rees's _Cyclopaedia_, art. Ursus.
+
+Captain Clarke agrees with La Hontan in ascribing fierceness of
+disposition to the brown bear, and also speaks of it as "reddish," or of
+a bay brown. "We had rather," says Captain Clarke, "encounter two
+Indians than meet a single brown bear; their very track in the mud or
+sand, which we have sometimes found 11 inches long and 7-1/4 wide,
+exclusive of the talons, is alarming. The wonderful power of life which
+they possess renders them dreadful: there is no chance of killing them
+by a single shot, unless the ball goes through the brain." ... Six of
+Captain Clarke's party, all good hunters, having sight of a large one
+of the brown breed, came unperceived within forty paces of him; four of
+them then fired, and each lodged a ball in his body, two of which went
+directly through the lungs. The brave beast made at them instantly; as
+he came near, the two men who had reserved their shot both wounded him;
+one of the balls broke his shoulder, and retarded his motion for a
+moment; before they could reload, he was so near that they all ran to
+the river; two jumped into the canoe, the other four separated, hid
+themselves among the willows, and, firing as fast as they could reload,
+struck him repeatedly, but every shot seemed as if it only served to
+guide him, and he pursued two of them so closely that at last they threw
+aside their guns and pouches, and jumped down a perpendicular bank of
+twenty feet into the water. Even this did not secure them; Bruin sprang
+after them, and was within a few feet of the hindermost, when one of the
+hunters from the shore shot him in the head. It was found that eight
+balls had passed through him. Another brown bear, after being shot five
+times through the lungs, and receiving four other wounds, swam half
+across the river to a sand-bar. This creature measured 8 feet 7-1/2
+inches from the nose to the extremity of the hind feet, and his heart
+was as big as that of a large ox, his maw ten times larger. Another,
+having been shot through the middle of the lungs, pursued his enemy for
+half a mile, than traveled more than a mile in another direction, and
+dug, as if for his grave, a hole for himself in the earth two feet deep
+and five feet long, in which he was found by the hunters. The skin of
+this beast was a burden for two men.--Captain Lewis and Clarke's
+_Travels to the Source of the Missouri River_.
+
+[Footnote 226: Bear's flesh is reckoned one of the greatest rarities
+among the Chinese, insomuch that, as Du Halde informs us, the emperor
+will send fifty or a hundred leagues into Tartary to procure it for a
+great entertainment.]
+
+
+No. XXXV.
+
+"None of the foxes of North America possess the long-enduring speed of
+the European kind, their strength appearing to be exhausted at the first
+burst, after which they are easily overtaken by a mounted horseman. The
+American cross fox (_Canis decussatus_) is probably nothing more than a
+variety of the red fox of that country (_Canis fulvus_), though usually
+of smaller size. Its fur is highly esteemed; a single skin, not many
+years ago, being worth from four to five guineas, while that of the red
+fox did not bring more than 15s. The black, or silver fox (_Canis
+argentatus_) is a much rarer and still more valuable variety, of which
+seldom more than four or five individuals are ever taken at any single
+post throughout the year. It varies from a mixed or hoary hue to a
+shining black, and La Hontan observes that, in his time, the skin of one
+was worth its weight in gold. We know that it still brings six times the
+price of any fur obtained in America."--H. Murray, vol. iii., p. 236.
+
+
+No. XXXVI.
+
+Charlevoix says that hares and rabbits are the same in America as in
+Europe, except that their hinder feet are longer than their fore feet.
+The rabbit, however, has never been found wild in any part of America.
+La Hontan says that the Ossae are little animals like hares, and resemble
+them in every thing excepting the ears and fore feet.
+
+
+No. XXXVII.
+
+Sciurus, a name formed of two Greek words, signifying shade and tail,
+because the tail serves this animal for an umbrella. The Sciurus Niger,
+Black Squirrel; the S. Vulpinus, Cat Squirrel; the S. Hudsonius,
+Hudson's Bay Squirrel, and S. Striatus, Striped Squirrel, are all
+natives of Canada, besides two species of flying squirrels. The S.
+Cinereus, Gray Squirrel, is confined entirely to North America. It is
+about half the size of a full-grown rabbit; the animal is of an elegant
+pale gray, with the inside of the limbs and the under part of the body
+white; the ears and tail are sometimes tinged with black. It is
+frequently so numerous as to do incredible mischief to plantations of
+corn; hence it is a proscribed animal, and 3_d._ per head given for
+every one killed; at which rate, in the year 1749, L8000 were paid in
+rewards.
+
+The black squirrel, Weld says, is also peculiar to North America. It is
+entirely of a shining black, except that the muzzle and the tail are
+sometimes white; specimens have sometimes been seen with a white ring
+round the neck. "In this year" (1796), Weld says, "the black squirrels
+migrated from the south, from the territory of the United States. As if
+conscious of their inability to cross a very wide piece of water, they
+bent their course toward Niagara River, above the falls, and at its
+narrowest and most tranquil part, crossed over into the British
+territory. It was calculated that upward of 50,000 of them crossed the
+river in the course of two or three days, and such great depredations
+did they commit on arriving at the opposite side, that in one part of
+the country the farmers deemed themselves very fortunate where they got
+in as much as one third of their crops of corn. Some writers have
+asserted that these animals can not swim, but that when they come to a
+river, in migrating, each one provides itself with a piece of wood or
+bark, upon which, when a favorable wind offers, they embark, spread
+their bushy tails to catch the wind, and are thus wafted over to the
+opposite side. Whether these animals do or do not sometimes cross in
+this manner, I can not take upon me to say; but I can safely affirm that
+they do not always cross so, for I have often shot them in the water
+while swimming. Their tail is useful to them by way of rudder, and they
+use it with great dexterity; owing to its being so light and bushy, the
+greater part of it floats upon the water, and thus helps to support the
+animal."--P. 330.
+
+The S. Striatus, Striped Squirrel, is a native of the colder parts of
+America and Asia, but has sometimes been found in Europe also. Its body
+is yellowish, with five longitudinal stripes of a blackish color. It
+differs from the major part of the squirrel tribe in its mode of life,
+which rather resembles that of the dormouse. It resembles some of the
+mouse tribe in this, that it is provided with cheek pouches for the
+temporary reception of food, a peculiarity not to be found in any other
+species of squirrel. It is not known whether this is the same species as
+that described by La Hontan as "Suisse squirrels, little animals
+resembling rats." The epithet Suisse is bestowed upon them in regard
+that the hair which covers their body is streaked with black and white,
+and resembles a Suisse's doublet; and these streaks make a ring on each
+thigh that strongly resembles a Suisse's cap. He also describes "the
+flying squirrels, as big as a large rat, and of a grayish white color.
+They are as drowsy as those of the other species are watchful. They are
+called flying squirrels, in regard that they fly from one tree to
+another, by the means of a certain skin which stretches itself out in
+the form of a wing when they make these little flights." The S.
+Volucellae and the S. Hudsonius are the only species of the flying
+squirrel found in America. The former is an animal of great beauty, and
+is readily tamed, showing a considerable degree of attachment to its
+possessor. It is naturally of a gregarious disposition, and may be seen
+flying, to the number of ten or twelve together, from tree to
+tree.--Rees's _Cyclopaedia_, art. Sciurus. La Hontan, in Pinkerton, vol.
+xiii., p. 352. Kalm, in Pink., vol. xiii., p. 480.
+
+
+No. XXXVIII.
+
+"The most interesting feature of the animal creation in the Western
+Continent is, perhaps, the beaver (_Castor fiber_). These amphibia,
+indeed, occur in the northern parts of Europe and Siberia, but on
+comparatively so small a scale, both in number and size, that the beaver
+may be viewed with propriety as specially American. There appears to be
+absolutely no animal which makes so close an approach to human art and
+intelligence. The beaver builds his habitation either in a pond or in
+the channel of a river, converted into a pond by strong piles being laid
+across. This operation involves the greatest display of ingenuity. A
+tall tree is selected, and filed round with the teeth till it is
+undermined and falls across the stream. It is then fastened down by
+smaller trees and branches, brought often from a distance, and connected
+with earth. In the little lake thus formed, the beaver rears his abode
+to the height of two, three, or four stories, half above and half under
+the water, and with an opening into both elements. Stones and earth, as
+well as wood, are used in forming the walls, which, by the joint
+operation of the feet and the tail, are brought into a mass so solid as
+to be proof against the action of current, wind, and weather. The
+outside is plastered in the neatest manner, the floor kept excessively
+clean, strewed with box and fir. A large provision of food, consisting
+of bark and leaves, is stored up for the winter. The beavers possess a
+social and almost a moral existence. Each mansion contains from six to
+thirty inhabitants, who live together in the greatest harmony, and
+afford mutual aid and co-operation. From twelve to fourteen houses
+united form a village, containing thus a population of 200 or 300.
+
+"The flesh of these animals is much prized by the Indians and Canadian
+voyageurs, especially when roasted in the skin after the hair has been
+singed off. The enjoyment of this expensive luxury is of course
+restrained as much as possible by the fur traders. The Iroquois are the
+greatest beaver-catchers in Canada. Great injury has resulted from the
+indiscriminate capture of old and young, and the too frequent trenching
+of the same dams. It is known that in the year 1743 the amount of their
+skins brought into the ports of London and Rochelle exceeded 150,000,
+besides a considerable quantity introduced illicitly into Great Britain;
+while in 1837, the importation into London, from more than four times
+the extent of fur country formerly possessed, did not much exceed
+800,000.
+
+"There are two modes of taking the beaver--one by traps, which is the
+easiest, and generally followed by single adventurers; the other is what
+is termed trenching, or the ice chisel. On a beaver house being
+discovered, all the canals leading from it are stopped up; then, with
+the instrument above named, it is broken into, and the old animals
+speared. The young are left untouched, and thus the breed remains
+uninjured, while in trapping both old and young equally fall victims.
+The company, therefore, have prohibited the latter operation in all
+their settlements. The skins are divided into parchment, or those of the
+old animals; and cub, or those of the young ones. The latter are the
+finest, but, from their smaller size, not of equal value with the
+others. They have, of course, become much rarer since their capture was
+prohibited."--Murray's _America_, vol. ii., p. 306.
+
+Kalm says that he ate beaver flesh, and thought it any thing but
+delicious, as he had been told it was. He says that it must be boiled in
+several waters from morning till noon to make it lose the bad taste it
+has. Charlevoix says the same. The flesh is reckoned best when the
+beaver has lived only on vegetables; when he has eaten fish it does not
+taste well. It was a popular food among the French Roman Catholics, as
+the only meat they could indulge in on fast days, his holiness, in his
+system (Kalm says), having ranked the beaver among the fish. This
+arrangement is attributed by Charlevoix to two numerous and learned
+bodies in France. "Le Castor a ete juridiquement declare poisson par la
+Faculte de Medicine de Paris, et en consequence de cette declaration la
+Faculte de Theologie a decide qu'on pouvoit manger sa chair les jours
+maigres. Par sa queue il est tout a fait poisson." La queue--the tail,
+so remarkable in natural history, is thus described by Charlevoix, one
+of the earliest observers of the habits of the beaver in North America:
+"Elle est presque ovale, epaisse d'un pouce, et longue d'un pied. Elle
+est couverte d'une peau ecailleuse dont les ecailles sont hexagones, ont
+une demi ligne d'epaisseur, sur trois ou quatre lignes de longueur, et
+sont appuyees les unes sur les autres comme toutes celles des poissons.
+Une pellicule tres delicate leur sert de fond, et elles y sont
+enchassees de maniere, qu'on peut aisement les en separer apres la mort
+de l'animal.... Tous les vuides de leurs batimens sont remplis d'une
+terre grasse si bien appliquee qu'il n'y passe pas une goute d'eau.
+C'est avec leurs pattes que les Castors preparent cette terre, et leur
+queue ne leur sert pas seulement de truelle pour maconner, mais encore
+d'auge pour voiturer ce mortier, ce qu'ils font en se trainant sur leurs
+pattes de derriere. Arrives au bord de l'eau, ils le prennent avec les
+dents, et pour l'employer, ils se servent d'abord de leurs pattes,
+ensuite de leur queue." Charlevoix applies the happy term of "une petite
+Venise" to the habitations of a society of beavers. He says, that in
+their erection "les proportions sont toujours exactement gardees. La
+regle et le compas sont dans l'oeil du grand maitre des arts et des
+sciences. On a observe que le cote du courant de l'eau est toujours en
+tatus, et l'autre cote parfaitement a plomb. En un mot il seroit
+difficile a nos meilleurs ouvriers de rien faire de plus solide et de
+plus regulier." Both La Hontan and Charlevoix speak of the "Castor
+terriers." "They are called by the savages 'the idle or lazy kind,' as
+being expelled by the other beavers from the kennels in which these
+animals are lodged, because they are unwilling to work. They make holes
+in the earth, like rabbits or foxes, and resemble the other sort in
+their figure, except that the hair is rubbed off many parts of their
+body by their rubbing against the earth whenever they stir out from
+their holes."--La Hontan, p. 307. Charlevoix adds, "Ils sont maigres,
+c'est la fruit de leur paresse. Les Castors, ou Bievres d'Europe,
+tiennent plus de ceux-ci que des autres; en effet M. Lemery dit qu'ils
+se retirent dans les creux et dans les cavernes qui se rencontrent sur
+les bords des rivieres surtout en Pologne. Il y en a aussi en Allemagne
+le long de l'Ehre, et en France, sur le Rhone, l'Isere, et l'Oise. Ce
+qui est certain c'est que nous ne voyons point dans les Castors
+Europeens le merveilleux qui distingue si fort ceux du Canada.... Avant
+la decouverte de l'Amerique on trouve dans les anciens titres des
+Chapeliers de Paris des reglemens pour la fabrique des chapeaux Bievres,
+or Bievre et Castor c'est absolument le meme animal, mais soit que le
+Bievre Europeen soit devenu extremement rare, on que son poil n'eut pas
+la meme bonte que celui du Castor Americain, on ne parle plus gueres que
+de ce dernier.... Leur poil est de deux sortes par tout le corps,
+excepte aux pattes, ou il n'y en a qu'un fort couet. Le plus grand est
+long de huit a dix lignes, il est rude, gros, luisant, et c'est celui
+qui donne la couleur a la bete. On n'en fait aucun usage. L'autre poil
+est un duvet tres fin, fort epais, long tout au plus d'un pouce, et
+c'est celui qu'on met en oeuvre; on l'appelloit autrefois en Europe,
+Laine de Moscovie."--Charlevoix, vol. v., p. 147.
+
+"In 1669 an attempt was made to employ the flix or down of the beaver in
+the manufacture of cloths, flannels, stockings. Much more wool, however,
+than flix was required, the hair of the beaver being so short, and this
+prevented the manufacture being very profitable. It flourished for a
+while, however, in an establishment in the Faubourg St. Antoine, near
+Paris, but finally was given up on finding by experience that the stuffs
+lost their dye when wet, and that, when dry again, they were harsh and
+stiff as felts."--Rees's _Cyclopaedia_, art. Beaver.
+
+"In Captain Lewis and Clarke's Travels to the Source of the Missouri,"
+it is mentioned that "the beavers who have not been invaded here by the
+furrier are continually altering the course of the river. They dam up
+the small channels of about twenty yards between the islands; when they
+have effected this, their pond ere long becomes filled with mud and
+sand; they then remove to another; this is in like manner filled up; and
+thus the river, having its course obstructed, spreads on all sides, and
+cuts the projecting points of lands into islands."--_Quarterly Review_,
+vol. xii., p. 346.
+
+Weld mentions, in 1796, that "the indiscriminate slaughter of beavers
+had so much diminished their numbers that an annual deficiency of 15,000
+beaver skins had for some years been observed in the number brought to
+Montreal."--P. 551.
+
+"One day a gentleman, long resident in this country, espied five young
+beavers sporting in the water, leaping upon the trunk of a tree, pushing
+one another off, and playing a thousand interesting tricks. He
+approached softly, under cover of the bushes, and prepared to fire on
+the unsuspecting creatures; but a nearer approach discovered to him such
+a similitude between their gestures and the infantile caresses of his
+own children that he threw aside his gun."--Franklin's _Journey to the
+Polar Sea_, p. 91.
+
+"The proprietor of one of the large quarries of gypsum on the
+Shubenacadie showed me some wooden stakes, dug up a few days before by
+one of his laborers from a considerable depth in a peat bog. His men
+were persuaded that they were artificially cut by a tool, and were the
+relics of aboriginal Indians; but, having been a trapper of beavers in
+his younger days, he knew well that they owed their shape to the teeth
+of these creatures. We meet with the skulls and bones of beavers in the
+fens of Cambridgeshire, and elsewhere in England. May not some of the
+old tales of artificially cut wood, occurring at great depths in peats
+and morasses, which have puzzled many a learned antiquary, admit of the
+like explanation?"--Lyell's _Travels in America_, vol. ii., p. 229.
+
+
+No. XXXIX.
+
+"The Hudson's Bay Company is now the only survivor of the numerous
+exclusive bodies, to which almost every branch of British trade was at
+one time subjected. The Northwest Company, after a long and furious
+contest, destructive alike to the interests of both, and most
+demoralizing to the savage aborigines, were at length obliged to yield
+to their rivals; and, in consequence of their overstrained exertions,
+they became involved beyond their capital. They obtained in 1821 an
+honorable capitulation. On transferring all their property and means of
+influence, the principal partners were admitted to shares in the
+Hudson's Bay Company, who took the inferior officers into their service.
+Thus these two concerns were united, with great advantage to the peace
+of the fur countries, and perhaps to the permanent interests of the
+trade. A great blank was indeed felt in the city where the partners had
+resided, and where, according to Washington Irving, they had held huge
+feasts and revels, such as are described to have taken place in Highland
+castles. 'The hospitable magnates of Montreal, the lords of the lakes
+and forests, have passed away,' and that city, as to the fur trade, has
+sunk to a subordinate station.
+
+"In the present case, there are some peculiar circumstances which plead
+strongly in favor of the monopoly exercised by the Hudson's Bay Company.
+For example, their trade is carried on throughout vast regions, free
+from all control of law, and tenanted by savage races, who are easily
+prompted to deeds of violence. The struggle with the Northwest Company
+filled large tracts with outrage, often amounting to bloodshed. The
+article, too, by far the most prized by those tribes, and which, amid an
+eager rivalry, can not be prevented from coming into the market, is
+spirits, the immoderate use of which is productive of the most dreadful
+consequences. The company, by their present position, obtained the
+opportunity, of which they have most laudably availed themselves, to
+withdraw it altogether as an object of trade, merely giving an
+occasional glass when the natives visit the factories. They have even
+prohibited it from passing, under any pretext, to the northward of
+Cumberland House, on the Saskatchawan, so that all the settlements
+beyond form complete temperance societies. Another very important
+specialty in their case consists in the nature of the commodities drawn
+from this range of territory, namely, they are such as human industry
+can not produce or multiply according to the demand. The wild animals,
+which afford its staple of furs and skins, exist only in a limited
+number, and being destined to give way in proportion as colonization
+advances, will soon be thinned, or even utterly exterminated. Bands of
+individual hunters, with no permanent interest in the country, capture
+all they can reach, young and old indiscriminately, without any regard
+to keeping up the breed. Thus the beaver, the most valuable of the
+furred animals, has been nearly destroyed in Upper and Lower Canada, and
+much diminished in the districts beyond the Rocky Mountains, which are
+traversed by trapping parties from the States. During the competition of
+the Northwest adventurers, a great part even of the wooded countries
+suffered severely; but since the Hudson's Bay Company obtained the
+entire control, they have carefully nursed the various animals, removing
+their stations from the districts where they had become scarce, and
+prohibiting all wasteful and destructive modes of capture. It may be
+finally observed, that in this vast open territory the means of
+excluding rivalry are so imperfect, that without good management and
+liberal dealing it would be impossible to maintain their privilege. In
+fact, Mr. Irving admits, that by the legitimate application of large
+capital, by good organization, regular transmission of supplies, with
+faithful and experienced servants, they have carried all before them,
+even in the western territory, where they are exposed to a full
+competition from the United States. Several associations from thence
+have made very active efforts to supplant or rival them, but without
+success."--Washington Irving's _Adventures of Captain Bonneville_, vol.
+ii., p. 17, 19; vol. iii., p. 267, 272; H. Murray's _British America_,
+vol. iii., p. 83.
+
+
+No. XL.
+
+"This species of rattlesnake is most commonly found between four and
+five feet in length, and as thick as the wrist of a large man. Its body
+approaches to a triangular form, the back bone rising higher than any
+other part of the animal. It is not with the teeth which the rattlesnake
+uses for ordinary purposes that it strikes its enemy, but with two long,
+crooked fangs in the upper jaw, which point down the throat. When about
+to use these fangs, it rears itself up as much as possible, throws back
+its head, drops its under jaw, and, springing forward upon its tail,
+endeavors to hook itself, as it were, upon its enemy. In order to raise
+itself upon its tail, it coils itself up previously in a spiral line,
+with the head in the middle. It can not spring further forward than
+about half its own length. Tho body of the rattlesnake, finely
+pulverized, after being dried to a cinder over the fire, and then
+infused in a certain portion of brandy, is said to be a never-failing
+remedy against the rheumatism. The liquor is taken inwardly, in the
+quantity of a wine-glassful at once about three times a day. It is said
+that one of the reasons why these creatures are decreasing so much in
+the neighborhood of human habitations, is, that they are eaten by the
+pigs."--Sir G. Simpson's _Journey round the World_, vol. i., p. 159;
+Weld, p. 411.
+
+"The rattle is usually about half an inch in breadth, one quarter of an
+inch in thickness, and each joint about half an inch long. The joint
+consists of a number of little cases of a dry, horny substance, inclosed
+one within another; and not only the outermost of these little cases
+articulates with the outermost case of the contiguous joint, but each
+case, even to the smallest one of all, at the inside, is connected by a
+sort of joint with the corresponding case in the next joint of the
+rattle. The little cases or shells lie very loosely within one another,
+and the noise proceeds from their dry and hard coats striking one
+against the other. It is said that the animal joins a fresh joint to its
+rattle every year. Of this, however, I have great doubts; for the
+largest snakes are frequently found to have the fewest joints to their
+rattles. A medical gentleman in the neighborhood of Newmarket had a
+rattle in his possession which contained no less than thirty-two joints;
+yet the snake from which it was taken scarcely measured five feet.
+Rattlesnakes, however, of the same kind, and in the same part of the
+country, have been found of a greater length with not more than ten
+rattles."--Weld, p. 409.
