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diff --git a/6026-h/6026-h.htm b/6026-h/6026-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e29cfa --- /dev/null +++ b/6026-h/6026-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3311 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta content="pg2html (binary v0.17)" name="linkgenerator" /> + <title> + The Great Fortress, by William Wood + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify; font-size: 80%; font-style: italic;} + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + .xx-small {font-size: 60%;} + .x-small {font-size: 75%;} + .small {font-size: 85%;} + .large {font-size: 115%;} + .x-large {font-size: 130%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent25 { margin-left: 25%;} + .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} + .indent35 { margin-left: 35%;} + .indent40 { margin-left: 40%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; + font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; + text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; + border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 15%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + .head { float: left; font-size: 90%; width