+
+"Man or animals bitten by the rattlesnake expire in extreme agony; the
+tongue swells to an enormous size, the blood turns black, and, all the
+extremities becoming cold, gangrene ensues, and is speedily succeeded by
+death. The remedies in common use are the _Polygala seneca_ or
+_Aristolochia serpentaria_, employed as a decoction. Sometimes
+scarification, or cauterizing the wound with a burning iron, if
+immediate in their application, is attended with success. The Indians'
+favorite remedy is sucking the wound, which in a slight bite is
+generally successful. Mr. Catesby, by traveling much among the Indians,
+had frequent opportunities of seeing the direful effects of the bite
+inflicted by these snakes. He seems to consider that the success of any
+remedy is owing more to the force of nature or to the slightness of the
+bite than to any other cause. He has known persons bitten to survive
+without assistance for many hours; but where a rattlesnake with full
+force penetrates with his deadly fangs into a vein or artery, inevitable
+death ensues, and that, as he has often seen, in less than two minutes.
+The Indians, for this reason, know their destiny directly they are bit,
+and when they perceive it is mortal, apply no remedy, concluding all
+efforts in vain. From experiments made in Carolina by Captain Hall, and
+related in the Philosophical Transactions, it appears that a rattlesnake
+of about four feet long, being fastened to a stake in the ground, bit
+three dogs, the first of which died in less than a quarter of a minute;
+the second, which was bitten a short time afterward, in about two hours,
+in convulsions; and the third, which was bitten about half an hour
+afterward, showed the visible effects of the poison in about three
+hours, and died likewise. Four days after this, another dog was bitten,
+which died in half a minute; and then another, which died in four
+minutes. A cat which was bitten was found dead the next day. The
+experiments having been discontinued some time, from want of subjects, a
+common black-snake was procured, which was healthy and vigorous, and
+about three feet long. It was brought to the rattlesnake, when they bit
+each other, the black-snake biting the rattlesnake so as to make it
+bleed. They were then separated, and in less than eight minutes the
+black-snake died, while the rattlesnake, on the contrary, showed no
+signs of indisposition, appearing as well as before. Lastly, in order to
+try whether the rattlesnake could poison itself, it was provoked to bite
+itself: the experiment succeeded, and the animal expired in less than
+twelve hours."--Rees's _Cyclopaedia_, art. Crotalus.
+
+Charlevoix says that "La morsure du Serpent a Sonnettes est mortelle, si
+on n'y remedie sur-le-champ; mais la Providence y a pourvu. Dans tous
+les endroits, ou se rencontre ce dangereux reptile, il croit une plante
+a laquelle on a donne le nom d'Herbe a Serpent a Sonnettes (Bidens
+Canadensis) et dont la racine est un antidote sur contre le venin de cet
+animal.... Il est rare que le serpent a sonnettes attaque les passans
+qui ne lui cherchent point nuire. J'eu ai en un a mes pieds qui eut
+assurement plus de peur que moi, car je ne l'apercus que quand il
+fuyoit."--Charlevoix, vol. v., p. 235.
+
+"Archdeacon Burnaby was told by a planter in Virginia that he had one
+day provoked a rattlesnake to such a degree as to make it strike a small
+vine which grew close by, and the vine presently drooped and
+died."--Burnaby's _Travels in North America_, in Pinkerton, vol. xiii.,
+p. 724.
+
+"The rattlesnake has two fangs, which are concealed in a sheath, one at
+each side of the upper jaw. They are curved in their shape, and their
+point is as sharp as that of a common needle. They are hollow in the
+center, and the roots of the fangs are connected with the poison bags.
+These reptiles generally use only one fang at a time, and when they do
+use it, they seize with their mouth the part which they intend to
+poison, then perforate it deeply with the fang. At this moment the bag
+contracts, and the deleterious fluid, which has such an enmity to the
+blood, is injected into the very bottom of the wound, through a small
+aperture in the under part of the fang, at a short distance from the
+sharp point. Having effected his purpose, he withdraws the instrument,
+and leaves his victim to his fate. He does not seem to feel pain at the
+moment, and generally for the first five minutes he appears to be
+perfectly well. At the end of this period, however, the ears begin to
+droop; he seems giddy and uneasy; the lower extremities soon lose their
+power; he falls on the ground; the pupils dilate; slight convulsions
+come on; and the animal dies, generally, in about fifteen minutes from
+the time that the poison had been injected into the wound. When we
+examine the part immediately after death, we find that the poison has
+completely destroyed the red color of the blood; and not only of this,
+but for two inches all round the puncture, the muscular fibers, and even
+the cellular substance, are as black as if they had been for hours in a
+state of complete mortification. When the muriate of soda (common salt)
+is immediately applied to the wound, it is a complete antidote. When an
+Indian is bitten by a snake, he applies a ligature above the part, and
+scarifies the wound to the very bottom; he then stuffs it with common
+salt, and after this it soon heals, without producing any effect on the
+general system. (The ligature may be the efficacious remedy,
+intercepting the current of blood to the heart, and consequently
+preventing the action of the poison upon that vital organ.) A rabbit,
+under the influence of the rattlesnake poison, has been seen to drink a
+saturated solution of muriate of soda and soon recover, while healthy
+rabbits would not taste a drop of the same saline water."--Stevens's
+_Observations on the Properties of the Blood_, p. 137, 315.
+
+"I was with the Hon. Esquire Boyle when he made certain experiments of
+curing the bite of vipers with certain East India snake-stones, that
+were sent him by King James II., purposely to have him try their virtue
+and efficacy. For that end he got some brisk vipers, and made them bite
+certain pullets; he applied nothing to one of the pullets, and it died
+within three minutes and a half; but I think they all recovered to whom
+he applied the snake-stones, though they turned wonderful pale, their
+combs drooped immediately, and the next morning all their flesh was
+turned green to a wonder; nevertheless, they recovered by
+degrees."--_Miscellanea Curiosa_, vol. iii., p. 345.
+
+
+No. XLI.
+
+"It is an unquestionable fact, that the copper-colored man can not
+endure the spread of European civilization in his neighborhood, but
+perishes in its atmosphere, without suffering from ardent spirits,
+epidemics, or war, as if touched by a poisonous breath." Thus writes Mr.
+Poeppig, a German naturalist, who has resided for some years in South
+America; and he proceeds to compare the substitution of the one race for
+the other, with the destruction of the first growth of low vegetation in
+the recently-formed islands of the Pacific by the vigorous crop of
+forest trees which succeeds it.--_Encyclopaedia_ of Erz and Gruber, art.
+Indici.
+
+Thus also writes the philosophical traveler, Mr. Darwin: "Besides
+several evident causes of destruction, there appears to be some more
+mysterious agency at work. Wherever the European has trod, death seems
+to pursue the aboriginal. We may look to the wide extent of the
+Americas, Polynesia, the Cape of Good Hope, and Australia, and we shall
+find the same result. Nor is it the white man alone that thus acts the
+destroyer. The Polynesian of Malay extraction has, in parts of the East
+Indian Archipelago, thus driven before him the dark-colored native. The
+varieties of man seem to act upon each other in the same way as
+different species of animals, the stronger always extirpating the
+weaker. It was melancholy at New Zealand to hear the fine, energetic
+natives saying, 'They knew the land was doomed to pass from their
+children.'"
+
+Sir Richard Bourke writes thus to Lord Glenelg respecting New Zealand
+(1837): "Disease and death prevail even among those natives who, by
+their adherence to the missionaries, have received only benefit from the
+English connection, and even the very children, who are reared under the
+care of the missionaries, are swept off in a ratio which promises, at no
+very distant period, to leave the country destitute of a single
+aboriginal inhabitant. The natives are perfectly sensible of this
+decrease, and when they contrast their own condition with that of the
+English families, they conceive that the God of the English is removing
+the aboriginal inhabitants to make room for them; and it appears to me
+that this impression has produced among them a very general unhappiness
+and indifference to life."
+
+Sir Francis Head justified the sweeping measures of removal[227]
+contemplated during his administration of Canada, by asserting his
+belief in the same mysterious certainty of the aboriginals' extirpation.
+"We may as well endeavor to make the setting sun stand still on the
+summit of the Rocky Mountains, as attempt to arrest the final
+extermination of the Indian race."--See Merivale's _Lectures on
+Colonization_, No. 19 (delivered before the University of Oxford in
+1839, 1840, and 1841), in which he objects to the truth of the facts on
+which the above statements are founded, in so far as they are supposed
+to involve any mysterious influence of the white over the copper-colored
+races. "Perhaps I may venture to attribute some of the coloring (of the
+foregoing statements) to that taste for fanciful analogies, and
+speculations partaking of the mysterious, in which natural philosophers
+are apt to indulge when they apply their knowledge to subjects not
+immediately within their province. When we find one race of animals, or
+one class of vegetation, extirpating another, there is nothing
+inexplicable in the succession of cause and effect. The stronger
+destroys the weaker by natural agencies: animals become the prey of
+newly-imported indigenous ones, or their food is destroyed by the
+multiplication of the latter: the seeds of one class of vegetables can
+not spring where a stronger growth has established itself, and so forth.
+What is there in these or similar processes analogous to the supposed
+mysterious influence of the mere contact of one family of the human race
+upon another? If it be true that the mere presence of a white population
+is sufficient to cause the Red Indians or the Polynesians to dwindle and
+decay, without any assignable agency of the one or the other, it must be
+confessed that this is an anomaly in the laws of Providence utterly
+unexplained by all our previous knowledge, wholly at variance with all
+the other laws by which animal life and human society are
+governed."--Vol. ii., p. 206.
+
+[Footnote 227: Three millions of fertile acres were to be resumed;
+several thousand Indians were persuaded to relinquish them, and migrate
+to a large island (Manitoulin) on Lake Huron. "The greatest kindness,"
+says Sir F. Head, "which we can perform to these intelligent and
+simple-minded people, is to remove and fortify them as much as possible
+from all communication with the whites."--_Returns_, 1839, p. 145. These
+are nearly the same arguments which have uniformly been urged in the
+United States, and would justify incessant acts of arbitrary removal,
+such as would render all improvement impossible.]
+
+
+No. XLII.
+
+"The small-pox proves almost always fatal to the Red Indian, his
+hardened skin preventing the appearance of the eruption. In Abyssinia,
+where this dreadful disease is supposed to have originated, when any
+person is seized with it, the neighbors surround the house and set it on
+fire, consuming it with its miserable inhabitants. The American Indians
+regard the contagion with almost as much horror. The Mahas had been a
+powerful and warlike tribe till now, when they saw their strength wasted
+by a malady which they could neither resist nor prevent; they became
+frantic; they set fire to their village, and many of them killed their
+wives and children, to spare them the sufferings of disease, and that
+they might all go together to the land of souls."--Lewis and Clarke's
+_Travels to the Source of the Missouri_.
+
+Lambert says, "Many nations have been totally exterminated by the
+small-pox. When I was in Canada in the spring of 1808, a village of
+Mississagas, residing near Kingston, was nearly depopulated by the
+small-pox; not more than twenty escaped of five hundred."
+
+"Repeated efforts have been made, and so far, generally, as the tribes
+have ever had the disease (or, at all events, within the recollection of
+those who are now living in the tribes), the government agents (of the
+United States) have succeeded in introducing vaccination as a
+protection; but among the tribes in their wild state, who have not yet
+suffered from the disease, very little success has been met with in the
+attempt to protect them, on account of their superstitions, which have
+generally resisted all attempts to introduce vaccination. While I was on
+the Upper Missouri, several surgeons were sent into the country with the
+Indian agents, where I several times saw the attempt made without
+success. They have perfect confidence in the skill of their own
+physicians, until the disease has made one slaughter in their tribe, and
+then, having seen white men among them protected by it, they are
+disposed to receive it, before which they can not believe that so minute
+a puncture in the arm is going to protect them from so fatal a disease;
+and as they see white men so earnestly urging it, they decide that it
+must be some new trick of the pale faces, by which they are to gain some
+new advantage over them, and they stubbornly and successfully resist
+it."--Catlin, vol. ii., p. 258.
+
+From the accounts brought to New York in the fall of 1838 by Messrs.
+M'Kenzie, Mitchell, and others, from the Upper Missouri, and with whom I
+conversed on the subject, it seems that in the summer of that year the
+small-pox was accidentally introduced among the Mandans by the fur
+traders, and that in the course of two months they all perished except
+some thirty or forty, who were taken as slaves by the Riccarees, an
+enemy living two hundred miles below them, and who worked up and took
+possession of their village soon after their calamity, taking up their
+residence in it, it being a better built village than their own; and
+from the lips of one of the traders who had more recently arrived from
+there, I had the following account of the remaining few, in whose
+destruction was the final termination of this interesting and once
+numerous tribe:
+
+"'The Riccarees,' he said, 'had taken possession of the village after
+the disease had subsided, and, after living some months in it, were
+attacked by a large party of their enemies, the Sioux, and while
+fighting desperately in resistance, in which the Mandan prisoners had
+taken an active part, the latter had concerted a plan for their own
+destruction, which was effected by their simultaneously running through
+the pickets on to the prairie, calling out to the Sioux (both men and
+women) to kill them, "that they were Riccaree dogs, that their friends
+were all dead, and they did not wish to live;" that they here wielded
+their weapons as desperately as they could, to excite the fury of their
+enemy, and that they were thus cut to pieces and destroyed.'
+
+"The accounts given by two or three white men, who were among the
+Mandans during the ravages of this frightful disease, are most
+appalling, and actually too heart-rending and disgusting to be recorded.
+The disease was introduced into the country by the Fur Company's steamer
+from St. Louis, which had two of their crew sick with the disease when
+it approached the Upper Missouri, and imprudently stopped to trade at
+the Mandan village, which was on the bank of the river, where the chiefs
+and others were allowed to come on board, by which means the disease got
+ashore.
+
+"I am constrained to believe that the gentlemen in charge of the steamer
+did not believe it to be the small-pox; for if they had known it to be
+such, I can not conceive of such imprudence as regarded their own
+interests in the country, as well as the fate of these poor people, by
+allowing their boat to advance into the country under such
+circumstances.
+
+"It seems that the Mandans were surrounded by several war parties of
+their more powerful enemies, the Sioux, at that unlucky time, and they
+could not, therefore, disperse upon the plains, by which many of them
+could have been saved; and they were necessarily inclosed within the
+pickets of the village, where the disease in a few days became so very
+malignant, that death ensued in a few hours after its attacks; and so
+slight were their hopes when they were attacked, that nearly half of
+them destroyed themselves with their knives, with their guns, and by
+dashing their brains out by leaping head foremost from a thirty-foot
+ledge of rocks in front of their village. The first symptom of the
+disease was a rapid swelling of the body, and so very virulent had it
+become, that very many died in two or three hours after their attack,
+and that in many cases without the appearance of the disease upon the
+skin. Utter dismay seemed to possess all classes and all ages, and they
+gave themselves up in despair as entirely lost. There was but one
+continual crying and howling, and praying to the Great Spirit for his
+protection, during the nights and days; and there being but few living,
+and those in too appalling despair, nobody thought of burying the dead,
+whose bodies, whole families together, were left in horrid and loathsome
+piles in their own wigwams, with a few buffalo robes, &c., thrown over
+them, there to decay, and be devoured by their own dogs. That such a
+proportion of their community as that above mentioned should have
+perished in so short a time, seems yet to the reader an unaccountable
+thing; but, in addition to the causes just mentioned, it must be borne
+in mind that this frightful disease is every where far more fatal among
+the native than in civilized population, which may be owing to some
+extraordinary susceptibility, or, I think, more probably, to the exposed
+lives they live, leading more directly to fatal consequences. In this,
+as in most of their diseases, they ignorantly and imprudently plunge
+into the coldest water while in the highest state of fever, and often
+die before they have the power to get out.
+
+"Some have attributed the unexampled fatality of this disease among the
+Indians to the fact of their living entirely on animal food; but so
+important a subject for investigation I must leave for sounder
+judgments than mine to decide. They are a people whose constitutions
+and habits of life enable them most certainly to meet most of its ills
+with less dread, and with decidedly greater success, than they are met
+in civilized communities; and I would not dare to decide that their
+simple meat diet was the cause of their fatal exposure to one frightful
+disease, when I am decidedly of opinion that it has been the cause of
+their exemption and protection from another, almost equally destructive,
+and, like the former, of civilized introduction.
+
+"During the season of the ravages of the Asiatic cholera, which swept
+over the greater part of the Western country and the Indian frontier, I
+was a traveler through those regions, and was able to witness its
+effects; and I learned from what I saw, as well as from what I have
+heard in other parts since that time, that it traveled to and over the
+frontiers, carrying dismay and death among the tribes on the borders in
+many cases, so far as they had adopted the civilized modes of life, with
+its dissipations, using vegetable food and salt; but wherever it came to
+the tribes living exclusively on meat, and that without the use of salt,
+its progress was suddenly stopped. I mention this as a subject which I
+looked upon as important to science, and therefore one on which I made
+careful inquiries; and, so far as I have learned, along that part of the
+frontier over which I have since passed, I have, to my satisfaction,
+ascertained that such became the utmost limits of this fatal disease in
+its travel to the west, unless where it might have followed some of the
+routes of the fur traders, who, of course, have introduced the modes of
+civilized life.
+
+"From the trader who was present at the destruction of the Mandans I had
+many most wonderful incidents of this dreadful scene, but I dread to
+recite them. Among them, however, there is one that I must briefly
+describe, relative to the death of that noble _gentleman_, of whom I
+have already said so much, and to whom I became so much attached,
+_Mah-to-to-pa_, or 'the Four Bears.' This fine fellow sat in his wigwam
+and watched every one of his family die about him, his wives and his
+little children, after he had recovered from the disease himself, when
+he walked out round the village, and wept over the final destruction of
+his tribe; his braves and warriors, whose sinewy arms alone he could
+depend on for a continuance of their existence, all laid low; when he
+came back to his lodge, where he carried his whole family in a pile,
+with a number of robes, and wrapping another around himself, went out
+upon a hill at a little distance, where he laid several days, despite
+all the solicitations of the traders, resolved to _starve_ himself to
+death. He remained there till the sixth day, when he had just strength
+enough to creep back to the village, when he entered the horrid gloom of
+his own wigwam, and, laying his body alongside of the group of his
+family, drew his robe over him, and died on the ninth day of his fatal
+abstinence.
+
+"So have perished the friendly and hospitable Mandans, from the best
+accounts I could get; and although it may be _possible_ that some few
+individuals may yet be remaining, I think it is not probable; and one
+thing is certain, even if such be the case, that, as a nation, the
+Mandans are extinct, having no longer an existence.
+
+"There is yet a melancholy part of the tale to be told, relating to the
+ravages of this frightful disease in that country on the same occasion,
+as it spread to other contiguous tribes, to the Minatarrees, the
+Knisteneaux, the Blackfeet, the Chayennes, and Crows, among whom 25,000
+perished in the course of four or five months, which most appalling
+facts I got from Major Pilcher, now Superintendent of Indian Affairs at
+St. Louis, from Mr. M'Kenzie, and others."--Catlin's _American Indians_,
+vol. ii., p. 257.
+
+
+No. XLIII.
+
+"In man the coloring matter seems to be deposited in the dermoidal
+system by the roots or the bulbs of the hair,[228] and all sound
+observations prove that the skin varies in color from the action of
+external stimuli on individuals, and is not hereditary in the whole
+race. The Eskimoes of Greenland, and the Laplanders, are tanned by the
+influence of the air, but their children are born white. We will not
+decide on the changes which Nature may produce in a space of time,
+exceeding all historical traditions. Reason stops short in these matters
+when no longer under the guidance of experience and analogy. The nations
+that have a white skin begin their cosmogony by white men; according to
+them, the negroes and all tawny people have been blackened or embrowned
+by the excessive heat of the sun. This theory, adopted by the Greeks,
+though not without contradiction (Onesicritus apud Strabon, lib. xv., p.
+983), has been propagated even to our own times. Buffon has repeated, in
+prose, what Theodectes had expressed in verse two thousand years before,
+'that the nations wear the livery of the climate they inhabit.' If
+history had been written by black nations, they would have maintained
+what even Europeans have recently advanced (Prichard's _Researches into
+the Physical History of Man, 1813_), p. 233, 239, that man was
+originally black, or of a very tawny color, and that he has whitened in
+some races from the effect of civilization and progressive debilitation,
+as animals in a state of domestication pass from dark to lighter colors.
+I shall here cite the authority of Ulloa. This learned man has seen the
+Indians of Chili, of the Andes, of Peru, of the burning coasts of
+Panama, and those of Louisiana, situated under the northern temperate
+zone. He had the good fortune to live at a time when theories were less
+numerous, and, like me, he was struck at seeing the native under the
+line as much bronzed as brown, in the cold climate of the Cordilleras as
+in the plains. Where differences of color are observed, they depend on
+the race."--Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p. 298.
+
+[Footnote 228: According to the interesting researches of Mr. Gaultier,
+on the _Organization of the Human Skin_, p. 57. John Hunter observes,
+that in several animals, the coloration of the hair is independent of
+that of the skin.
+
+Blumenbach informs us how climate operates in modifying the color of the
+skin. He states that the proximate cause of the dark color of the
+integuments in an abundance of carbon, secreted by the skin with
+hydrogen, precipitated and fixed in the rete mucosum by the contact of
+the atmospheric oxygen.--_De Variet._, p. 124.
+
+If Voltaire is to be believed, no well-informed person formerly passed
+by Leyden without seeing a part of the black membrane (the reticulum
+mucosum) of a negro, dissected by the celebrated Ruysell. Their error
+is, however, now universally admitted. The "rete mucosum" has been
+discovered to be nothing but the latest layer of epidermis, the inner
+surface of which is being continually renewed as the exterior is worn
+away, just like the bark of a tree. There is no distinct coloring layer,
+it appears, either in the fair or the dark-skinned races, the peculiar
+hue of the latter depending upon the presence of coloring matter in the
+cells of the epidermis itself. Color, therefore, is not even _skin
+deep_, for it does not reach the true skin, being entirely confined to
+the epidermis or scarf skin.]
+
+
+No. XLIV.
+
+"The Indian and the negro races, both fated, as it seems, to yield the
+supremacy to the _whites_, present in every other particular a curious
+contrast to each other. The red man appears to have received from nature
+every quality which contributes to greatness, except--I have no other
+word for it--_tamability_; he has shown in many remarkable instances
+intellectual capacity, talents for government, eloquence, energy, and
+self-command.... There is something noble and striking--something that
+commands respect and admiration, in the Indian character, irreconcilable
+though it be with advanced civilization and the operation of Christian
+influences. The negro, on the contrary, has precisely what the Indian
+wants; he is a domestic animal.... The Indian avoids his conqueror; the
+negro bows at his feet. The Indian loves the independence and privations
+of his solitude better than all the flesh-pots of Egypt; the negro, if
+left to himself, is helpless and miserable: he must have society and
+sensual pleasures; if he be allowed to eat and drink well, to dance, to
+sing, and to make love, he seems to have no further or higher
+aspirations, and to care nothing for the degradation of his race. With
+the single exception of Toussaint, I know no instance of a negro
+distinguishing himself in politics, or arms, or letters; and though I
+make every allowance for the difficulties and obstacles to his doing so
+which his situation imposes on him, I can not allow that these account
+for the fact that, notwithstanding the excellent education which many
+negroes receive, and the stimulus afforded by constant intercourse with
+whites, not one of them has yet, either here or in the West Indies, with
+the above-named exception, taken the lead among his countrymen, or made
+a name for himself. And this natural superiority of the Indian is,
+perhaps unconsciously, recognized and illustrated in a singular manner
+by the white man, in the different feelings which he exhibits upon the
+subject of amalgamation with the two races. Some of the best families in
+the United States are _proud_ to trace their origin to Indian chiefs
+(_e.g._, the Randolphs of Virginia boast that they came of the lineage
+of Powhatan); and I have myself met with half-breeds who were considered
+(and most justly) in every respect equal in estimation with full-blooded
+whites. It is needless to observe, that with respect to the negroes, the
+precise converse is the case. _Caeteris paribus_, we seem naturally to
+receive the red man as our equal."--Godley's _Letters from America_,
+vol. i., p. 153.
+
+
+No. XLV.
+
+"These islands were partly discovered by Behring in 1741, and the rest
+at several periods since his time. The most considerable of them amount
+to forty in number, and they may be justly considered as a branch of the
+Kamtskadale Mountains continued in the sea. The three small islands,
+known by the names of Attak, Shemya, and Semitshi, with a few others,
+were denominated by the Russians Aleutskie Ostrova, because a bold rock
+in the language of these parts is called 'Aleut.' In the sequel this
+name was extended to the whole chain, though a part of it is named the
+Andreanoffskoi, and the rest, lying further toward America, the Fox
+Islands. The survey of these islands, more anciently discovered by the
+Russians, and of the adjacent parts of the two continents, was made by
+Captain Cook in his third voyage, in 1778. If the Russians, then, can
+deservedly claim the priority of the discovery, no one can withhold from
+the adventurous and persevering Captain Cook the glory and the merit of
+having fixed the distance of the two continents and their respective
+extent, to the east for Asia, and to the west for North
+America."--Rees's _Cyclopaedia_, art. Aleutian Islands.
+
+
+No. XLVI.
+
+"Almost every where in the New World we recognize a multiplicity of
+forms and tenses in the verb, an artificial industry to indicate
+before-hand, either by inflection of the personal pronouns, which form
+the terminations of the verb, or by an intercalated _suffix_, the nature
+and the relation of its object and its subject, and to distinguish
+whether the object be animate or inanimate, of the masculine or the
+feminine gender, simple, or in complex number. This multiplicity
+characterizes the rudest American languages. Astarloa reckons, in like
+manner, in the grammatical system of the Biscayan, 206 forms of the
+verb. Strange conformity in the structure of languages among races of
+men so different, and on spots so distant.
+
+"Those languages, the principal tendency of which is inflection, excite
+less the curiosity of the vulgar than those which seem formed by
+aggregation. In the first, the elements of which words are composed, and
+which are generally reduced to a few letters, are no longer
+distinguished. These elements, when isolated, exhibit no meaning; the
+whole is assimilated and mixed together. The American languages, on the
+contrary, are like complicated machines, the wheels of which are
+exposed. The artifice is visible--I mean the industrious mechanism of
+their construction. We seem to be present at their formation, and we
+should state them to be of very recent origin, if we did not recollect
+that the human mind follows imperturbably an impulse once given; that
+nations enlarge, improve, and repair the grammatical edifice of their
+language according to a plan already determined; finally, that there are
+countries where the languages of all the institutions and the arts have
+remained stereotyped, as it were, during the lapse of ages. The highest
+degree of intellectual development has been hitherto found among nations
+which belong to the Indian and Pelasgic branch. The languages, formed
+principally by aggregation, seem themselves to oppose obstacles to the
+improvement of the mind. They are, in fact, unfurnished with that rapid
+movement, that interior life, to which the inflection of the root is
+favorable, and which gives so many charms to works of the imagination.
+Let us not, however, forget that a people celebrated in the remotest
+antiquity, from whom the Greeks themselves borrowed knowledge, had
+perhaps a language, the construction of which recalls involuntarily that
+of the language of America. What a scaffolding of little monosyllabic
+and dissyllabic forms is added to the verb and to the substantive in the
+Coptic language!"--Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p. 273.
+
+In his "Researches," Humboldt observes: "We find in the New Continent
+languages, some of which, as the Greenland, the Cora, the Tamanac, the
+Totonac, and the Quichua (_Archiv. fuer Ethnographie_, b. i., s. 345;
+Vaters, s. 206), display a richness of grammatical forms which we trace
+nowhere in the Old World, except at Congo, and among the Biscayans, who
+were the remains of the ancient Cantabrians. But, amid these marks of
+civilization (referring to the Aztec nation), and this progressive
+perfection of language, it is remarkable that no people of America had
+attained that analysis of sounds which leads to the most admirable, we
+might almost say the most miraculous of all inventions, an alphabet. We
+are led to think that the progressive perfection of symbolic signs, and
+the facility with which objects are painted, had prevented the
+introduction of letters ... _not_ the case in Egypt."
+
+Chateaubriand says that the Jesuits have left important works relative
+to the language of the Canadian savage. Father Chaumont, who had lived
+fifty years among the Hurons, composed a grammar of their language. To
+Father Rasles, who spent ten years in an Abenakis village, we are
+indebted for valuable documents. A French and Iroquois dictionary--a new
+treasure for philologists--is finished. There is also a manuscript
+dictionary--Iroquois and English--but, unluckily, the first volume is
+lost.
+
+"Les trois langues, Huronne, Algonquine et Siou sont les langues meres
+du Canada. Ils ont tous les caracteres des langues primitives, et il est
+certain qu'elles n'ont pas une origine commune. La seule prononciation
+suffisoit pour le pronom. Le Siou sifle en parlant, le Huron n'a point
+de lettre labiale, qu'il ne scanroit prononcer, parle du gosier et
+aspire presque toutes les syllabes; l'Algonquin prononce avec plus de
+douceur, et parle plus naturellement. Je n'ai pu rien apprendre de
+particulier de la premiere de ces trois langues; mais nos anciens
+missionnaires ont beaucoup travaille sur les deux autres, et sur les
+principales de leurs dialectes: voici ce que j'en ais oui dire aux plus
+habiles.
+
+"La langue Huronne est d'une abondance, d'une energie, et d'une
+noblesse, qu'on ne trouve peut-etre reunies dans aucune des plus belles,
+que nous connoissons, et ceux, a qui elle est propre, quoiqu'ils ne
+soient plus qu'une poignee d'hommes, ont encore dans l'ame une
+elevation, qui s'accorde bien mieux avec la majeste de leur langage,
+qu'avec le triste etat, ou ils sont reduits. Quelques uns ont cru y
+trouver des rapports avec l'Hebreu; d'autres en plus grand nombre ont
+pretendu qu'elle avoit la meme origine que celle des Grecs; mais rien
+n'est plus frivole que les preuves, qu'ils en apportent. La langue
+Algonquine n'a pas autant de force, que la Huronne, mais elle a plus de
+douceur et d'elegance. Toutes deux ont une richesse d'expressions, une
+variete de tones, une propriete de termes, une regularite, qui etonnent:
+mais ce qui surprend encore davantage, c'est que parmi des Barbares
+qu'on ne voit point s'etudier a bien parler, et qui n'ont jamais eu
+l'usage de l'ecriture, il ne s'introduit point un mauvais mot, un terme
+impropre, une construction vicieuse, et que les enfans memes en
+conservent, jusque dans le discours familier, toute la purete.
+D'ailleurs, la maniere dont ils animent tout se qu'ils disent, ne laisse
+aucun lieu de douter qui ne comprennent toute la valeur de leur
+expressions, et toute la beaute de leur langue. Dans le Huron tout se
+conjugue; un certain artifice, que je ne vous expliquerois pas bien, y
+fait distinguer des verbes, les noms, les pronoms, les adverbes, &c. Les
+verbes simples ont une double conjugaison, l'une absolue, l'autre
+reciproque. Les troisiemes personnes ont les deux genres, car il n'y en
+a que deux dans ces langues; a scavoir, le genre noble, et le genre
+ignoble. Pour ce qui est des nombres et des tems, on y trouve les memes
+differences que dans le Grec. Par exemple, pour raconter un voyage, on
+s'exprime autrement si on la fait par terre, ou si on l'a fait par eau.
+Les verbes actifs se multiplient autant de fois, qu'il y a de choses,
+qui tombent sous leur action; comme le verbe, qui signifie _Manger_,
+varie autant de fois, qu'il y a de choses comestibles. L'action
+s'exprime autrement a l'egard d'une chose inanimee: ainsi _voir un
+homme_, et _voir une pierre_, ce sont deux verbes. Se servir d'une
+chose, qui appartient a celui qui s'en sert, ou a celui a qui on parle,
+ce sont autant de verbes differens.
+
+"Il y a quelque chose de tout cela dans la langue Algonquine, mais la
+maniere n'en est pas la meme, et je ne suis nullement en etat de vous en
+instruire. Cependant, madame, si du peu, que je viens de vous dire, il
+s'ensuit que la richesse et la variete de ces langues les rendent
+extremement difficiles a apprendre, la disette et la sterilite ou elles
+sont tombees ne causent pas un moindre embarras. Car, comme les peuples,
+quand nous avons commence a les frequenter, ignoroient presque tout ce
+dont ils n'avoient pas l'usage, ou qui ne tomboit pas sous leurs sens,
+ils manquoient de termes pour les exprimer, ou les avoient laisse tomber
+dans l'oubli."--Charlevoix, tom. v., p. 288.
+
+The variety of dialects proves the little communication held between the
+different tribes of savages, a necessary consequence of their living by
+the chase, and requiring extensive hunting-grounds.
+
+"We need only," says Acosta (_De Procur. Indorum Salut._), "cross a
+valley for hearing another jargon."
+
+
+No. XLVII.
+
+"The following are the results of the most recent researches on the
+lines of fortifications, and the tumuli found between the Rocky
+Mountains and the chain of the Alleganies. The fortifications chiefly
+occupy the space between the great lakes of Canada, the Mississippi and
+the Ohio, from the fourty-fourth to the thirty-ninth degree of latitude.
+Those which advance most toward the northeast are on the Black River,
+one of the tributary streams of Lake Ontario. The most remarkable
+ancient fortifications in the State of Ohio are, 1st. Newark, a very
+regular octagon, containing an area of 32 acres, and connected with a
+circular circumvallation of 16 acres; the eight great doors of the
+octagon are defended by eight works placed before each opening. 2d.
+Perryvale County, numerous walls, not in clay, but stone. 3d. Marietta,
+two great squares with twelve doors; the walls of earth are 21 feet
+high, and 42 feet at their base. 4th. Circleville, a square with eight
+doors, and eight small works for their defense connected with a circular
+fort, surrounded by two walls and a moat. 5th. Point Creek, at the
+confluence of the Scioto and the Ohio; the fortifications are partly
+irregular; one of them contains 62 acres. 6th. Portsmouth, opposite
+Alexandria; vast ruins, disposed on parallel lines, denote that this
+spot heretofore contained a numerous population. 7th. Little Miami and
+Cincinnati, a wall of 7 feet high and 6300 toises long. All these square
+forts are placed as exactly to the east as the Egyptian and Mexican
+pyramids; when the forts have only one opening, it is directed toward
+the rising sun. The walls of these lines of fortification are most
+frequently of earth, but two miles from Chilicothe, in the State of
+Ohio, we find a wall constructed in stone, from 12 to 15 feet high, and
+from 5 to 8 feet thick, forming an inclosure of 80 acres. It is not yet
+precisely known how far those works extend to the west, along the course
+of the Missouri and the River La Plata; but they are not found on the
+north of the Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Michigan, neither do they pass the
+chain of the Alleganies. Some circumvallations discovered on the banks
+of the Chenango, near Oxford, in the State of New York, may be
+considered as a very remarkable exception. We must not confound these
+military monuments with the mounds or _tumuli_ containing thousands of
+skeletons of a stunted race of men, scarcely 5 feet high. These mounds
+increase in number from the north toward the south; Mr. Brackenridge
+thinks there are nearly 3000 tumuli, from 20 to 100 feet high, between
+the mouth of the Ohio, the Illinois, the Missouri, and the Rio San
+Francisco, and that the number of skeletons they contain indicate how
+considerable must have been the population heretofore of those
+countries. These monuments, considered as the places of sepulture of
+great communes, are most frequently situated at the confluence of
+rivers, and on the most favorable points for trade. The base of the
+tumuli is round, or of an oval form; they are generally of a conical
+form, and sometimes flattened at the summit, as if intended to serve for
+sacrifices, or other ceremonies to be seen by a great mass of people at
+once. Some of those monuments are two or three stories high, and
+resemble in their form the Mexican _Teocallis_, and the pyramids with
+steps of Egypt and Western Asia. Some of the tumuli are constructed of
+earth, and some of stones heaped together. Hatchets have been found on
+them, together with painted pottery, vases, and ornaments of brass, a
+little iron, silver in plates (near Marietta), and perhaps gold (near
+Chilicothe). Some of these mounds are only a few feet high, and are
+placed at the center or in the neighborhood of the circular
+circumvallations; they were either tribunes for haranguing the assembled
+people, or places of sacrifice, and where they are only from 20 to 25
+feet high, they may be considered as observatories erected to discover
+the movements of a neighboring enemy. The great tumuli, from 80 to 100
+feet high, are most frequently insulated, and sometimes seem to be of
+the same age as the fortifications to which they are linked. The latter
+merit particular attention: I know nowhere any thing that resembles them
+either in South America or the ancient continent. The regularity of the
+polygon and circular forms, and the small works intended to cover the
+doors of the building, are, above all, remarkable. We know not whether
+they were inclosures of property, walls of defense against enemies, or
+intrenched camps, as in Central Asia. The custom of separating the
+different quarters of a town by circumvallations is observed alike in
+the ancient Tenochleitian and the Peruvian town of Chimu, the ruins of
+which I examined, between Truxillo and the coast of the South Sea. The
+_tumuli_ are less characteristic constructions, and may have belonged to
+nations who had no communication with one another; they cover both
+Americas, the north of Asia, and the whole east of Europe, and, it is
+said, are still constructed by the Omawhaws of the River Plata. The
+skulls contained in the _tumuli_ of the United States furnish means of
+recognizing, almost with certainty, to what degree the race of men by
+whom they were raised differ from the Indians who now inhabit the same
+countries. Mr. Mitchell believes that the skeletons of the caverns of
+Kentucky and Tennessee 'belong to the Malays, who came by the Pacific
+Ocean to the western coast of America, and were destroyed by the
+ancestors of the present Indians, and who were of Tartar race (Mongul).'
+With respect to the tumuli and the fortifications, the same learned
+writer supposes, with Mr. De Witt Clinton, that those monuments are the
+works of Scandinavian nations, who, from the eleventh to the fourteenth
+century, visited the coast of Greenland, Newfoundland, or Vinland, or
+Drageo, and a part of the continent of North America. If this
+hypothesis be well founded, the skulls found in the _tumuli_ ought to
+belong, not to the American, Mongul, or Malay race, but to a race
+vulgarly called Caucasian.... Did the nations of the Mexican race, in
+their migrations to the south, send colonies toward the east, or do the
+monuments of the United States pertain to the Autochthone nations?
+Perhaps we must admit in North America, as in the ancient world, the
+simultaneous existence of several centers of civilization, of which the
+mutual relations are not known in history. The very civilized nations of
+New Spain, the Tolteques, the Azteques, and the Chichimeques, pretended
+to have issued successively, from the sixth to the twelfth century, from
+three neighboring countries situated toward the north. These nations
+spoke the same language, they had the same cosmogonic fables, the same
+propensity for the sacerdotal congregations, the same hieroglyphic
+paintings, the same divisions of time, the same taste (Chinese and
+Japanese) for noting and registering every thing. The names given by
+them to the towns built in the country of Analmae; were those of the
+towns they had abandoned in their ancient country. The civilization on
+the Mexican table-land was regarded by the inhabitants themselves as the
+copy of something which had existed elsewhere, as the reflection of the
+primitive civilization of Aztlan. Where, it may be asked, must be placed
+that parent land of the colonies of Anahuac, that _officinum gentium_
+which, during five centuries, sends nations toward the south who
+understand each other without difficulty, and recognize each other for
+relations? Asia, north of Amour, where it is nearest America, is a
+barbarous country, and in supposing (which is geographically possible) a
+migration of southern Asiatics by Japan, Tarakay (Tchoka), the Kurile
+and Aleutian Isles, from southwest toward the northeast (from 40 to 55
+degrees of latitude), how can it be believed that in so long a
+migration, on a way so easily intercepted, the remembrance of the
+institutions of the parent country could have been preserved with so
+much force and clearness? The cosmogonic fables, the pyramidal
+constructions, the system of the calendar, the animals of the tropics
+found in the catasterim of days, the convents and congregations of
+priests, the taste for statistic enumerations, the annals of the empire
+held in the most scrupulous order, lead us toward Oriental Asia, while
+the lively remembrances of which we have just spoken, and the peculiar
+physiognomy which Mexican civilization presents in so many other
+respects, seem to indicate the antique existence of an empire in the
+north of America, between the thirty-sixth and forty-second degrees of
+latitude. We can not reflect on the military monuments of the United
+States without recollecting the first country of the civilized nations
+of Mexico. It is in rising to more general historical considerations, in
+examining with more care than has been hitherto done the languages and
+the osteologic conformation of different tribes, in exploring the
+immense country bounded by the Alleganies and the coast of the Western
+Ocean, that means will be obtained of throwing light on a problem so
+worthy of exercising the sagacity of historians.... According to the
+traditions collected by Mr. Heckewelder, the country east of the
+Mississippi was heretofore inhabited by a powerful nation, of gigantic
+stature, called Alleghewi, and which gave its name to the Alleganian
+mountains. The Alleghewis were more civilized than any of the other
+tribes found in the northern climates by the Europeans of the sixteenth
+century. They inhabitated towns founded on the banks of the Mississippi,
+and the fortifications that now excite the astonishment of travelers
+were constructed by them, in order to defend themselves against the
+Delawares, who came from the west, and were allied at that period with
+the Iroquois. It may be supposed that this invasion of a barbarous
+people changed the political and moral state of those countries. The
+Alleghewis were vanquished by the Delawares after a long struggle. In
+their flight toward the south they gathered together the bones of their
+relations in separate _tumuli_; they descended the Mississippi, and what
+became of them is not known.... The lines of fortification of a
+prodigious length observed by Captain Lewis on the banks of the Missouri
+sufficiently prove that the ancient habitation of the Alleghewis, that
+powerful people which I am inclined to regard as being of Tolteque or
+Azteque race, extended far to the west of the Mississippi, toward the
+foot of the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Nuttall, in going up the Arkansas to
+Cadron, was informed of the existence of an ancient intrenchment,
+resembling a triangular fort. The Arkansas assert that it is the work of
+a _white_ and civilized people, whom, when they arrived in this country,
+their ancestors fought and vanquished, not by force, but cunning. They
+attribute, also, to a more ancient and polished people than themselves,
+the monuments of rough stones heaped up on the summit of the hills.
+Other monuments, not less curious, are the commodious roads of immense
+length which the natives have traced from time immemorial, and which
+lead from the banks of the Arkansas, near Little Rock, to Saint Louis on
+the right, and by the settlement of Mont Prairie, as far as
+Natchitoches, on the left. Do the characteristic features of colossal
+stature and _white_ color, attributed to nations now destroyed, owe
+their origin to the ideas of power and physical force in general, to the
+feeling of the intellectual preponderance of the Europeans, or are those
+features linked with the fables of white men, legislators, and priests,
+which we find among the Mexicans, the inhabitants of New Granada, and so
+many other American nations? The skeletons contained in the _tumuli_ of
+the trans-Alleganian country belong, for the most part, to a stunted
+race of men, of lower stature than the Indians of Canada and the
+Missouri.
+
+"An idol discovered at Natchez has been justly compared by M. Malte-Brun
+to the images of celestial spirits found by Pallas among the Mongul
+nations. If the tribes who inhabit the towns on the banks of the
+Mississippi issued from the same country of Aztlan, it must be admitted
+that the Tolteques, the Chichimeques, and the Azteques, from the
+inspection of their idols, and their essays in sculpture, were much less
+advanced in the arts than the Mexican tribes, who, without deviating
+toward the east, have followed the great path of the nations of the New
+World, directed from north to south, from the banks of the Gila toward
+the Lake of Nicaragua."--Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. vi., p.
+328.
+
+
+No. XLVIII.
+
+"Dr. Morton, in his luminous and philosophical essay on the aboriginal
+race of America, seems to have proved that all the different tribes,
+except the Eskimaux, are of one race, and that this race is peculiar and
+distinct from all others. The physical characteristics of the Fuegians,
+the Indians of the tropical plains, those of the Rocky Mountains, and of
+the great Valley of the Mississippi, are the same, not only in regard to
+feature and external lineaments, but also in osteological structure.
+After comparing nearly 400 crania, derived from tribes inhabiting almost
+every region of both Americas, Dr. Morton has found the same peculiar
+shape pervading all; 'the square or rounded head, the flattened or
+vertical occiput, the high cheek bones, the ponderous maxillae, the large
+quadrangular orbits, and the low, receding forehead.' The oldest skulls
+from the cemeteries of Peru, the tombs of Mexico, or the mounds of the
+Mississippi and Ohio, agree with each other, and are of the same type as
+the heads of the most savage existing tribes."--Lyell, vol. ii., p. 37.
+
+
+No. XLIX.
+
+"I saw no person among the Chaymas who had any natural deformity. I
+might say the same of thousands of Caribs, Muyseas, and Mexican and
+Peruvian Indians, whom we observed during the course of five years.
+Bodily deformities--deviations from nature--are infinitely rare among
+certain races of men, especially those nations who have the dermoid
+system highly colored. I can not believe that they depend solely on the
+progress of civilization, a luxurious life, or the corruption of morals.
+We might be tempted to think that savages all appear well made and
+vigorous, because feeble children die young for want of care, and that
+the strongest alone survive; but these causes can not act on the Indians
+of the missions, who have the manners of our peasants, and the Mexicans
+of Cholula and Tlascala, who enjoy wealth that has been transmitted to
+them by ancestors more civilized than themselves. If, in every state of
+cultivation, the copper-colored race manifest the same inflexibility,
+the same resistance to deviation from a primitive type, are we not
+forced to admit that this property belongs in great measure to
+hereditary organization--to that which constitutes the race? I use
+intentionally the phrase _in great measure_, not entirely to exclude the
+influence of civilization. Besides, with copper-colored men, as with the
+whites, luxury and effeminacy, by weakening the physical constitution,
+had heretofore rendered deformities more common at Corezco and
+Tenochtitlan."--Humboldt's _Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p. 235.
+
+
+No. L.
+
+To those well read in the sad records of Indian history, the names of
+Powhatan, Opechancanough, Massasoit, Alexander, Philip, Canonchet,
+Logan, Pontiac, and the never-to-be-forgotten Tecumthe, will suggest
+memories fully justifying the above assertion. The name of Tecumthe
+signifies "a tiger crouching for his prey." He was equally great in
+council and in war, noble and generous in spirit as commanding in
+intellect. He bore the commission of Chief of the Indian Forces in the
+British army during the late war. He did not, however, join the ranks of
+the white men until the failure of several admirably contrived projects
+convinced his sound and enlightened judgment that opposition to the
+white race was vain. Pontiac was an Ottawa chieftain, who in 1763
+succeeded in the next-to-impossible scheme of uniting all the scattered
+and often hostile Indian tribes distributed throughout the colonized
+districts of North America in one grand confederacy against their
+European invaders. Their first step was the projected extinction of all
+the white man's posts along a thousand miles of frontier; and he
+actually succeeded so far as to cut off, almost simultaneously, nine out
+of twelve of these military establishments. The surprise of
+Michillimackinac, one of these stations, is thus narrated in a public
+document. (It was a period of profound peace between the Europeans and
+Indians):
+
+"The fort was then upon the main land, near the northern point of the
+peninsula. The Ottawas, to whom the assault was committed, prepared for
+a great game of ball, to which the officers of the garrison were
+invited. While engaged in play, one of the parties gradually inclined
+toward the fort, and the other pressed after them. The ball was once or
+twice thrown over the pickets, and the Indians were suffered to enter
+and procure it. Nearly all the garrison were present as spectators, and
+those on duty were alike unprepared as unsuspicious. Suddenly the ball
+was again thrown into the fort, and all the Indians rushed after it. The
+rest of the tale is soon told: the troops were butchered, and the fort
+destroyed." This extensive and well-laid scheme failed, from Pontiac
+himself being betrayed at the fort of Detroit. He has been accused of
+great cruelty; but, in contests waged between the red and white races,
+this is a word of doubtful import. His generosity and heroism are
+undeniable.
+
+As a compliment, Major Rogers had sent Pontiac a bottle of brandy. His
+counselors advised him not to take it: "It must be poisoned," said they,
+"and sent with a design to kill him;" but Pontiac laughed at their
+suspicions. "He can not," he replied, "he can not take my life; I have
+saved his!"
+
+
+No. LI.
+
+But a far truer insight into the religious state of the American Indian
+will be obtained by observing how peculiarly and emphatically he is, in
+the words of the apostle, "a law unto himself." I mean, how distinctly
+he evinces, in the whole moral conduct of his life, that he lives under
+a strong and awful sense of positive obligation. It is of little matter
+with what doctrines that sense of obligation connects itself. It often
+appears to connect itself with none. The Indian can not tell why a
+burden is laid upon him to act in this or that manner. He obeys a law
+undefined, unwritten, but mysteriously binding upon his spirit. All the
+compulsive force which what we call the law of honor had upon the
+conscience of a man of the world--I had almost said which religious
+sanctions have upon the man of principle--is scarcely to be paralleled
+with that kind of moral necessity which seems in some cases to actuate
+his proceedings. If religion be what its name implies, _id quod
+relligat_, that which binds the will, and enforces self-denial and
+self-devotion (be the object or motive held out what it may), then no
+people taken in the mass is to be compared, in this respect, to the
+savages of America. "After all," says Mr. Flint, "that which has struck
+us, in contemplating the Indians, with the most astonishment and
+admiration, is the invisible but universal energy of the operation and
+influence of an inexplicable law, which has, where it operates, a more
+certain and controlling power than all the municipal and written laws of
+the whites united. There is despotic rule without any hereditary or
+elected chief. There are chiefs with great power, who can not tell when,
+where, or how they became such. There is perfect unanimity on a question
+involving the existence of a tribe, when every member belonged to the
+wild and fierce democracy of nature, and could dissent without giving a
+reason. A case occurs where it is prescribed by custom that an
+individual should be punished with death. Escaped from the control of
+his tribe, and as free as the winds, this invisible tie is about him,
+and he returns and surrenders himself to justice. His accounts are not
+settled, and he is in debt. He requests delay till he shall have
+finished his summer's hunt. He finishes it, pays his debt, and dies with
+a constancy which has always been, in all views of the Indian character,
+the theme of admiration."--Flint's _Geography of the Mississippi
+Valley_, p. 125.
+
+In the expressive words of Penn, "What good might not a good people
+graft, where there is so distinct a knowledge both of good and
+evil?"--_Report on Aborigines_, 1837, p. 116.
+
+Mr. Merivale adds, "I would not insert the following high-colored
+expression in a work edited by Washington Irving, were it not for the
+remarkable agreement between all capable observers of the uncontaminated
+races of Indians upon this subject. 'Simply to call these people
+religious (some tribes of the Rocky Mountains) would convey but a faint
+idea of the deep hue of piety and devotion which pervades the whole of
+their conduct. They are more like a nation of saints than a horde of
+savages.'"--_Adventures of Captain Bonneville._
+
+
+No. LII.
+
+Catlin gives the same account of the appropriation of the Manitou or
+guardian angel as Lafitau and Charlevoix. He applies to it the term of
+Mystery, or Medicine-bag, and thus explains the derivation of the modern
+term:
+
+"The term Medicine, in its common acceptation among the Indians, means
+mystery, and nothing else. The origin of the term is, that in the French
+language a doctor is called '_Medecin_;' the Indian country is full of
+doctors, and as they are all magicians, and profess to be skilled in
+many mysteries, the word '_medecin_' has become habitually applied to
+every thing mysterious or unaccountable, and the English and American
+have easily and familiarly adopted the same word, with a slight
+alteration conveying the same meaning; and, to be a little more
+explicit, they have denominated these personages 'Medicine-men,' which
+means something more than merely a doctor or physician. The Indians do
+not use the word 'medicine,' however, but in each tribe they have a word
+of their own construction synonymous with mystery or mystery-man. Their
+medicine-bag then is a mystery-bag, and its meaning and importance
+necessary to be understood, as it may be said to be the key to Indian
+life and character.
+
+"Feasts are often made, and dogs and horses sacrificed, to a man's
+'medicine;' and days, and even weeks of fasting and penance of various
+kinds are often suffered to appease his medicine, which he fancies he
+has in some way offended. This curious custom has generally been done
+away with along the frontier, where white men laugh at the Indian for
+the observance of so ridiculous and useless a form; but in this country
+(beyond the Rocky Mountains) it is still in full force, and every male
+in the tribe carries this his supernatural charm or guardian, to which
+he looks for the preservation of his life in battle or in other
+danger.... During my travels thus far I have been unable to buy a
+medicine-bag of an Indian, though I have offered extravagant prices for
+them; and even on the frontier, where they have been induced to abandon
+the practice, though a white may induce an Indian to relinquish his
+medicine, yet he can not buy it of him: the Indian in such case will
+bury it to please a white, and save it from his sacrilegious touch, and
+he will linger around the spot, and at regular times visit and pay it
+his devotions as long as he lives."--Catlin's _North American Indians_,
+vol. i., p. 36.
+
+
+No. LIII.
+
+Catlin says, "The tribes, so far as I have visited them, all distinctly
+believe in the existence of a Great (or Good) Spirit, an Evil (or Bad)
+Spirit, and also in a future existence and future accountability,
+according to their virtues and vices in this world. So far the North
+American Indians would seem to be one family, and such, an unbroken
+theory among them; yet, with regard to the manner and form, and time
+and place of that accountability--to the constructions of virtues and
+vices, and the modes of appeasing and propitiating the Good and Evil
+Spirits, they are found in all the change and variety which fortuitous
+circumstances, and fictions and fables have wrought upon them.... These
+people, living in a climate where they suffer from cold in the severity
+of their winters, have very naturally reversed our ideas of heaven and
+hell. The latter they describe to be a country very far to the north, of
+barren and hideous aspect, and covered with eternal snow and ice. The
+torments of this freezing place they describe as most excruciating,
+while heaven they suppose to be in a warmer and delightful latitude,
+where nothing is felt but the keenest enjoyment, and where the country
+abounds in buffaloes and other luxuries of life. The Great or Good
+Spirit they believe dwells in the former place, for the purpose of there
+meeting those who have offended him, increasing the agony of their
+sufferings by being himself present, administering the penalties. The
+Bad or Evil Spirit they suppose to be at the same time in Paradise,
+still tempting the happy; and those who have gone to the regions of
+punishment they believe to be tortured for a time proportioned to the
+amount of their transgression, and that they are then to be transferred
+to the land of the happy, where they are again liable to the temptation
+of the Evil Spirit, and answerable again at a future period for their
+new offenses."--Catlin, vol. i., p. 159.
+
+Dr. Richardson says, "While at Carlton I took an opportunity of asking a
+communicative old Indian of the Blackfoot nation his opinion of a future
+state. He replied that they had heard from their fathers that the souls
+of the departed have to scramble with great labor up the sides of a
+steep mountain, upon attaining the summit of which they are rewarded
+with the prospect of an extensive plain, interspersed here and there
+with new tents, pitched in agreeable situations, and abounding in all
+sorts of game. While they are absorbed in the contemplation of this
+delightful scene, they are descried by the inhabitants of the happy
+land, who, clothed in new skins, approach and welcome, with every
+demonstration of kindness, those Indians who have led good lives; but
+the bad Indians, who have imbrued their hands in the blood of their
+countrymen, are told to return from whence they came, and, without more
+ceremony, precipitated down the steep sides of the mountain."--Franklin's
+_Journey_, p. 77.
+
+"C'est du cote de l'ouest, d'ou les sauvages pretendent etre venus,
+qu'il placent le pays des ancetres, ou des ames. C'est, disent-ils, un
+pays tres eloigne, et ou chacun est contraint de se rendre, apres son
+trepas, par un chemin fort long et fort penible, dans lequel il y a
+beaucoup a souffrir, a cause des rivieres qu'il faut passer sur des
+ponts tremblants, et si etroits qu'il faut etre une ame pour pouvoir s'y
+soutenir; encore trouve-t-il au bout du pont un chien, qui comme un
+antre cerbere leur dispute le passage, et en fait tomber plusieurs dans
+les eaux, dont la rapidite les roule de precipice en precipice. Celles
+qui sont assez heureuses pour franchir ce pas, trouvent en arrivant, un
+grand et beau pays, au milieu duquel est une grande Cabane, dont
+_Tharonhiaouagon_, leur Dieu, occupe une partie, et Ataensic, son
+ayeule, occupe l'autre. L'appartement de cette vielle est tapisse d'une
+quantite infini de colliers de porcelaine, de bracelets, et d'autres
+meubles, dont les morts, qui sont sous sa dependance, lui ont fait
+present a leur arrivee. _Ataensic_ est maitresse de la Cabane, selon le
+style des sauvages, elle et son petit fils dominent sur les manes, et
+font consister leur plaisir a les faire danser devant eux. Il y a une
+infinite de versions sur le pays des ames, mais ce qui je viens d'en
+rapporter en est comme le fonds, ou tout le reste se reduit."--Lafitau,
+tom. i., p. 402.
+
+
+No. LIV.
+
+"Un officier Francais, qui parle la langue Huronne comme les Hurons
+meme, et qui connoit fort bien le genie des sauvages, m'a raconte un
+fait, dont il a ete le temoin ... Quelques sauvages intrigues, au sujet
+d'un parti de sept guerriers de leur village, et dont tout le monde
+commencoit a etre en peine, prierent une vielle sauvagesse de _jongler_
+pour eux. Cette femme etoit en grande reputation, et on avoit verifie
+plusieurs de ses predictions, mais on avoit beaucoup de peine a la
+determiner a faire ces sortes d'operations, quoiqu'on la payat bien,
+parce-qu'elle souffroit beaucoup. Comme elle avoit de l'amitie pour moi,
+dit cet officier, je me mis de la partie avec les sauvages, ajoutant
+neanmoins tres peu de foy a ces sortes de choses, je la priai tres
+fortement, et je fis tant, qu'elle s'y resolut. Elle commenca d'abord
+par preparer un espace de terrain qu'elle nettoya bien, et qu'elle
+couvrit de farine. Elle disposa sur cette poudre comme sur une carte
+geographique, quelques paquets de buchettes, qui representaient divers
+villages de differentes nations, observant particulierement leur
+position, et les rhumbs de vent. Elle entra ensuite dans de grandes
+convulsions, pendant lesquelles nous vimes sensiblement sept bluettes de
+feu sortir des buchettes qui representoient notre village; tracer un
+chemin sur cette farine et aller d'un village a l'autre. Apres d'etre
+eclipsees pendant un assez long tems, dans l'un de ces villages, ces
+bluettes reparurent au nombre de neuf, tracerent un nouveau chemin pour
+le retour, jusqu'a ce qu'enfin elles s'arreterent assez pres du village,
+ou paquet de buchettes, d'ou les sept premiers etoient d'abord sorties.
+Alors la sauvagesse, toujours en fureur, troubla tout l'ordre des
+buchettes, foula aux pieds tout le terrain qu'elle avoit prepare, et ou
+cette scene venoit de passer. Elle s'assit ensuite et apres s'etre donne
+le tems de se tranquilliser, et de reprendre ses esprits, elle raconta
+tout ce qui etoit arrive aux guerriers, la route qu'ils avoient tenue,
+les villages par ou ils avoient passe, le nombre des prisonniers qu'ils
+avoient fait; elle nomma l'endroit ou ils etoient dans ce moment, et
+assura qu'ils arriveroient trois jours apres au village, ce qui fut
+verifie par l'arrivee des guerriers, qui confirmerent de point en point
+ce qu'elle avoit dit."--Lafitau, tom. i., p. 387.
+
+"Quoiqu' aujourd'hui les Abenaquis fassent tous profession du
+Christianisme, ils ne laissent pas encore d'avoir quelquefois recours a
+cet art qu'ils ont recu de leurs peres (la Pyromantie, ou Divination par
+le feu). Ils s'en confessent neanmoins, a cause de l'horreur qu'on leur
+en a inspire, mais il s'en trouve quelques uns qui cherchent a le
+justifier. Une sauvagesse disoit a un missionnaire, qui tachoit de lui
+faire concevoir sa faute: 'Je n'ai jamais compris qu'il n'y eut a elle
+aucun mal, et j'ai peine a y en voir encore: ecoute, Dieu a partage
+differemment les hommes; a vous autres Francois, il a donne l'ecriture,
+par laquelle vous apprennez lea choses qui se passent loin de vous,
+comme si elles vous etoient presentes; pour ce qui est de nous, il nous
+a donne l'art de connoitre par le feu les choses absentes et eloignees;
+suppose donc que le feu c'est notre livre, notre ecriture; tu ne verras
+pas qu'il y ait de difference, et plus de mal dans l'un que dans
+l'autre. Ma mere m'a appris ce secret pendant mon enfance, comme tes
+parents t'ont appris a lire et a ecrire; je m'en suis servi plusieurs
+fois avec succes, avant d'etre Chretienne, je l'ai fait quelquefois avec
+le meme succes depuis que je la suis; j'ai ete tente, et j'ai succombe a
+la tentation, mais sans croire commettre aucune peche.'"--Lafitau, tom,
+i., p. 388.
+
+Some of the Indians seem to have been acquainted with the mysteries of
+_clairvoyance_. "Ils croyent qu'il y a des personnes que les esprits
+favorisent d'avantage, qui sont plus eclairees que le commun, dont l'ame
+scut, non seulement ce qui les concerne personnellement, mais qui voient
+jusques dans le fonds de l'ame des autres, qui percent a travers le
+voile qui les couvre, et y appercoit les desirs naturels et innes,
+qu'elle a, quoique cette ame elle meme ne les ait pas apercus; c'est ce
+qui leur a fait donner le nom de Iaiotkatta par les Hurons, c'est a dire
+_voyans_, parce qu'ils voyent les hommes dans leur interieur."--Lafitau,
+tom. i., p. 371.
+
+Charlevoix also relates instances of the successful exercise of magical
+arts.--Vol. vi., p. 92.
+
+
+No. LV.
+
+"In the neighborhood of Caughnawaga are the large tracts of land once
+belonging to the Johnson family, whose possessions were all confiscated
+at the period of the Revolution, in consequence of their adherence to
+the British, who gave them compensation by grants of land in Canada. The
+founder of this family is said to have acquired this fine tract of
+country by a dexterous piece of management. He traded extensively with
+the tribe of Mohawk Indians. Their chiefs were in the habit of applying
+to him frequently for tobacco and rum, which they had, they told him,
+dreamed that he was to give them. Johnson never failed to encourage
+their strong faith in dreams, humoring their foible by acceding to every
+request founded on them. Thus visits and dreams became frequent on the
+part of the Indians. Johnson never sent them away empty handed. To every
+request he replied, 'I will prove that you are right,' and presented
+them with whatever they applied for, on the footing that they had
+dreamed of it. At length the king had the conscience to dream that, if
+he were invested with Johnson's military dress of scarlet and gold, he
+should be as great a man as King George; and King George he soon in so
+far became, for no long time elapsed before Johnson had him appareled as
+he wished. But Johnson's turn to dream had now arrived, for he had all
+the while attached the same weight to dreams. He dreamed that the nation
+had, in consequence of his kindness to them, and in return for the
+hospitality he had shown them, bestowed on him part of their territory,
+which he had described, and which he of course took care should be
+sufficiently extensive and valuable--in fact, one of the finest tracts
+of land that it is possible to conceive. 'Have you really had such a
+dream?' they exclaimed, with terror and alarm depicted on their
+countenances. Being satisfied on this point, the chief or king convoked
+his tribe, who deliberated, and then announced to the dreamer that they
+had confirmed the dream. 'Brother Johnson,' they said, 'we give thee
+that tract of land, but never dream any more.' The head of this family
+was subsequently created a baronet, for his gallantry in the war, when
+the French made an incursion from Canada in 1755."--Stuart's _America_,
+vol. i., p. 71. See, also, Mrs. Grant's _Letters of an American Lady_,
+for an account of Sir William Johnson's intercourse with the Indians.
+
+Lafitau and Charlevoix write at great length upon the Indian faith in
+dreams; Lafitau gives the following curious illustration of the extent
+to which this superstition is carried: "Un ancien missionnaire m'a
+raconte qu'un sauvage ayant reve que le bonheur de sa vie dependoit de
+son mariage avec une femme qui etoit deja mariee a l'un des plus
+considerables du village ou il demeuroit. Le mari et la femme vivoient
+dans une grande union et s'entre-aimoient beaucoup. La separation fut
+rude a l'un et a l'autre, cependant ils n'osoient refuser. Ils se
+separerent donc. La femme prit un nouvel engagement, et le mari
+abandonne, par complaisance et pour oter tout soupcon qu'il pensat
+encore a sa premiere epouse, se marie avec une autre. Il reprit la
+premiere cependant, apres la mort de celui qui les avait desunis,
+laquelle arriva peu de temps apres."--Lafitau, vol. i., p. 364.
+
+
+No. LVI.
+
+"C'etoit une loi generale chez certains peuples barbares de l'antiquite
+(AElian, _de Cois_, lib. iii.; Sext. Emp., _de Tybaren_.; Procop., _de
+Etulis_., lib. ii.; _de Bello Gotico_; Stobaeus, _de Massag._, Serm. 122)
+de faire mourir leurs viellards avant l'age de soixante ou soixante et
+dix ans, soit qu'ils ne voulassent point parmis eux conserver des morte
+payes, qui consumassent le peu qui restoit aux autres pour vivre: soit
+qu'ils se persuadassent rendre service a ceux qu'ils faisoient ainsi
+perir, en leur epargnant par une morte prompte et courte, la tristesse
+et les ennuis d'un age avance, dont les infirmites peuvent etre
+regardees comme une mort continuelle. Cela a ete, dit-on, une loi
+generale parmi quelques peuples de l'Amerique, et une de nos dernieres
+relations porte, qu'il y a une nation ou il n'est pas meme permis de
+laisser passer aux femmes l'age de trente ans; ce qui paroitra sans
+doute bien rigoureux a celles qui veulent encore etre jeune dans un age
+plus avance.
+
+"Les Algonquins et les autres nations errantes sont plus sujets a cette
+inhumanite envers les viellards que les autres, parcequ' etant presque
+toujours en voyage, et plus souvent reduits a la faim, l'incommodite des
+viellards qu'il faut porter et nourrir, devient alors plus sensible. Ces
+pauvres malheureux sont souvent les premiers a dire a celui qui les
+porte, 'Mon petit fils, je le donne bien de la peine, je ne suis plus
+bon a rien, casse-moi la tete.' On ne les ecoute pas toujours; mais
+quelquefois aussi il arrive que le jeune homme epuise de lassitude et de
+faim, repond froidement, 'Tu as raison, mon grand pere.' Il decharge en
+meme tems son paquet, prend sa hache, et casse la tete au bon homme, qui
+sans doute est fache interieurement d'etre pris au mot."--Lafitau, tom.
+ii., p. 490.
+
+In 1819, James writes thus of the same inhuman custom: "The worst trait
+in the Indian character is the neglect shown toward the aged and
+helpless, which is carried to such a degree that, when on a march or a
+hunting excursion, it is a common practice to leave behind their nearest
+relations when reduced to that state, with a little food and water,
+abandoning them without ceremony to their fate. When thus abandoned by
+all that is dear to them, their fortitude does not forsake them, and the
+inflexible passive courage of the Indian sustains them against
+despondency. They regard themselves as entirely useless; and as the
+custom of the nation has long led them to anticipate this mode of death,
+they attempt not to remonstrate against the measure, which is, in fact,
+frequently the result of their earnest solicitation."--James's
+_Expedition to the Rocky Mountains_, vol. i., p. 237.
+
+"This cruelty to living relations strongly contrasts with the
+extravagance and self-sacrifice of their mourning for the dead. The same
+people who expose a living parent because they can not carry him, are
+often found to convey the corpses of their departed friends to 'the
+festivals of the dead,' during many days of wearisome journeying."--P.
+de Breboeuf, _Relation de la Nouvelle France_; Charlevoix: Lafitau.
+
+Catlin, one of the most partial observers, and the most zealous defender
+of the Indian character, relates the following scene, of which he was an
+eye-witness (in 1840): "We found that the Puncahs were packing up all
+their goods, and preparing to start for the prairies in pursuit of
+buffaloes, to dry meat for their winter's supplies. They took down their
+wigwams of skins to carry with them, and all were flat to the ground,
+and every thing packing up ready for the start. My attention was
+directed by Major Sanford, the Indian agent, to one of the most
+miserable and helpless-looking objects I ever had seen in my life--a
+very aged and emaciated man of the tribe, who, he told me, was going to
+be _exposed_. The tribe were going where hunger and dire necessity
+obliged them to go, and this pitiable object, who had once been a chief,
+and a man of distinction in his tribe, who was now too old to travel,
+being reduced to mere skin and bone, was to be left to starve, or meet
+with such death as might fall to his lot, and his bones to be picked by
+the wolves! I lingered around this poor old forsaken patriarch for hours
+before we started, to indulge the tears of sympathy which were flowing
+for the sake of this poor benighted and decrepit old man, whose worn-out
+limbs were no longer able to support him, and his body and his mind
+doomed to linger into the withering agony of decay, and gradual solitary
+death. I wept; and it was a pleasure to weep; for the painful looks and
+the dreary prospects of this old veteran, whose eyes were dimmed, whose
+venerable locks were whitened by a hundred years, whose limbs were
+almost naked, and trembling as he sat by a small fire which his friends
+had left him, with a few sticks of wood within his reach, and a
+buffalo's skin stretched upon some crotches over his head. Such was to
+be his only dwelling, and such the chances for his life, with only a few
+half-picked bones that were laid within his reach, and a dish of water,
+without means of any kind to replenish them, or move his body from that
+fatal locality. His friends and his children had all left him, and were
+preparing in a little time to be on the march. He had told them to leave
+him; 'he was old,' he said, 'and too feeble to march.' 'My children,'
+said he, 'our nation is poor, and it is necessary you should all go to
+the country where you can get meat. My eyes are dimmed, and my strength
+is no more; my days are nearly all numbered, and I am a burden to my
+children; I can not go, and I wish to die. Keep your hearts stout, and
+think not of me; I am no longer good for any thing.' In this way they
+had finished the ceremony of _exposing_ him, and taken their final leave
+of him. I advanced to the old man, and was undoubtedly the last human
+being who held converse with him. I sat by the side of him, and though
+he could not distinctly see me, he shook me heartily by the hand, and
+smiled, evidently aware that I was a white man, and that I sympathized
+with his inevitable misfortune. When passing by the site of the Puncah
+village a few months after this in my canoe, I went ashore with my men,
+and found the poles and the buffalo skin standing as they were left over
+the old man's head. The fire-brands were lying nearly as I had left
+them; and I found at a few yards' distance the skull and others of his
+bones, which had been picked and cleaned by the wolves, which is
+probably all that any human being can ever know of his final and
+melancholy fate. This cruel custom of exposing their aged people
+belongs, I think, to all the tribes who roam about the prairies, making
+severe marches, when such decrepit persons are totally unable to go,
+unable to ride or to walk, when they have no means of carrying
+them."--Catlin's _American Indians_, vol. i., p. 217.
+
+
+No. LVII.
+
+"The child, in its earliest infancy, has its back lashed to a straight
+board, being fastened to it by bandages, which pass around it in front,
+and on the back of the board they are tightened to the necessary degree
+by lacing-strings, which hold it in a straight and healthy position,
+with its feet resting on a broad hoop, which passes around the foot of
+the cradle, and the child's position (as it rides about on its mother's
+back, supported by a broad strap that passes across her forehead), that
+of standing erect, no doubt has a tendency to produce straight limbs,
+sound lungs, and long life. The bandages that pass around the cradle,
+holding the child in, are often covered with a beautiful embroidery of
+porcupine quills, with ingenious figures of horses, men, &c. A broad
+hoop of elastic wood passes around in front of the child's face to
+protect it in case of a fall, from the front of which is suspended a toy
+of exquisite embroidery for the child to handle, and amuse itself with.
+The papoose (the Indian name for the cradle) seems a cruel mode of
+confining the child; but I am inclined to believe it is a very good one
+for those who use it, and well adapted to the circumstances under which
+they live; in support of which opinion, I offer the universality of the
+custom, which has been practiced for centuries among all the tribes of
+North America, as a legitimate and a very strong reason. Along the
+frontiers, where the Indians have been ridiculed for the custom, they
+have in many instances departed from it; but even there they will
+generally be seen lugging their child about in this way, when they have
+abandoned almost every other native custom, and are too poor to cover it
+with more than rags and strings, which fasten it to its cradle. The
+infant is carried in this manner until it is five, six, or seven months
+old.... If the infant dies during the time allotted for it to be carried
+in this cradle, it is buried, and the disconsolate mother fills the
+cradle with black quills and feathers, in the parts which the child's
+body had occupied, and in this way carries it about with her wherever
+she goes for a year or more; and she often lays or stands it against the
+side of the wigwam, where she is all day engaged in her needle-work, and
+chatting and talking to it as familiarly and affectionately as if it
+were her loved infant instead of its shell that she was talking
+to."--Catlin, vol. ii., p. 133.
+
+
+No. LVIII.
+
+The following is Lafitau's description of this barbarous operation: "Ils
+cernent pour cet effet la peau qui couvre la crane, coupant au-dessus du
+front et des oreilles jusqu'au derriere de la tete. Apres l'avoir
+arrachee, ils la preparent, et la ramollissent comme ils ont coutume de
+faire a celles des betes qu'ils ont prises a la chasse. Ils etendent
+ensuite cette peau sur un cercle au ils l'attachent, ils la peignent des
+deux cotes de diverses couleurs, quelquefois ils tracent du cote oppose
+aux cheveux, le portrait de celui a qui ils l'ont enlevee at la
+suspendent au bout d'une perche et la portent ainsi en triomphe. Ce
+qu'il y a de surprenant, c'est que tous ceux a qui l'on fait cette
+cruelle operation de leur enlever la chevelure, n'en meurent point, non
+plus que du coup de casse-tete, dont on a cru les avoir assommes a n'en
+plus revenir. Plusieurs en sont rechappes et j'ai vu une femme dans
+notre mission, a qui apres un semblable accident, les Francois avoient
+donnee le nom de la Tete-pelee, et qui se portoit fort bien. Elle etoit
+mariee a un Francois Iroquoise, dont elle avoit des enfans." Lafitau
+does not omit to notice the striking similarity between Indian and
+Scythian barbarity; he cites the following passage from Herodotus as a
+support and illustration of his own peculiar theory: "Un Scythe boit du
+sang du premier prisonnier qu'il fait, et il presente au roi les tetes
+de tous ceux qu'il a tues dans le combat; car en portant une tete il a
+part au butier, auquel il n'a nul droit sans cette condition. Il coupe
+la tete de cette maniere. Il la cerne autour les oreilles et ayant
+separe le test d'avec le reste, il en arrache la peau, qu'il a soin de
+ramollir avec ses mains, et d'appreter comme un apprete une peau de
+boeuf. Il en fait ensuite un ornement, et l'attache au harnois de son
+cheval en guise de trophee. Plus un particulier a de ces sortes de
+depouilles, plus il est considere et estime."--Lafitau, tom. ii., 258;
+Herodotus, lib. iv., n. 64.
+
+"The scalping is an operation not calculated of itself to take life, as
+it only removes the skin, without injuring the bone of the head, and
+necessarily, to be a genuine scalp, must contain and show the crown and
+center of the head--that part of the skin which lies directly over what
+the phrenologists call 'self-esteem,' where the hair divides and
+radiates from the center, of which they all profess to be strict judges,
+and able to decide whether an effort has been made to produce two or
+more scalps from one head. Besides taking the scalp, the victor
+generally, if he has time to do it without endangering his own scalp,
+cuts off and brings home the rest of the hair, which his knife will
+divide into a great many small locks, and with them fringe the seams of
+his shirt and leggins, which also are worn as trophies and ornaments to
+the dress, and these are familiarly called 'scalp-locks.' ... As the
+scalp is taken in evidence of a death, it will easily be seen that an
+Indian has no business or inclination to take it from the head of the
+living, which I venture to say is never done in North America, unless it
+be, as has sometimes happened, when a man falls in the heat of battle,
+and the Indian, rushing over his body, snatches off his scalp, supposing
+him dead, who afterward rises from the field of battle, and easily
+recovers from this superficial wound of the knife, wearing a bald spot
+on his head during the remainder of his life."--Catlin, vol. i., p.
+238.
+
+
+No. LIX.
+
+Charlevoix gives the following account of some of the games of chance in
+use among the red Indians:
+
+"_Le Jeu de Pailles._--Ces pailles sont de petits joncs de la grosseur
+des tuyaux de froment et de la longueur de deux doigts. On en prend un
+paquet, qui est ordinairement de deux cent un, et toujours en nombre
+impair. Apres qu'on les a bien remues, en faisant mille contortions, et
+en invoquant les genies, on les separe avec une espece d'aliene, ou un
+os pointee, en paquets de dix; chacun prend le sien a l'aventure, et
+celui, a qui echoit le paquet de onze, gagne un certain nombre de
+points, dont on est convenu: les parties sont en soixante ou en quatre
+vingt.... On m'a dit qu'il y avoit autant d'addresse que de hazarde dans
+ce jeu, et que les sauvages y sont extremement fripons, comme dans tous
+les autres; qu'ils s'y acharnent souvent jusqu'a y passer les jours et
+les nuits.
+
+"_Le Jeu de la Crosse._--On y joue avec une bale et des batons,
+recourbes et termines par une espece de raquette. On dresse deux poteaux
+qui servent des bornes, et qui sont eloignes l'un de l'autre, a
+proportion du nombre des joueurs. Par exemple s'ils sont quatre vingt,
+il y a entre les poteaux une demie lieue de distance. Les joueurs sont
+partages en deux bandes, qui ont chacune leur poteau, et il s'agit de
+faire aller la bale jusqu'a celui de la partie adverse, sans qu'elle
+tombe a terre, et sans qu'elle soit touchee avec la main; car si l'un ou
+l'autre arrive on perd la partie, a moins que celui qui a fait la faute
+ne la repare, en faisant aller la bale d'un seul trait au but, ce qui
+est souvent impossible. Ces sauvages sont si adroits a prendre la bale
+avec leurs crosses, que quelquefois ces parties durent plusieurs jours
+de suite.
+
+"_Le Jeu du Plat, appelle aussi le Jeu des Osselets._--Il ne se joue
+qu'entre deux personnes. Chacun a six ou huit osselets, que je pris
+d'abord pour des noyaux d'abricots; els en ont la figure et sont de meme
+grandeur, mais en les regardant de pres je m'apercus qu'ils etoient a
+six faces inegales, dont les deux principales sont peintes, l'une en
+noir, l'autre en blanc tirant sur le jaune. On les fait sauter en l'air,
+en frappant la terre, ou la table, avec un plat rond et creux, ou ils
+sont, et qu'ils font pirouetter auparavant. Si tous en tombant
+presentent la meme couleur, celui qui a joue gagne cinq points, la
+partie est en quarante, et on defalque les points gagnes, a mesure que
+l'adversaire en gagne de son cote. Cinq osselets d'une meme couleur ne
+donnent qu'un point pour la premiere fois, mais a la seconde on fait
+rafle de tout. En moindre nombre on ne gagne rien. Celui, qui gagne la
+partie, continue de jouer; le perdant cede sa place a un autre, qui est
+nomme par les marqueurs de sa partie. Car on se partage d'abord, et
+souvent tout le village s'interesse au jeu: quelquefois meme un village
+joue contre un autre. Chaque partie choisit son marqueur, mais il se
+retire quand il veut, ce qui n'arrive que lorsque la chose tourne mal
+pour les siens. A chaque coup que l'on joue, surtout si c'est un coup
+decisif, il s'eleve de grands cris: les joueurs paroissent comme des
+fascines, et les spectateurs ne sont pas plus tranquils."--Charlevoix,
+vol. v., p. 386; vol. vi., p. 26.
+
+
+No. LX.
+
+"The action in which Sir Richard met with his death is so extraordinary
+that it well merits recital: its object was to surprise the Spanish
+fleet when it rendezvoused at the Azores, on its return from America.
+For this purpose, Lord Thomas Howard sailed from England with six of the
+queen's ships, six victualers, and some pinnaces, Sir Richard Grenville
+being vice admiral in the Revenge. Having set out in the spring, 1591,
+they waited six months at Flores in expectation of their prize. Philip,
+however, obtaining intelligence of their design, dispatched Don Alphonso
+Barcau with fifty-three ships of war to act as convoy. So secure had the
+English become by protracted delay, that this armament was bearing down
+upon them before they had the least suspicion of its approach. Most of
+the crews were on shore, providing water, ballast, and other
+necessaries, and many were disabled by sickness. To hurry on board,
+weigh anchor, and leave the place with the utmost speed, was their only
+safety; and Grenville, upon whom the charge of the details at this
+pressing crisis was imposed, was the last upon the spot, superintending
+the embarkation, and receiving his men on board, of whom ninety were on
+the sick-list, and only one hundred able for duty. Thus detained, he
+found it impossible to recover the wind, and there was no alternative
+but either to cut his mainsail, tack about, and fly with all speed, or
+remain and fight it out single handed. It was to this desperate
+resolution that he adhered. 'From the greatness of his spirit,' says
+Raleigh, 'he utterly refused to turn from the enemy, protesting he would
+rather die than be guilty of such dishonor to himself, his country, and
+her majesty's ship.' His design was to force the squadron of Seville,
+which was on his weather bow, to give way; and such was the impetuosity
+of his attack, that it was on the point of being successful. Divers of
+the Spaniards, springing their loof, as the sailors of those times
+termed it, fell under his lee; when the San Philip, a galleon of 1500
+tons, gained the wind, and coming down on the Revenge, becalmed her
+sails so completely that she could neither make way nor obey the helm.
+The enemy carried three tier of guns on each side, and discharged eight
+foreright from her chase, besides those of her stern ports. At the
+moment Sir Richard was thus entangled, four other galleons loofed up and
+boarded him, two on his larboard and two on his starboard. The close
+fight began at three in the afternoon, and continued, with some slight
+intermission, for fifteen hours, during which time, Grenville,
+unsupported, sustained the reiterated attacks of fifteen Spanish ships,
+the rest not being able to engage in close fire. The unwieldy San
+Philip, having received a broadside from the lower tier of the Revenge,
+shifted with all speed, and avoided the repetition of such a salute; but
+still, as one was beaten off, another supplied the vacant space. Two
+galleons were sunk, and two others so handled as to lie complete wrecks
+upon the water; yet it was evident no human power could save Sir
+Richard's vessel. Although wounded in the beginning of the action, its
+brave commander refused, for eight hours, to leave the upper deck. He
+was then shot through the body, and as his wound was dressing he
+received another musket ball, and saw the surgeon slain at his side.
+Such was the state of things during the night; but the darkness
+concealed the full extent of the calamity. As the day broke, a
+melancholy spectacle presented itself. 'Now,' says Raleigh, 'was to be
+seen nothing but the naked hull of a ship, and that almost a skeleton,
+having received eight hundred shot of great artillery, and some under
+water; her deck covered with the limbs and carcasses of forty valiant
+men, the rest all wounded, and painted with their own blood; her masts
+beat overboard; all her tackle cut asunder; her upper works raised and
+level with the water, and she herself incapable of receiving any
+direction or motion except that given her by the heaving billows.' At
+this moment Grenville proposed to sink the vessel, and trust to the
+mercy of God rather than fall into the hands of the Spaniards--a
+resolution in which he was joined by the master gunner and a part of the
+crew; but the rest refused to consent, and compelled their captain to
+surrender. Faint with the loss of blood, and, like his ship, shattered
+with repeated wounds, this brave man soon after expired, with these
+remarkable words: 'Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and
+quiet mind, for that I have ended my life as a true soldier ought to do,
+fighting for his country, queen, religion, and honor.'"--_Report of the
+Truth of the Fight about the Isles of the Azores_, 4to, 1501, quoted in
+Tytler's "Life of Raleigh."
+
+
+No. LXI.
+
+"Pocahontas, before her marriage, was instructed in the principles of
+the Christian religion, which she cordially embraced, and was baptized
+by the name of Rebecca. Soon after, she set sail to visit England. As
+soon as Smith heard of her arrival, he sent a letter to the queen,
+recounting all her services to himself and to the nation, assuring her
+majesty that she had a great spirit, though a low stature, and earnestly
+soliciting her majesty's kindness and courtesy. Mrs. Rolfe was
+accordingly introduced, and well received at court. At first James
+fancied that Rolfe, in marrying her, might be advancing a claim to the
+crown of Virginia; however, by great pains, this idea was at last driven
+out of his brains. Mrs. Rolfe was for some time, as a novelty, the
+favorite object in the circles of fashion and nobility. On her
+introduction into these, she deported herself with a grace and propriety
+which, it is said, many ladies, bred with every advantage of education
+and society, could not equal. Purchas mentions meeting her at the table
+of his patron, Dr. King, bishop of London, where she was entertained
+'with festival state and pomp,' beyond what, at his hospitable board,
+was shown to other ladies. She carried herself as the daughter of a
+king, and was respected as such. She was accompanied by Vitamokomakkin,
+an Indian chief and priest, who had married one of her sisters, and had
+been sent to attend her. Purchas saw him repeatedly 'sing and dance his
+diabolical measures.' He endeavored to persuade this chief to follow the
+example of his sister-in-law, and embrace Christianity, but found him 'a
+blasphemer of what he knew not, preferring his God to ours.' He insisted
+that their _Okee_, having taught them to plant, sow, and wear a cork
+twisted round their left ear, was entitled to their undivided homage.
+Powhatan had instructed him to bring back every information respecting
+England, and particularly to count the number of people, furnishing him
+for that purpose with a bundle of sticks, that he might make a notch for
+every man. Vitamokomakkin, the moment he landed at Plymouth, was
+appalled at the magnitude of the task before him; however, he continued
+notching most indefatigably all the way to London; but the instant that
+he entered Piccadilly, he threw away the sticks, and on returning,
+desired Powhatan to count the leaves on the trees, and the sand on the
+sea-shore. He also told Smith that he had special instructions to see
+the English god, their king, their queen, and their prince. Smith could
+do nothing for him as to the first particular; but he was taken to the
+levee, and saw the other three, when he complained bitterly that none of
+them had made him any present. As soon as Smith learned that Pocahontas
+was settled in a house at Brentford, which she had chosen in order to be
+out of the smoke of London, he hastened to wait upon her. His reception
+was very painful. The princess turned from him, hid her face, and for
+two hours could by no effort be induced to utter a word. A certain
+degree of mystery appears to hang on the origin of this deadly offense.
+Her actual reproaches, when she found her speech, rested on having heard
+nothing of him since he left Virginia, and on having been assured there
+that he was dead. Prevost has taken upon him to say that the breach of
+plighted love was the ground of this resentment, and that it was only on
+believing that death had dissolved the connection between them that she
+had been induced to marry another. I can not in any of the original
+writers meet with the least trace of this alleged vow, and should be
+sorry to find in Smith the false lover of the fair Pocahontas. It would
+not also have been much in unison with her applauded discretion to have
+resented a wrong of this nature in such a time and manner. I am
+persuaded that this love was a creation of the romantic brain of
+Prevost, and that the real ground of her displeasure was, that during
+the two years when she was so shamefully kept in durance, she had heard
+nothing of any intercession made in her favor by one whom she had laid
+under such deep obligation, and really the thing seems to require some
+explanation. It appears that when Smith at last was able to draw speech
+from the indignant fair one, he succeeded in satisfying her that there
+had been no such neglect as she apprehended, and she insisted on calling
+him by the name of father.
+
+"It is said that Pocahontas departed from London with the most
+favorable impressions, and with every honor, her husband being appointed
+Secretary and Recorder General of Virginia. But Providence had not
+destined that she should ever revisit her native shore. As she went down
+to embark at Gravesend she was seized with illness, and died in a few
+days. Her end is described to have edified extremely all the spectators,
+and to have been full of Christian resignation and hope."--Murray's
+_America_. See Smith, in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 120-123; Beverley;
+Prevost, _Hist. Gen. des Voyages_, vol. xiv., p. 471; Purchas, vol. iv.,
+1774.
+
+
+No. LXII.
+
+"The historians of Virginia have left some records respecting this
+unfortunate race, who have not even left behind a relic of their name or
+nation. A rude agriculture, devolved solely on the women; hunting,
+pursued with activity and skill, but rather as a pastime than a toil;
+strong attachment of the members of the little communities to each
+other, but deadly enmity against all their neighbors, and this
+manifesting itself in furious wars--these features belong to the
+Virginians, in common with almost every form of savage life. There are
+others which are more distinctive. Although a rude independence has been
+supposed to be, and in many cases is, the peculiar boast of the savage,
+yet, when a yoke of opinion and authority has once been established over
+his mind, he yields a submission more entire and more blind than is
+rendered to the most absolute of Eastern despots. Such a sway had the
+King of Virginia. 'When he listeth,' says Smith, 'his will is a law, and
+must be obeyed; not only as a king, but as half a god they esteem him.
+What he commandeth they dare not disobey in the least thing. It is
+strange to see with what great fear and adoration all this people do
+adore this Powhatan; at the least frown of his brow their greatest
+spirits will tremble with fear.' Powhatan (father of the celebrated
+Pocahontas; see Appendix, No. LXI.) had under him a number of chiefs,
+who ruled as supreme within their own circle; and they were so numerous,
+and covered so large an extent of territory, that Powhatan is often
+dignified by Europeans with the title of emperor.
+
+"The priests and conjurers formed a separate order, and enjoyed that
+high influence which marks a certain advance in the social state. They
+possessed some knowledge of nature, and of the history and traditions of
+their country, superior, at least, to that of their ruder countrymen.
+Their temples were numerous, formed on a similar plan to those of
+Florida, and each served by one or more priests.
+
+"Beverley was the man who made the most close inquiry into the Virginian
+mythology. He did not meet with all the success he wished, finding them
+excessively mysterious on the subject. Having got hold, however, of an
+intelligent Indian, and plied him heartily with strong cider, he at last
+got him to open his heart in some degree. As he declared his belief in a
+wise, perfect, and supremely beneficent being, who dwelt in the
+heavens, Beverley asked him how then he could confine his worship to the
+devil, a wicked, ugly, earthly being. The Indian said that they were
+secure as to the good being, who would shower down his blessings without
+asking any return; but that the evil spirit was perpetually busy and
+meddling, and would spoil all if court were not paid to him. Beverley,
+however, pressed upon him how he could think that an insensible log, 'a
+helpless thing, equipped with a burden of clouts,' could ever be a
+proper object of worship. The visage of the Indian now assumed a very
+marked and embarrassed expression. After a long pause, he began to
+utter, in broken sentences, 'It is the priests;' then, after another
+pause, 'It is the priests;' but 'a qualm crossed his conscience,' and he
+would say no more.
+
+"Beverley had been so well informed upon this last point, in consequence
+of a favorable accident of which he had availed himself. While the whole
+town were assembled to deliberate upon some great state affair, he was
+ranging the woods, and stumbled upon their great temple. He resolved not
+to lose so favorable an occasion. After removing about fourteen logs,
+with which the door was barricadoed, he entered the mansion, which
+appeared at first to consist only of a large, empty, dark apartment,
+with a fire-place in the middle, and set round with posts, crowned with
+carved or painted heads. On closer observation, he at length discovered
+a recess, with mats hung before it, and involved in the deepest
+darkness. With some hesitation he ventured into this wondrous sanctuary,
+where he found the materials, which, on being put together, made up
+Okee, Kiwasee, or Mioceos, the mighty Indian idol. The main body
+consisted of a large plank, to whose edges were nailed half hoops, to
+represent the breast and belly. Long rolls of blue and red cotton cloth,
+variously twisted, made arms and legs, the latter of which were
+represented in a bent position. The reputation of the god was chiefly
+supported by the very dim religious light under which he was viewed, and
+which enabled also the conjurer to get behind him, and move his person
+in such a manner as might be favorable to the extension of his
+influence, while the priest in front, by the most awful menaces,
+deterred any from approaching so near as might lead to any revelation of
+the interior mysteries.
+
+"Smith alleges against the Virginians that they made a yearly sacrifice
+of a certain number of children; but it appears clear, from the
+statements of Beverley, that he misunderstood, in this sense, the
+practice of _huskenawing_, a species of severe probation through which
+those were required to pass who desired either to be chiefs or priests.
+On this occasion, after various preparatory ceremonies, the children are
+led naked through two lines of men, armed with bastinadoes, which are
+employed with great rigor against the victims, who, after running
+through this gauntlet, are more dead than alive, and are covered with
+boughs and leaves of trees. If any expire under this trial, it is
+esteemed that the Okee has fixed his heart upon him, and carried him
+off. The rest are conveyed into the depths of a wood, and shut up into a
+cage or pen, where they are plied with intoxicating drugs till they are
+said to become for several weeks actually deranged. By this process
+they are supposed completely to lose all memory of what they have seen
+and known in their former life, and to begin a new and brighter era.
+They must not, on their return home, recognize their nearest friends or
+comrades, the most common objects, nor even know a word of their own
+language; all must be learned afresh. If any indications of memory
+escape, the youth must pass again through the dreadful ordeal. Above
+all, he must be careful not to have retained the slightest recollection
+of any property he may have possessed, and which the neighbors usually
+consider a favorable opportunity to appropriate.
+
+"These Indians had not the least tincture of science, nor, of course,
+used any form of writing. They made, however, paintings of animals and
+other natural objects, by the form and natural position of which
+information was transmitted; but it is to be regretted that none of the
+Virginian paintings have been preserved to compare with those of the
+Mexicans."--Murray's _America_, vol. i., p. 235. See _History of
+Virginia_, by R. Beverley, a native and inhabitant of the place. 8vo.
+London, 1702.
+
+
+No. LXIII.
+
+The following is Hennepin's account of the voyage of the first vessel
+built by Europeans on the American lakes:
+
+"It now became necessary for La Salle, in furtherance of his object, to
+construct a vessel above the Falls of Niagara sufficiently large to
+transport the men and goods necessary to carry on a profitable trade
+with the savages residing on the Western lakes. On the 22d of January,
+1679, they went six miles above the falls to the mouth of a small creek,
+and there built a dock convenient for the construction of their
+vessel.[229]
+
+"On the 26th of January, the keel and other pieces being ready, La Salle
+requested Father Hennepin to drive the first bolt, but the modesty of
+the good father's profession prevented.
+
+"During the rigorous winter La Salle determined to return to Fort
+Frontenac;[230] and leaving the dock in charge of an Italian named
+Chevalier Tuti, he started, accompanied by Father Hennepin, as far as
+Lake Ontario; from thence he traversed the dreary forests to Frontenac
+on foot, with only two companions and a dog, which drew his baggage on a
+sled, subsisting on nothing but parched corn, and even that failed him
+two days' journey from the fort. In the mean time, the building of the
+vessel went on under the suspicious eyes of the neighboring savages,
+although the most part of them had gone to war beyond Lake Erie. One of
+them, feigning intoxication, attempted the life of the blacksmith, who
+defended himself successfully with a red-hot bar of iron. The timely
+warning of a friendly squaw averted the burning of their vessel on the
+stocks, which was designed by the savages. The workmen were almost
+disheartened by frequent alarms, and would have abandoned the work had
+they not been cheered by the good father, who represented the great
+advantage their perseverance would afford, and how much their success
+would redound to the glory of God. These and other inducements
+accelerated the work, and the vessel was soon ready to be launched,
+though not entirely finished. Chanting Te Deum, and firing three guns,
+they committed her to the river amid cries of joy, and swung their
+hammocks in security from the wild beasts and still more dreaded
+Indians.
+
+"When the Senecas returned from their expedition they were greatly
+astonished at the floating fort, 'which struck terror among all the
+savages who lived on the great lakes and river within 1500 miles.'
+Hennepin ascended the river in a bark canoe with one of his companions
+as far as Lake Erie. They twice pulled the canoe up the rapids, and
+sounded the lake for the purpose of ascertaining the depth. He reported
+that with a favorable north or northwest wind the vessel could ascend to
+the lake, and then sail without difficulty over its whole extent. Soon
+after, the vessel was launched in the current of Niagara, about four and
+a half miles from the lake. Hennepin left it for Fort Frontenac, and,
+returning with La Salle and two other fathers, Gabriel and Zenobe
+Mambre, anchored in the Niagara on the 30th of July, 1769. On the 4th of
+August they reached the dock where the ship was built, which he calls
+distant eighteen miles from Lake Ontario, and proceeded from thence in a
+bark canoe to their vessel, which they found at anchor three miles from
+the 'beautiful Lake Erie.'
+
+"The vessel was of sixty tons burden, completely rigged, and found with
+all the necessaries, arms, provisions, and merchandise; it had seven
+small pieces of cannon on board, two of which were of brass. There was a
+griffin flying at the jib-boom, and an eagle above. There were also all
+the ordinary ornaments and other fixtures which usually grace a ship of
+war.
+
+"They endeavored many times to ascend the current of the Niagara into
+Lake Erie without success, the wind not being strong enough. While they
+were thus detained La Salle employed a few of his men in clearing some
+land on the Canadian shore opposite the vessel, and in sowing some
+vegetable seeds for the benefit of those who might inhabit the place.
+
+"At length, the wind being favorable, they lightened the vessel by
+sending most of the crew on shore, and with the aid of their sails and
+ten or a dozen men at the tow-lines, ascended the current into Lake
+Erie. Thus, on the 7th of August, 1679, the first vessel set sail on
+the untried waters of Lake Erie. They steered southward after having
+chanted their never-failing Te Deum, and discharged their artillery in
+the presence of a vast number of Seneca warriors. It had been reported
+to our voyagers that Lake Erie was full of breakers and sandbanks, which
+rendered a safe navigation impossible; they therefore kept the lead
+going, sounding from time to time.
+
+"After sailing without difficulty through Lake Erie, they arrived on the
+11th of August at the mouth of the Detroit River, sailing up which they
+arrived at Lake St. Clair, to which they gave the name it bears. After
+being detained several days by contrary winds at the bottom of the St.
+Clair River, they at length succeeded in entering Lake Huron on the 23d
+of August, chanting Te Deum through gratitude for a safe navigation thus
+far. Passing along the eastern shore of the lake, they sailed with a
+fresh and favorable wind until evening, when the wind suddenly veered,
+driving them across Saginaw Bay (Sacinaw). The storm raged until the
+24th, and was succeeded by a calm, which continued until next day noon
+(25th), when they pursued their course until midnight. As they doubled a
+point which advanced into the lake, they were suddenly struck by a
+furious wind, which forced them to run behind the cape for safety. On
+the 26th the violence of the storm compelled them to send down their
+top-masts and yards and to stand in, for they could find neither
+anchorage nor shelter.
+
+"It was then the stout heart of La Salle failed him; the whole crew fell
+upon their knees to say their prayers and prepare for death, except the
+pilot, whom they could not compel to follow their example, and who, on
+the contrary, 'did nothing all that time but curse and swear against M.
+la Salle, who had brought him thither to make him perish in a nasty
+lake, and lose the glory he had acquired by his long and happy
+navigation on the ocean.' On the 27th, favored with less adverse winds,
+they arrived during the night at Michillimackinack, and anchored in the
+bay, where they report six fathoms of water and a clay bottom. This bay
+is protected on the southwest, west, and northwest, but open to the
+south. The savages were struck dumb with astonishment at the size of
+their vessel and the noise of their guns.
+
+"Here they regaled themselves on the delicious trout, which they
+described as being from 50 lbs. to 60 lbs. in weight, and as affording
+the savages their principal subsistence. On the 2d of September they
+left Mackinack, entered Lake Michigan (Illinois), and sailed forty
+leagues to an island at the mouth of the Bay of Puara (Green Bay). From
+this place La Salle determined to send back the ship laden with furs to
+Niagara. The pilot and five men embarked in her, and on the 10th she
+fired a gun and set sail on her return with a favorable wind. Nothing
+more was heard from her, and she undoubtedly foundered in Lake Huron,
+with all on board. Her cargo was rich, and valued at 60,000 livres.
+
+"Thus ended the first voyage of the first ship that sailed over the
+Western lakes. What a contrast is presented between the silent waves and
+unbroken forests which witnessed the course of that adventurous bark,
+and the busy hum of commerce which now rises from the fertile bottoms,
+and the thousand ships and smoking palaces which now furrow the surface
+of those inland seas!"--_American Tourist._
+
+[Footnote 229: There can be but little doubt that the place they
+selected for building their bark was the mouth of the Cayuga Creek,
+about six miles above the falls. Governor Cuss says "the vessel was
+launched at Erie;" Schoolcraft, in his Journal, says, "near Buffalo;"
+and the historian Bancroft locates the site at the mouth of Tonawanda
+Creek. Hennepin says the mouth of the creek was two leagues above the
+great falls; the mouth of the Tonawanda is more than twice that
+distance, and the Cayuga is the only stream that answers to that
+description.]
+
+[Footnote 230: Now Kingston, Canada.]
+
+
+No. LXIV.
+
+MILITIA OF CANADA BEFORE THE CONQUEST IN 1760.
+
+"All the inhabitants of the colony, by virtue of the Law of Fiefs
+(except such gentlemen and other persons who, by their employments, had
+the privilege of nobles), were militia-men, and enrolled in the several
+companies of militia of the province. The captains of militia were the
+most respectable persons in the country parishes, and were entitled to
+the first seat in the churches; they also received the same distinctions
+as the magistrates in the towns; they were held in great respect, and
+government exacted from the inhabitants obedience to the orders they
+signified to them on the part of government. If any of the inhabitants
+did not obey orders, the captains were authorized to conduct them to the
+city, and, on complaint, they were punished according to the nature of
+the delinquency. When the government wanted the services of the militia
+as soldiers, the colonels of militia, or the town majors, in consequence
+of a requisition from the governor general, sent orders to the several
+captains of militia in the country parishes to send a certain number of
+militia-men, chosen by those officers who ordered the draughts, into
+town, under an escort commanded by an officer of militia, who conducted
+them to the town major, who furnished each militia-man with a gun, a
+capot or Canadian cloak, a cotton shirt, a cap, a pair of leggins, a
+pair of Indian shoes, and a blanket; after which they were marched to
+the garrison to which they were destined. The militia were generally
+reviewed once or twice a year to inspect their arms. The militia of the
+city of Quebec were frequently exercised, and the company of artillery
+every Sunday were exercised at the great gun practice, under the orders
+and directions of the artillery sergeant major of the king's troops. To
+excite the emulation of the militia-men, a premium was given to such as
+excelled. The captains in the country were obliged to execute all orders
+addressed to them by the governor general, and also all processes from
+the intendant respecting the police, and also with regard to suits
+touching fiefs. They were also obliged to execute all orders respecting
+the roads from the grand voyer. It was customary for the governor
+general to deliver to the several captains of militia every year, by way
+of gratification, a quantity of powder and ball."--General Murray's
+_Report_.
+
+
+No. LXV.
+
+"When the French began their settlements in Canada, the country
+exhibited one vast and unbounded forest, and property was granted in
+extensive lots called _seigneuries_, stretching along either coast of
+the St. Lawrence for a distance of ninety miles below Quebec, and thirty
+miles above Montreal, comprehending a space of three hundred miles in
+length.
+
+"The _seigneuries_ each contain 100 to 500 square miles, and are
+parceled out into small tracts on a freehold lease to the inhabitants,
+as the persons to whom they were granted had not the means of
+cultivating them. These consisted of officers of the army, of gentlemen,
+and of communities, who were not in a state to employ laborers and
+workmen. The portion to each inhabitant was of three acres in breadth,
+and from seventy to eighty in depth, commencing on the banks of the
+river, and running back into the woods, thus forming an entire and
+regular lot of land.
+
+"To the proprietors of _seigneuries_ some powers, as well as
+considerable profits, are attached. They are by their grants authorized
+to hold courts and sit as judges in what is termed _haute_ and _basse
+justice_, which includes all crimes committed within their jurisdiction,
+treasons and murders excepted. Few, however, exercised this privilege
+except the ecclesiastical seigneurs of Montreal, whose right of
+jurisdiction the King of France purchased from them, giving them, in
+return, his _droit de change_. Some of the seigneurs have a right of
+villain service from their tenants.
+
+"At every transfer or mutation of proprietor, the new purchaser is bound
+to pay a sum equal to a fifth part of the purchase money to the seigneur
+or to the king; but if this fine be paid immediately, only one third of
+the fifth is demanded. This constituted a principal part of the king's
+revenues in the province. When an estate falls by inheritance to a new
+possessor, he is by law exempted from the fine.
+
+"The income of a seigneur is derived from the yearly rent of his lands,
+from _lots et vents_, or a fine on the disposal of property held under
+him, and from grist mills, to whose profits he has an exclusive right.
+The rent paid by each tenant is considerable; but they who have many
+inhabitants on their estates enjoy a tolerably handsome revenue, each
+person paying in money, grain, or other produce, from five to twelve
+livres _per annum_. In the event of a sale of any of the lots of his
+_seigneurie_, a proprietor may claim a preference of repurchasing it,
+which is seldom exercised but with a view to prevent frauds in the
+disposal of the property. He may also, whenever he finds it necessary,
+cut down timber for the purpose of building mills and making roads;
+tithes of all the fisheries on his domain likewise belong to him.
+
+"Possessed of these advantages, seigneurs might in time attain to a
+state of comparative affluence were their estates allowed to remain
+entire. But by the practice of divisions among the different children of
+a family, they become, in a few generations, reduced. The most ample
+share, which retains the name of _seigneurie_, is the portion of eldest
+son; the other partitions are denominated _feofs_. These are, in the
+next generation, again subdivided, and thus, in the course of a few
+descents, a seigneur is possessed of little more than his title. This is
+the condition of most of those estates that have passed to the third or
+fourth generation.
+
+"The inhabitants, in like manner, make divisions of their small tracts
+of land, and a house will sometimes belong to several proprietors. It is
+from these causes that they are in a great measure retained in a state
+of poverty, that a barrier to industry and emulation is interposed, and
+that a spirit of litigation is excited.
+
+"There are in Canada upward of 100 _seigneuries_, of which that of
+Montreal, belonging to the seminary of St. Sulpicius, is the richest and
+most productive. The next in value and profit is the territory of the
+Jesuits. The members of that society who resided at Quebec were, like
+the priests of Montreal, only agents for the head of their community.
+But since the expulsion of their order from France, and the seizure by
+the Catholic sovereigns of Europe of all the lands of that society
+within their dominions, the Jesuits in Canada held their _seigneurie_ in
+their own right.
+
+"Some of the domiciliated savages held also in the province land in the
+right of seigneurs.
+
+"Upon a representation of the narrow circumstances to which many of the
+_noblesse_ and gentlemen of the colony were reduced, not only by the
+causes already assigned, but by others equally powerful, Louis XIV. was
+induced to permit persons of that description to carry on commerce by
+sea or land without being subjected to any inquiry on this account, or
+to an imputation of their having derogated from their rank in society.
+
+"To no _seigneurie_ is the right of patronage to the Church attached; it
+was upon the advancement of the pretensions of some seigneurs, founded
+on their having built parochial churches, that the king in 1685
+pronounced in council that this right should belong to the bishop, he
+being the most capable of judging concerning the qualifications of
+persons who were to serve, and the incomes of the curacies also being
+paid from the tithes, which belonged to him alone. The right of
+patronage was at the same time declared not to be reputed an
+honor."--Heriot's _Canada_, p. 98.
+
+
+No. LXVI.
+
+"Louis Joseph, marquis de Montcalm de St. Veran, lieutenant general,
+naquit au chateau de Candiac, pres de Nimes, en 1712. Sa famille,
+originaire du Ronerque, joint ordinairement a son nom celui de
+Gozon.[231] L'education du Marquis de St. Veran fut confiee, ainsi que
+celle de son frere aine, enfant celebre,[232] aux soins de Dumas,
+l'inventeur du bureau typographique. Quoiqu'il fut sorti a l'age de
+quatorze ans des mains de cet habile instituteur, pour entrer dans la
+carriere militaire, il avoit si bien profite de ses lecons qu'il
+conserva le gout de l'etude jusque dans le tumulte des camps; et
+l'etendue de ses connaissances justifia son ambition et son esperance
+d'etre admis a l'Academie Royale des inscriptions et belle-lettres de
+Paris. Il ne vecut pas assez pour jouir de cette honneur.
+
+"Sa vie militaire a jette un grand eclat. Il se distingua des les premiers
+pas dans la carriere, recut trois blessures a la bataille de Plaisance, et
+deux au funeste combat d'Exilles (ou de l'Assiette).[233] Il etoit alors
+colonel d'infanterie. Devenue brigadier il passa dans la cavalerie et fut
+fait mestre-de-camp d'un regiment de son nom. Marechal-de-camp en 1756 il
+alla commander en chef les troupes chargees de la defense des colonies
+Francaises dans l'Amerique Septentrionale."-_Biographie Universelle_,
+art. Montcalm.
+
+The French troops that served in Canada, being desirous of erecting a
+monument in honor of Montcalm, their general, who fell in the action at
+Quebec, when we also lost the brave Wolfe, a French colonel wrote to the
+Academy of Belles-Lettres for an epitaph to be placed over Montcalm's
+tomb, in a church in that city, which occasioned the following letter
+from M. de Bougainville, member of the academy, to Mr. Pitt:
+
+"Sir,--The honors paid, under your ministry, to Mr. Wolfe, assure me
+that you will not disapprove of the grateful endeavors of the French
+troops to perpetuate the memory of the Marquis de Montcalm. The body of
+their general, who was honored by the regret of your nation, is interred
+in Quebec. I have the honor to send you an epitaph made for him by the
+Academy of Inscriptions. I beg the favor of you, sir, that you will be
+pleased to examine it, and, if not improper, obtain leave for me to send
+it to Quebec, engraved on marble, and to be placed on the Marquis de
+Montcalm's tomb. Should such leave be granted, may I presume, sir, that
+you will be so good as to inform me of it, and at the same time to send
+me a passport, that the marble, with the epitaph engraved upon it, may
+be received into an English ship, and Mr. Murray, governor of Quebec,
+allow it to be placed in the Ursuline Church. You will be pleased, sir,
+to pardon me for this intrusion on your important occupations; but
+endeavoring to immortalize illustrious men and eminent patriots is doing
+honor to yourself.
+
+"I am, with respect, &c.,
+
+DE BOUGAINVILLE."[234]
+
+Mr. Pitt's answer:
+
+"Sir,--It is a real satisfaction to me to send you the king's consent on
+a subject so affecting as the epitaph composed by the Academy of
+Inscriptions at Paris for the Marquis de Montcalm, and which it is
+desired may be sent to Quebec, engraved on marble, to be placed on the
+tomb of that illustrious soldier. It is perfectly beautiful; and the
+desire of the French troops which served in Canada to pay such a tribute
+to the memory of their general, whom they saw expire at their head in a
+manner worthy of them and himself, is truly noble and praiseworthy.
+
+"I shall take a pleasure, sir, in facilitating every way such amiable
+intentions; and on notice of the measures taken for shipping this
+marble, I will not fail immediately to transmit you the passport you
+desire, and send directions to the governor of Quebec for its reception.
+
+"I withal beg of you, sir, to be persuaded of my just sensibility of
+that so obliging part of the letter with which you have honored me
+relating to myself, and to believe that I embrace as a happiness the
+opportunity of manifesting the esteem and particular regard with which I
+have the honor to be, &c.,
+
+W. PITT
+
+"_London, April 10th, 1761_."
+
+The epitaph was as follows:
+
+                 Utroque in orbe aeternum victurus,
+             Ludovicus Josephus de Montcalm Gozon,
+               Marchio Sancti Verani, Baro Gebriaci,
+               Ordinis sancti Ludovici commendator,
+             Legatus generalis exercituum Gallicorum;
+                     Egregius et civis et miles,
+           Nullius rei appetens praeterquam verae laudis,
+                 Ingenio felici, et literis exculto;
+         Omnes militiae gradus per continua decora emensus,
+       Omnium belli artium, temporum, discriminum gnarus,
+                 In Italia, in Bohemia, in Germania
+                           Dux industrius.
+     Mandata sibi ita semper gerens ut majoribus par haberetur.
+                         Jam clarus periculus
+           Ad tutandam Canadensem provinciam missus,
+       Parva militum manu hostium copias non semel repulit,
+         Propuguacula cepit viris armisque instructissima.
+           Algoris, inediae, vigiliarum, laboris patiens,
+             Suis unice prospiciens, immemor sui,
+               Hostis acris, victor mansuetus.
+   Fortunam virtuti, virium inopiam peritia et celeritate compensavit;
+ Imminens coloniae fatum et consilio et manu per quadrimum sustinuit,
+       Tandem ingentum exercitum duce strenuo et audaci,
+           Classemque omni bellorum mole gravem,
+             Multiplici prudentia diu ludificatus,
+               Vi pertractus ad dimicandum,
+     In prima acie, in primo conflictu vulneratus,
+       Religioni quam semper coluerat innitens,
+   Magno suorum desiderio, nec sine hostium moerore,
+                         Extinctus est
+       Die xiv. Sept., A.D. MDCCLIX., aetat. XLVIII.
+     Mortales optimi ducis exuvias in excavata humo,
+   Quam globus bellicus decidens dissiliensque defoderat,
+               Galli lugentes deposuerunt,
+       Et generosae hostium fidei commemdarunt.
+
+TRANSLATION.
+
+                       Here lieth,
+           In either hemisphere to live forever,
+           Lewis Joseph de Montcalm Gozon,
+         Marquis of St. Veran, Baron of Gabriac,
+         Commendatory of the Order of St. Louis,
+         Lieutenant general of the French army;
+         Not loss an excellent citizen than soldier,
+       Who knew no desire but that of true glory;
+   Happy in a natural genius, improved by literature,
+ Having gone through the several steps of military honors
+                   With uninterrupted luster,
+                 Skill'd in all the arts of war,
+         The juncture of times, and the crisis of dangers,
+               In Italy, in Bohemia, in Germany,
+                     An indefatigable general.
+           He so discharged his important trusts,
+         That he seemed always equal to still greater.
+           At length, grown bright with perils,
+           Sent to secure the province of Canada,
+                     With a handful of men
+       He more than once repulsed the enemy's forces,
+           And made himself master of their forts,
+             Replete with troops and ammunition.
+         Inured to cold, hunger, watchings, and labors,
+                     Unmindful of himself,
+           He had no sensation but for his soldiers;
+           An enemy with the fiercest impetuosity,
+             A victor with the tenderest humanity.
+          Adverse fortune he compensated with valor,
+          The want of strength with skill and activity,
+              And, with his counsel and support,
+ For four years protracted the impending fate of the colony.
+                Having with various artifices
+                  Long baffled a great army,
+          Headed by an expert and intrepid commander,
+            And a fleet furnished with all warlike stores,
+                Compelled at length to an engagement,
+              He fell, in the first rank, in the first onset,
+ With those hopes of religion which he had always cherished,
+              To the inexpressible loss of his own army,
+              And not without the regret of the enemy's,
+        XIV. September, A.D. MDCCLIX., of his age XLVIII.
+                       His weeping countrymen
+     Deposited the remains of their excellent general
+                           In a grave,
+   Which a fallen bomb in bursting had excavated for him,
+ Recommending them to the generous faith of their enemies.
+
+--_Annual Register_, 1762.
+
+[Footnote 231: "La famille de Montcalm joint ordinairement a son nom
+celui de Gozon, sons lequel elle s'illustra au quatorzieme siecle; le
+grand-maitre de l'ordre de St. Jean de Jerusalem, qui obtint cette
+dignite pour avoir delivre l'ile de Rhodes d'un dragon qui la ravageoit.
+Les grans bois de la terre de Gozon, vendu domainalement, portent encore
+le nom de dragonnieres, d'apres la tradition que c'est la que le
+chevalier Dieu Donne exercoit ses chiens a la poursuite d'un dragon
+artificiel avant d'attaquer celui que desoloit l'ile de Gozon. La meme
+tradition de la famille Montcalm a conserve le nom du fidele domestique
+qui accompagna ce heros; il se nomma Roustan. On grava sur son tombeau
+cette courte inscription, 'Draconia Extinctor.' Plusieurs critiques ont
+cherche a jeter des doutes sur le combat de Gozon. On peut voir dans le
+Dictionnaire de Chaufepie, les raisons qu'on leur oppose, tirees de
+l'existence de serpents monstreux, prouvee par l'accord des historiens
+anciens, et par les recits des voyageurs, comme par le temoignage des
+monuments contemporains, des Chroniques de l'Ordre de Malte, et enfin
+d'une tapisserie sur laquelle est represente le memorable combat de
+Gozon."--_Biographie Universelle_, art. Gozon.]
+
+[Footnote 232: "Le frere aine de Montcalm, Jean Louis Pierre Elizabeth
+de Montcalm de Candiac, etoit un enfant celebre, qui attira l'attention
+et les hommages des savants a Nimes, a Montpellier, a Grenoble, a Lyons,
+a Paris. Sa vie n'eut que sept ans de duree, et cependant outre sa
+langue maternelle qu'il connoissait par principes, il avoit des notions
+assez avancees de Latin, de Grec, et d'Hebreu, il possedoit toute
+l'arithmetique, savoit la fable, le blason, la geographie et plusieurs
+parties importantes de l'histoire sacree et profane, ancienne et
+moderne. Il etoit l'eleve de Dumas aussi bien que son frere; sa mort fut
+causee par une hydropisie de cerveau."--_Biographie Universelle_, art.
+Candiac.]
+
+[Footnote 233: "Le Comte de Belleisle avoit la promesse du baton de
+Marechal de France s'il reussissait de penetrer dans le coeur du Piemont
+avec l'armee du Dauphine. Le 19 Juillet, 1746, a la pointe du jour, il
+commenca l'attaque memorable et sanglante, ou tous les prodiges de la
+valeur Francaise furent vains. Quatorze bataillons Piemontais
+defendaient le col de l'Assiette qui couvroit, a la fois, Exilles et
+Fenestrelles. Desespere du mauvais succes d'une attaque desapprouvee par
+les generaux les plus experimentes, le Comte de Belleisle se mit a la
+tete des officiers de l'armee, dont il forma une colonne, et qui,
+presque tous, vinrent se faire tuer au pied des retranchemens. Blesse
+aux deux mains, Belleisle tachoit d'arracher les palisades avec les
+dents, lorsque il recut un coup mortel. Les Francois repousses et sans
+chef firent leur retraite sur Briancon."--_Biographie Universelle_, art.
+Belleisle.]
+
+[Footnote 234: Jean Pierre de Bougainville was Secretary to the French
+Academy of Inscriptions. He died in 1763, at the age of forty-one, of
+asthma, brought on by intense application. His brother, Louis Antoine,
+the celebrated circumnavigator, who had been Montcalm's aide-de-camp,
+retired from the service in 1790. He was afterward made a count and a
+senator by Bonaparte, became member of the National Institute, and of
+the Royal Society of London. He died at Paris in 1811, at the age of
+eighty-two.]
+
+
+No. LXVII.
+
+MEMOIR OF GENERAL WOLFE.
+
+James Wolfe was the second son of Colonel Edward Wolfe, who was
+afterward colonel of the 8th Regiment, and died on the 27th of March,
+1759, but a short time before the death of his gallant son. Colonel
+Wolfe had served and won honorable estimation, under Marlborough in
+early life; on his return from the continental wars he married Miss
+Harriett Thompson, sister to the then member of Parliament for York. The
+inhabitants of that city made a vigorous effort to appropriate the honor
+of James Wolfe having been born among them, and a controversy in prose
+and verse, neither of them of a very brilliant description, was long
+carried on in the periodicals of the day, between the capital of the
+North and the quiet village of Westerham. Whatever the merits of the
+writers upon either side may have been, and their power of wit and
+argument, there were a few lines in the parish register of the Kentish
+hamlet which proved more convincing than any thing else; James, son of
+Colonel Edward Wolfe, was baptized on January 11th, 1727. On a tablet
+erected to his memory in Westerham Church, it is stated that he was born
+on the 2nd of January, 1727.
+
+The vicarage house of the village was the place of Wolfe's birth, then
+leased to his father by the Reverend George Lewis, the vicar, whose son
+was vicar when Wolfe died, and wrote the inscription for his monument.
+The elder brother of this gallant general died young; he himself was
+sent to a respectable private school in the neighborhood, where,
+although an ardent and clever boy, he was not distinguished for any very
+remarkable characteristics.
+
+When only fourteen years of age he embarked with his father, who was
+engaged in the expedition to Flanders under Lord Cathcart; the youth,
+however, who was then and always of a very delicate constitution, fell
+ill, and was under the necessity of being landed at Portsmouth. After a
+little time, his health being somewhat re-established, he joined his
+father on the Continent, and at once began to read the lessons of
+military art in the stern school of reality.
+
+On the 3rd of November, 1741, Colonel Wolfe caused his youthful son to
+be appointed to a commission in a battalion of marines which he himself
+commanded. On the 27th of March, 1742, James Wolfe removed into the 12th
+Regiment as ensign, and fought at the battle of Dettingen in that same
+year. In April he appears to have been on leave, traveling probably for
+health; in this month he writes to his mother, dating Rome, a grateful
+and affectionate letter. On the 14th of July, 1743, he was promoted to a
+lieutenancy in the same regiment, while serving with the allies behind
+the Scheldt, and in 1744 was engaged under Wade in his inglorious
+operations; in that year he was given a company in the 4th Regiment; in
+the following, he fought under the Duke of Cumberland in the fatal but
+glorious battle of Fontenoy. Up to this time Wolfe had been with his
+regiment in every engagement in which it had taken part, and had already
+gained greater distinction than can usually fall to the lot of those in
+the junior ranks of the army. In 1746 he fought under Hawley in the
+front line at the disgraceful rout at Falkirk, and his conduct, even in
+that unfortunate occasion, called forth the praise of his superiors. In
+the same year his services were transferred to a service more worthy of
+his future fame than the obscure and painful struggles of a civil war;
+he served and gained new approbation under the gallant Ligonier at
+Liers.
+
+On the 5th of February, 1746-7, he was raised to a majority in the 33d
+Regiment. This step of rank afforded new opportunity to this gallant
+youth; at the battle of La Feldt, in the same year, he distinguished
+himself in so remarkable a manner, that the British general-in-chief,
+the Duke of Cumberland, publicly thanked him on the battle-field. On the
+5th of January, 1748-9, he removed into Lord George Sackville's, the
+20th Regiment of Foot.
+
+Wolfe commanded this regiment during the absence of the colonel for a
+considerable time, and soon brought it into a state of the highest
+discipline. Wherever he went, he received the praise of the different
+general officers commanding, and gained the esteem and regard of all who
+became acquainted with him in civil or military life. His regimental
+orders, which are still extant, are admirable, and furnish ample
+evidence of zeal for, and knowledge of, his profession.
+
+In February, 1748-9, Wolfe served at Stirling, in Scotland; in April, at
+Glasgow; in October, at Perth. March 20th, 1749-50, he was made colonel
+of the regiment which he had for some time so admirably commanded; in
+October he was at Dundee, in November at Banff; and remained in Scotland
+till 1753, when he removed to Reading, where his regiment was reviewed
+and highly commended by the Duke of Cumberland. In December in that year
+he was at Dover Castle. In 1755 he was at Winchester and Southampton; at
+the end of October he marched to Gravesend, and in December to
+Canterbury. While in the south of England, he constantly practiced his
+regiment in such evolutions as might be necessary to oppose the landing
+of an invading army, and wrote an elaborate code of instructions, to be
+acted upon in case of any attempt being made upon the coast. At the same
+time, a number of his trained soldiers were withdrawn to fill up the
+ill-fated ranks of the 44th and 48th, then about to sail for America
+under Braddock, where many of them perished miserably and ingloriously.
+
+Early in 1757, Lieutenant-colonel Wolfe was selected, on account of his
+known merit, by Mr. Pitt to serve as quarter-master general of the force
+sent against Rochefort, under Sir John Mordaunt, the general, and Sir
+Edward Hawke, the admiral. While the expedition lay motionless in Basque
+Roads, from the untoward dissensions between the naval and military
+officers, Wolfe landed one night alone upon the hostile shore, and
+walked two miles up the country. He found that there were no real
+difficulties in the way of debarkation, and that no preparations had
+been made to oppose it. When he returned to the fleet he reported the
+result of his observations, and strongly, but vainly, urged the general
+to land, and at once attack Rochefort. Finally, he pledged himself to
+carry the place, should three ships of war and 500 men be placed at his
+disposal. The proposal was neglected: however, the zeal and daring shown
+by the gallant young soldier on this occasion confirmed Pitt in the
+estimate which he had formed of his character. Some more days were
+wasted in inaction, and at length the expedition, having destroyed the
+unimportant fortifications of Aix, returned ingloriously to England.
+Wolfe's merit was thrown out in strong relief by the incapacity of
+those under whom he served; while they were despised, he was honored.
+The rank of brevet colonel on the 21st of October of that year was his
+first reward.
+
+On the 23d of January, 1758, Mr. Pitt made Wolfe brigadier general, and
+gave him the command of a brigade under Amherst, in the expedition
+against Louisburg, disregarding the mere official routine of seniority.
+Events soon proved the wisdom of the selection. From thenceforward
+Wolfe's biography is English history. However, it may be added that he
+was made colonel of the 67th Foot on the 21st of April, 1758. In
+January, 1759, Pitt again selected him for service. This time he was to
+command in chief: he was gazetted as major general, and intrusted with
+the conduct of the arduous expedition against Quebec.
+
+It is a painful duty to repeat here an anecdote of Wolfe, which stands
+recorded by the high authority of Lord Mahon. The young general dined
+with Mr. Pitt shortly after his appointment to the command, a third
+person only being present. After dinner, when the conversation turned
+upon the approaching expedition, Wolfe became unreasonably excited: he
+strode about the room, flourished his sword, and broke forth in a style
+of vaporing altogether surprising in a man of real spirit. When he at
+length departed, Mr. Pitt remained dismayed at having intrusted the fate
+of the country and of the ministry in such hands. Happily, he did not
+suffer new doubts to alter his former arrangements.
+
+For some time Wolfe appears to have been unsuccessful in a suit which he
+pleaded to Miss Lowther, and, in consequence, his naturally domestic
+mind was re-strung to the harsher tones of ambition. Subsequently,
+however, he became engaged to this lady, and the marriage was to have
+been celebrated immediately on his return from the expedition against
+Quebec. After his death Miss Lowther became Duchess of Bolton, but
+tradition says that she always wore henceforth a pearl necklace which he
+had given her, covered with black velvet, in memory of the departed.
+
+Wolfe was a plain man: his features were sharp, his forehead somewhat
+receding, his hair sandy or red, and, contrary to the fashion of the
+time, was not powdered; his skin was coarse, fair, and freckled; but his
+mouth wore a smiling and gentle expression, and his eyes were blue and
+benignant. He was delicate from early youth, and the seeds of fatal
+diseases were displayed in his constitution. At first his address and
+manner were unengaging, but he invariably endeared himself to all with
+whom he was familiar. All his thoughts and actions were influenced by a
+deep religious feeling. When a courtier remonstrated with the king upon
+Wolfe's appointment to command the expedition against Quebec, saying
+that "he was mad" (meaning that he was over-religious), the king
+replied, "If he be mad, I wish he would bite some of my other generals."
+
+Wolfe was assiduously and conscientiously attentive to his profession,
+and was constitutionally and steadily daring. His mind was clear and
+active, his temper lively and almost impetuous; he was independent
+without pride, and generous to profusion. "He never caviled with his
+instructions, or hesitated to obey orders; exact in discipline himself,
+he was always punctual to obey. His judgment was acute, his memory quick
+and retentive, and his disposition candid, constant, and sincere. The
+union of the gentle and the bold, of ambition and affection, formed the
+peculiar charm of his character. His courage never quailed before
+danger, nor shrank from responsibility."
+
+Little is known of Wolfe's private life. Dr. Southey contemplated the
+task of writing his biography, but abandoned it from the want of
+materials. To Lord Mahon and Mr. Gleig we are indebted for some very
+interesting particulars, and for a few judiciously selected portions of
+such of the hero's letters as are still extant. It only remains to
+conclude this imperfect memoir with a few of these selections.
+
+On first assuming the command of a regiment, Wolfe writes, "I take upon
+me the difficult duty of a commander. It is a hard thing to keep the
+passions within bounds, where authority and immaturity go together. It
+is hard to be a severe disciplinarian, yet humane; to study the temper
+of all, and endeavor to please them, and yet be impartial--to discourage
+vice at the turbulent age of twenty-three."
+
+His letters breathe a spirit of tenderness and gentleness, over which
+ambition could not triumph. In writing to his mother on the 28th of
+September, 1755, he says, "My nature requires some extraordinary events
+to produce itself. I want that attention and those assiduous cares that
+commonly go along with good nature and humanity. In the common
+occurrences of life I am not seen to advantage." So far back as the 13th
+of August, 1749, he writes also to his mother from Glasgow, "I have
+observed your instructions so rigidly that, rather than want the word, I
+got the reputation of being a very good Presbyterian by frequenting the
+Kirk of Scotland till our chapel opens." Again he writes to his mother
+from Inverness, November 6th, 1751, "There are times when men fret at
+trifles, and quarrel with their tooth-picks. In one of these ill habits
+I exclaim against my present condition, and think it the worst of all,
+but coolly and temperately, it is plainly the best. Where there is most
+employment and least vice, there should one wish most to be."
+
+On the 18th of February, 1755, he writes to his father, "I find that
+your bounty and liberality keep pace, as they usually do, with my
+necessities. I shall not abuse your kindness, nor receive it
+unthankfully, and what use I make of it shall be for your honor and the
+king's service--an employment worthy of the hand that gives it." His
+amiable temper strongly inclined him, from an early age, to domestic
+life; in the letter, November 6th, 1751 (before quoted), he declares
+that he has "a turn of mind that favors matrimony prodigiously; I love
+children, and think them necessary to people in their later days." He,
+however, struggled with these wishes, and for a long time overcame them,
+from his ardent love of fame.
+
+Of Wolfe's life we know but little; the waves of oblivion have closed
+over it, but the story of his death remains forever treasured in
+England's grateful memory.
+
+"Annual Register," May, 1760.
+
+Some gentlemen in the parish of Westerham, in Kent, have erected a plain
+monument to the late General Wolfe, in the inscription on which the
+extraordinary honor intended his memory by his sovereign is hinted at,
+and the impropriety of a more expensive monument in that place justly
+shown. The table is of statuary marble, beautifully executed by Mr.
+Lovel, near Cavendish Square.
+
+                           JAMES,
+ Son of Colonel Edward WOLFE, and Henrietta his wife, was born in
+                   this parish, January 2d, 1727,
+             And died in America, September 13th, 1759.
+
+             "While George in sorrow bows his laurel'd head,
+             And bids the artist grace the soldier dead,
+             We raise no sculptured trophy to thy name,
+             Brave youth! the fairest in the list of fame.
+             Proud of thy birth, we boast th' auspicious year;
+             Struck with thy fall, we shed a general tear;
+             With humble grief inscribe one artless stone,
+             And from thy matchless honors date our own."
+                        "I DECUS I NOSTRUM."[235]
+
+              "Annual Register," October, 1773.
+
+On an oval tablet on front of the sarcophagus of General Wolfe's
+monument in Westminster Abbey, just opened, is the following
+inscription:
+
+           To the memory of
+         JAMES WOLFE, Esq.,
+ Major General and Commander-in-Chief
+       Of the British Land Forces
+   On an expedition against Quebec,
+                 Who,
+   Surmounting, by ability and valor,
+    All obstacles of art and nature,
+               Was slain,
+      In the moment of Victory,
+   At the head of his conquering troops,
+      On the 13th of Sept., 1759,
+              The King
+   And the Parliament of Great Britain
+       Dedicate this monument.
+
+ "Annual Register," 1762.
+
+The Right Honorable the Earl Temple has lately dedicated a most
+magnificent building at Stowe, of the Ionic order, CONCORDIAE ET
+VICTORIAE.
+
+In the pediment of the portico is a fine alto relievo, representing the
+four quarters of the world bringing gifts to Britain. In the portico, or
+ante-temple, two medallions, _Concordia foederatorum_, _Concordia
+civium_. Over the door, _Quo tempore salus corum in ultimas angustias
+deducta nullum ambitioni locum relinquebat_. In the inner temple, in a
+niche facing the entrance, the statue of BRITANNIA: over which, in a
+tablet, _Candidis autem animis voluptatum, praebuerint in conspicuo
+posita, quae cuique magnifica merito contigerunt_. On the walls, fourteen
+medallions, representing the taking of Quebec, Martinico, &c.;
+Louisburg, Guadeloupe, &c.; Montreal, &c.; Pondicherry, &c. Naval
+victory off Belleisle, naval victory off Lagas, Crevelt and Minden,
+Fellinghausen; Senegal and Gorce, Niagara and Crown Point, Beau Sejour
+and Fort du Quesne, Cherburg and Belleisle. On a hill at a distance, in
+a diagonal line, runs an obelisk above a hundred feet, inscribed
+
+TO MAJOR-GENERAL WOLFE.
+
+_Ostendunt Terris nunc tantum Fata._
+
+[Footnote 235: Is in white marble letters, inlaid in a ground of black
+marble.]
+
+
+No. LXVIII.
+
+"Lord Howe always lay in his tent with the regiment which he commanded,
+while the rest of the army were quartered in the town and fort of
+Albany. This regiment he modeled in such a manner that they were ever
+after considered as an example to the whole American army. Lord Howe
+laid aside all pride and prejudice, and gratefully accepted council from
+those whom he knew to be the best qualified to direct him. Madame
+Schuyler was delighted with the calm steadiness with which he carried
+through the austere rules which he found it necessary to lay down. In
+the first place, he forbade all displays of gold and scarlet in the
+rugged march they were about to undertake, and set the example by
+wearing himself an ammunition coat, that is to say, one of the surplus
+soldiers' coats cut short. This was a necessary precaution, because, in
+the woods, the hostile Indians who started from behind the trees usually
+caught at the long and heavy skirts then worn by the soldiers; and, for
+the same reason, he ordered the muskets to be shortened, that they might
+not, as on former occasions, be snatched from behind by these agile
+foes. To prevent the march of his regiment from being descried at a
+distance by the glittering of their arms, the barrels of their guns were
+all blackened; and to save them from the tearing of bushes, the stings
+of insects, &c., he set them the example of wearing leggins, a kind of
+buskin made of strong woolen cloth. The greatest privation to the young
+and vain yet remained. Hair well dressed and in great quantity was then
+considered as the greatest possible ornament, which those who had it
+took the utmost care to display to advantage, and to wear in a bag or
+queue. Lord Howe's was very full and very abundant; he, however, cropped
+it, and ordered every one else to do the same.
+
+"The austere regulations and constant self-denial which he imposed upon
+the troops he commanded were patiently borne, because he was not only
+gentle in his manners, but generous and humane in a very high degree,
+and exceedingly attentive to the health and real necessities of the
+soldiery. Among many instances of this, a quantity of powdered ginger
+was given to every man, and the sergeants were ordered to see that when,
+in the course of marching, the soldiers arrived hot and tired at the
+banks of any stream, they should not be permitted to stoop to drink, as
+they generally inclined to do, but be obliged to lift water in their
+canteens, and mix ginger with it. This became afterward a general
+practice, and in those aguish swamps through which the troops were
+forced to march, was the means of saving many lives. Aunt Schuyler, as
+this amiable young officer familiarly styled his maternal friend, had
+the greatest esteem for him, and the greatest hope that he would at some
+future time redress all those evils that had formerly impeded the
+service. The night before the march they had a long and serious
+conversation. In the morning Lord Howe proposed setting out very early;
+but, when he arose, was astonished to find Madame Schuyler waiting, and
+breakfast ready; he smiled, and said he would not disappoint her, as it
+was hard to say when he might again breakfast with a lady. Impressed
+with an unaccountable degree of concern about the fate of the enterprise
+in which he was embarked, she again repeated her counsels and her
+caution; and when he was about to depart, embraced him with the
+affection of a mother, and shed many tears, a weakness she did not often
+give way to. A few days after Lord Howe's departure, in the afternoon, a
+man was seen coming on horseback from the north, galloping violently,
+without his hat. Pedrom ran eagerly to inquire, well knowing he rode
+express. The man galloped on, crying out that Lord Howe was killed.
+Shrieks and sobs of anguish re-echoed through every part of the
+house."--_Letters of an American Lady_, vol. ii.; p. 73.
+
+
+No. LXIX.
+
+"Le troisieme de Juillet de cette annee Samuel de Champlain fonda la
+ville de Quebec, capitale de la Nouvelle France, sur la riviere
+septentrionale du fleuve St. Laurent a six-vingt lieues de la mer, entre
+une petite riviere qui porte le nom de St. Charles et un gros cap, qu'on
+appelle le Cap aux Diamans, parce qu'on y trouvoit alors quantite de
+diamans assez semblables a ceux d'Alencon."--_Fastes Chronologiques_,
+1608.
+
+"Cape Diamond abounds with very fine specimens of quartz, or rock
+crystals. I have myself, in walking on the banks of the river at the
+foot of the rocks, found many of them. They are discovered from the
+brilliancy of their reflecting surfaces: they sparkle like the diamond,
+and hence the place had its name. On examination, I have generally found
+that they are pentagons, terminating in a point, and possessing
+_naturally_ much of the brilliancy and polish of a cut diamond; and
+they are so hard, that, like a diamond, they cut glass."--_Gray's
+Canada_, p. 68.
+
+"The mountain on which Quebec is built, and the hills along the River
+St. Lawrence, consist of it for some miles together on both sides of
+Quebec. About a yard from the surface this stone is quite compact, and
+without any cracks, so that one can not perceive that it is a slate, its
+particles being imperceptible. It lies in strata, which vary from three
+or four inches to twenty thick and upward. In the mountains on which
+Quebec is built the strata do not lie horizontal, but dipping, so as to
+be nearly perpendicular, the upper ones pointing northwest and the lower
+ones southeast. From hence it is, the corners of these strata always
+strike out at the corners into the streets, and cut the shoes in pieces.
+I have likewise seen some strata inclining to the northward, but rather
+perpendicular, as the former. The strata are divided by narrow cracks,
+which are commonly filled by fibrous white gypsum, which can sometimes
+be got loose with a knife, if the larger stratum of slate above it is
+broken in pieces; and in that case it has the appearance of a thin white
+leaf. The large cracks are almost filled up with transparent quartz
+crystals of different sizes. One part of the mountain contains great
+quantities of these crystals, from which the corner of the mountain
+which lies to S.S.E. of the palace has got the name of Pointe de
+Diamante, or Diamond Point."--Kalm, in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 678.
+
+
+No. LXX.
+
+"The Cherokees are planters and farmers, tradespeople and mechanics.
+They have corn-fields and orchards, looms and work-shops, schools and
+churches, and orderly institutions. In 1824, when the population of the
+Cherokees was 15,560 persons, it included 1277 negroes; they had 18
+schools, 36 grist-mills, 13 saw-mills, 762 looms, 2486 spinning-wheels,
+172 wagons, 2923 plows, 7683 horses, 22,531 black cattle, 46,732 swine,
+2546 sheep, 430 goats, 62 blacksmiths' shops, &c., with several public
+roads, and fences, and turnpikes. The natives carry on a considerable
+trade with the adjoining states, and some of them export cotton to New
+Orleans. A printing-press has been established for several years, and a
+newspaper, written partly in the English and partly in the Cherokee
+language, has been successfully carried on. This paper, called the
+_Cherokee Phoenix_, is written entirely by a Cherokee, a young man under
+thirty. The missionaries among them declare that the converts generally
+are very attentive to preaching, and very exemplary in their conduct.
+Public worship, conducted by native members of the church, is held in
+three or four places remote from the station. The pupils are making
+great progress at the schools. Many of them are leaving the schools with
+an education sufficient for life. New Echota is the seat of government
+of the Cherokees. The provisions of the Constitution are placed under
+six heads, divided into sections. The trial by jury is in full
+operation. The right of suffrage is universal; every free male citizen
+who has attained the age of eighteen years is entitled to vote at public
+elections."--Stuart's _Three Years in North America_, vol. ii., p. 143.
+
+"The Creeks, Cherokees, and Choctaws certainly hold out a promise of the
+gradual attainment of civilization.... The recent invention of written
+characters by a full-blood Cherokee,[236] consisting of eighty-four
+signs expressing all the dominant sounds of that language, and the great
+number of half words among them, are both favorable to this change of
+life. The best proof that they are advancing from their savage state to
+a higher grade is, that their numbers increase, while almost all other
+tribes spread over the American continent far and near are known to
+diminish in numbers so rapidly that common observation alone would
+enable any one to predict their utter extinction before the lapse of
+many years."--Latrobe, _Rambler in America_, vol. i., p. 163.
+
+The Stockbridge Indians (so called from Stockbridge, Massachusetts) are,
+upon the whole, considered to have made greater attainments in the
+useful arts of civilized life, and also in the Christian religion, than
+any other tribe of the aborigines. They heard the preaching of Brainard
+and Edwards, and have enjoyed Christian privileges and education with
+little interruption for more than ninety years. The Stockbridge Indians,
+and the Oneidas, under the celebrated Oneida half-blood Mr. Williams,
+were the principal of those unfortunate New York Indians who were
+persuaded, on the faith of solemn treaties, to leave their homes in New
+York and form new settlements among the wild Indian tribes beyond the
+Mississippi. One of the visitors to these new settlements, after the
+Indians had been a few years established there, thus describes the
+improvements they had effected in this remote wilderness: "On the east
+bank of Fox River they had in the course of some half dozen years
+reared a flourishing settlement; built houses and barns in the usual
+style of the white settlements under similar circumstances; cleaved away
+portions of the forest, and reduced their farms to an interesting state
+of improvement; organized and brought into solitary operation a
+political and civil economy; established schools, and in 1830 were
+building a very decent Christian church; had erected mills and
+machinery; exhibiting, in a word, a most interesting phasis of
+civilization, along with the purest morals under the simplest
+manners."--Colton's _Tour among the Northwest Indians_, vol. i., p. 203.
+This American writer is justly indignant at the cruel and dishonest
+policy of the American government in driving these unfortunate wanderers
+away from the new home solemnly promised them into the wild and dreary
+regions of the Far West, as soon as the settlement at Fox River was
+ascertained to possess sufficient natural advantages to entitle it to
+form a part of the Union.
+
+[Footnote 236: "It is remarkable that a red Indian should have been able
+to accomplish that which no civilized societies have accomplished during
+thousands of years. He had already attained to manhood when he invented
+an alphabet of his own language, having no knowledge of any other. The
+idea of writing Cherokee struck him on hearing several whites boasting
+of their superiority over the Indians, and adding that they could do
+many things which the red man never dared attempt, particularly in
+committing to paper a conversation, so as to make it understood by all,
+even in the most distant parts. He determined to try if it was not
+possible. At first he saw no other chance of executing his project than
+to make a sign or figure for every sound, which he partly learned by
+heart himself, partly gave to his own family to learn and remember; but,
+after working at it a whole twelvemonth, he found that the number of
+signs already amounted to several thousands, and that it was impossible
+to retain them in the memory. He now began to divide the words into
+parts, and then discovered that the same syllables might be applied to a
+variety of words. Exulting in this discovery, he continued his exertions
+with unremitting zeal, and directed his attention particularly to the
+sounds, and thus discovered at last all the syllables in the language.
+After working upon this plan for a month, he had diminished the number
+of sounds to eighty-four, of which the language at present consists. He
+first wrote them on sand, afterward cut out the signs in wood, and
+finished by printing them such as they now are in the Cherokee
+Phoenix."--Arfwedson's _United States and Canada_.]
+
+
+No. LXXI.
+
+Articles of Capitulation demanded by M. de Ramsay, the king's
+lieutenant, commanding the high and low towns of Quebec, chief of the
+Military Order of St. Louis, to his excellency the general of the troops
+of his Britannic majesty.
+
+"The capitulation demanded on the part of the enemy, and granted by
+their excellencies, Admiral Saunders and General Townshend, &c., &c., is
+in manner and form as hereafter expressed:
+
+"I.M. de Ramsay demands the honors of war for his garrison, and that it
+shall be sent back to the army in safety, and by the shortest route,
+with arms, baggage, six pieces of brass cannon, two mortars or
+howitzers, and twelve rounds for each of them. The garrison of the town,
+composed of land forces, marines, and sailors, shall march out with
+their arms and baggage, drums beating, matches lighted, with two pieces
+of French cannon, and twelve rounds for each piece, and shall be
+embarked as conveniently as possible, to be sent to the first port in
+France.
+
+"II. That the inhabitants shall be preserved in the possession of their
+houses, goods, effects, and privileges.--Granted, upon their laying down
+their arms.
+
+"III. That the inhabitants shall not be accountable for having carried
+arms in the defense of the town, forasmuch as they were compelled to do
+it, and that the inhabitants of the colonies, of both crowns, equally
+serve as militia.--Granted.
+
+"IV. That the effects of the absent officers and citizens shall not be
+touched.--Granted.
+
+"V. That the inhabitants shall not be removed, nor obliged to quit their
+houses, until their condition shall be settled by their Britannic and
+most Christian majesties.--Granted.
+
+"VI. That the exercise of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion
+shall be maintained, and that safeguards shall be granted to the houses
+of the clergy and to the mountaineers, particularly to his lordship the
+Bishop of Quebec, who, animated with zeal for religion, and charity for
+the people of his diocese, desires to reside in it constantly, to
+exercise freely, and with that decency which his character and the
+sacred offices of the Roman religion require, his episcopal authority in
+the town of Quebec, whenever he shall think proper, until the possession
+of Canada shall be decided by a treaty between their Britannic and most
+Christian majesties. The free exercise of the Roman religion is granted,
+likewise safeguards to all religions persons, as well as to the bishop,
+who shall be at liberty to come and exercise, freely and with decency,
+the functions of his office whenever he thinks proper, until the
+possession of Canada shall have been decided between their Britannic and
+most Christian majesties.
+
+"VII. That the artillery and warlike stores shall be faithfully given
+up, and that an inventory of them shall be made out.--Granted.
+
+"VIII. That the sick and wounded, the commissaries, chaplains,
+physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, and other people employed in the
+service of the hospitals, shall be treated conformably to the cartel of
+the 6th of February, 1759, settled between their Britannic and most
+Christian majesties.--Granted.
+
+"IX. That before delivering up the gate and the entrance of the town to
+the English troops, their general will be pleased to send some soldiers
+to be posted as safeguards upon the churches, convents, and principal
+habitations.--Granted.
+
+"X. That the king's lieutenant commanding in Quebec shall be permitted
+to send information to the Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor general, of
+the reduction of the place, as also that the general may send advice
+thereof to the French ministry.--Granted.
+
+"XI. That the present capitulation shall be executed according to its form
+and tenor, without being subject to non-execution under pretense of
+reprisals, or for the non-execution of any preceding capitulation.--Granted.
+
+"Duplicates hereof, taken and executed by and between us, at the camp
+before Quebec, this 18th day of September, 1759.
+
+"CHARLES SAUNDERS, GEORGE TOWNSHEND, DE RAMSAY."
+
+
+No. LXXII
+
+Extracts from "Lettres de M. le Marquis de Montcalm, G.G. en Canada, a
+MM. de Berryer et de la Mole, 1757-1759. Londres, 1777."
+
+In 1757.--Letter 1. Montcalm informs M. de Berryer that he carries on a
+correspondence with the English planters by giving them a few prohibited
+articles. "They dupe their own people, who think they dupe us; their
+letters discover to me many curious political secrets. Our governors of
+Canada have neglected the only means of making the country prosperous
+... another system is indispensable."
+
+S.J., of Boston, writes to Montcalm, "The cause of your non-progress
+lies in the genius of your nation. Your governors were French gentlemen,
+hating and despising commerce--wealth, commerce, and strength are
+inseparable--your skeleton colony has lost more in a year than it can
+regain in ten. Your commerce with us ought to be free and unfettered....
+We shall soon break with England for commercial reasons."
+
+Montcalm observes on the foregoing, "Let us beware how we allow the
+establishment of manufactures in Canada; she would become proud and
+mutinous like the English. So long as France is a nursery to Canada, let
+not the Canadians be allowed to trade, but kept to their wandering,
+laborious life with the savages, and to their military exercises. They
+will be less wealthy, but more brave and more faithful to us.
+
+"We may lose Canada--no great loss, if we keep some port in North
+America for fishing and trade.... The English settlers are as hostile to
+their mother country as to us. The state of their country is
+singular--not a city is fortified. The English governors often wished to
+fortify, but the people objected. If Canada be in the hands of an able
+(French) governor when the certain quarrel comes on, it will repay us
+for all former cost. England made a great mistake in not taxing these
+colonies from the first, even ever so little. If they now attempt
+it--revolt."
+
+Letter from M. de Montcalm to M. de Mole, Premier President au
+Parliament de Paris, 1759:
+
+"MONSIEUR ET CHER COUSIN,
+
+"Me voici, depuis plus de trois mois, aux prises avec M. Wolfe: il ne
+cesse jour et nuit de bombarder Quebec, avec une furie qui n'a gueres
+d'example dans le siege d'une place qu'en veut prendre et conserver. Il
+a deja consume par le feu presque toute la basse ville, une grande
+partie de la haute est ecrasee par les bombes. Mais ne laissa-t-il
+pierre sur pierre, il ne viendra jamais a bout de s'emparer de cette
+capitale de la colonie, tandis qu'il se contentera de l'attaquer de la
+rive opposee, dont nous lui avons abandonne la possession. Aussi apres
+trois mois de tentative, n'est il pas plus avance dans son dessein qu'on
+premier jour. Il nous ruine, mais il ne s'enrichit pas. La campagne n'a
+gueres plus d'un mois a durer, a raison du voisinage de l'automne,
+terrible dans ces parages pour une flotte, par les coups de vent qui
+regnent constamment et periodiquement.
+
+"Il semble qu'apres un si heureux prelude, la conservation de la colonie
+est presque assuree. Il n'en est cependant rien: la prise de Quebec
+depend d'un coup du main. Les Anglois sont maitres de la riviere: il
+n'ont qu'a effectuer une descente sur la rive, ou cette ville, sans
+fortifications et sans defense, est situee. Les voila en etat de me
+presenter la battaille, que je ne pourrai plus refuser, et que je ne
+devrai pas gagner. M. Wolfe, en effet, s'il entend son metier, n'a qu'a
+essuyer le premier feu, venir en suite a grand pas sur mon armee, faire
+a bout partant sa decharge, mes Canadiens, sans discipline, sourds a la
+voix du tambour, et des instrumens militaires, deranges par cet escarre,
+ne scauront plus reprendre leurs rangs. Ils sont ailleurs sans
+bagonettes pour repondre a celles de l'ennemi: il ne leur reste qu'a
+fuir, et me voila, battue sans ressource. Voila ma position!... Position
+bien facheuse pour un general, et qui me fait passer de bien terribles
+momens. La connaissance que j'en aye m'a fait tenir jusqu'ici sur la
+defensive, qui m'a reussi; mais reussira-t-elle jusqu'a la fin? Les
+evenemens en decideront! Mais une assurance que je puis vous donner,
+c'est, que je ne survivrois pas probablement la perte de la colonie. Il
+est des situations ou il ne reste plus a un general, que de perir avec
+honneur: je crois y etre: et sur ce point je crois que jamais la
+posterite n'aura rien a reprocher a ma memoire; mais si la Fortune
+decide de ma vie, elle ne decidera pas de mes sentimens--ils sont
+Francois, et ils le seront, jusque dans le tombeau, si dans le tombeau
+on est encore quelque chose! Je me consolerai du moins de ma defaite, et
+de la perte de la colonie, par l'intime persuasion ou je suis, que cette
+defaite vaudroit un jour a ma patrie plus qu'une victoire, et que le
+vainqueur en s'aggrandissant, trouveroit un tombeau dans son
+aggrandissement meme.
+
+"Ce que j'advance ici, mon cher cousin, vous paroitra un paradoxe; mais
+un moment de reflexion politique, un coup d'oeil sur la situation des
+choses en Amerique, et la verite de mon opinion, brillera dans tout son
+jour. Non, mon cher cousin, les hommes n'obeissent qu'a la force et a la
+necessite; c'est a dire, que quand ils voyent arme devant leurs yeux, un
+pouvoir toujours pret, et toujours suffisant pour les y contraindre, ou
+quand la chaine de leurs besoins leur en dicte la loi. Hors de la point
+de joug pour eux, point d'obeissance de leur part; ils sont a eux; ils
+vivent libres, parce qu'ils n'ont rien au dedans, rien au dehors, qui
+les oblige a se depouiller de cette liberte, qui est le plus bel
+appanage, la plus precieuse prerogative de l'humanite. Voila les hommes!
+et sur ce point les Anglois, soit par l'education, soit par sentiment,
+sont plus hommes que les autres: La gene de la contrainte leur deplait
+plus qu'a tout autre: il leur faut respirer un air libre et degage; sans
+cela ils sont hors de leur element. Mais si ce sont la les Anglois de
+l'Europe, c'est encore plus les Anglois d'Amerique. Une grand partie de
+ces colons sont les enfans de ces hommes qui s'expatrierent dans ces
+temps de trouble, ou l'ancienne Angleterre, en proye aux divisions,
+etoit attaquee dans ses privileges et droits, et allerent chercher en
+Amerique une terre, ou ils puissent vivre et mourir libres, et
+presqu'independents; et ces enfans n'ont pas degeneres des sentimens
+republicains de leurs peres. D'autres sont des hommes, ennemis de tout
+frein, de tout assujettissement, que le government y a transporte pour
+leur crimes. D'autres, enfin, sont un ramas de differentes nations de
+l'Europe, qui tiennent tres peu a l'ancienne Angleterre par le coeur et
+le sentiment, tous en general no se soucient gueres du roi ni du
+Parlement d'Angleterre.
+
+"Je les connois bien, non sur des rapports etrangers, mais sur des
+correspondances, et des informations secrets, que j'ai moi-meme menages,
+et dont un jour, si Dieu me prete vie, je pourrais faire usage a
+l'avantage de ma patrie. Pour surcroit de bonheur pour eux, tous ces
+colons sont parvenu dans un etat tres florissant; ils sont nombreux et
+riches; ils recueillent dans le sein de leur patrie, toutes les
+necessites de la vie. L'ancienne Angleterre a ete assez sotte, et assez
+dupe, pour leur laisser etablir chez eux les arts, les metiers, les
+manufactures; c'est a dire, qu'elle leur a laisse briser la chaine de
+besoins, qui les lioit, qui les attachoit a elle, et qui les fait
+dependants. Aussi toutes ces colonies Angloises auroient depuis long
+temps secoue le joug, chaque province auroient forme une petite
+republique independante, si la crainte de voir les Francois a leur porte
+n'avoit ete un frein, qui les avoit retenu. Maitres pour maitres ils ont
+prefere leur compatriotes aux etrangers, prenant cependant pour maxime,
+de n'obeir que le moins qu'ils pourroient; mais que la Canada vint a
+etre conquis, et que les Canadiens et ces colons ne fussent plus qu'un
+seul peuple, et la premiere occasion, ou l'ancienne Angleterre
+sembleroit toucher a leurs interets, croiez-vous, mon cher cousin, que
+colons obeiroient? Et qu'auroient-ils a craindre, en se revoltant?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Je ne puis cependant pas dissimuler que l'ancienne Angleterre avec un
+peu de bonne politique pourroit toujours se reserver dans les mains une
+ressource toujours prete pour mettre a la raison ses anciennes colonies.
+Le Canada considere dans lui-meme, dans ses richesses, dans ses forces,
+dans le nombre de ses habitans n'est rien en comparaison du conglobat
+des colonies Angloises; mais la valeur, l'industrie, la fidelite de ses
+habitans, y supplie si bien, que depuis plus d'un siecle ils se battent
+avec avantage contre toutes ces colonies: dix Canadiens sont suffisants
+contre cent colons Anglois. L'experience journaliere prove ce fait. Si
+l'ancienne Angleterre, apres avoir conquis le Canada scavoit se
+l'attacher par la politique des bienfaits, et se le conserver a elle
+seule, si elle le laissoit a sa religion, a ses loix, a son language, a
+ses coutumes, a son ancienne gouvernement, le Canada, divise dans tous
+ces points, d'avec les autres colonies, formerait toujours un pais
+isole, qui n'entreroit jamais dans leurs interets; ... mais ce n'est pas
+la la politique Brittannique. Les Anglois font-ils une conquete, il faut
+qu'ils changent la constitution du pays, ils y portent leur loix, leur
+coutumes, &c., &c.... Voila les Canadiens transformes en politiques, en
+negocians, en hommes infatues d'une pretendue liberte, qui chez la
+populace tient souvent en Angleterre de la licence, et de la nardin....
+Je suis si sur de ce que j'ecris, que je ne donnerai pas dix ans apres
+la conquete de Canada pour en voir l'accomplissement.
+
+"Voila ce que, comme Francois, me console aujourd'hui du danger eminent
+que court ma patrie, de voir cette colonie perdue pour elle.
+
+"Du camp devant Quebec, Jan.
+
+MONTCALM.
+
+"24 d'Aout, 1759."
+
+
+THE END.
+
+[TRANSCRIBERS NOTE: Original spelling has been retained]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 2 of 2), by
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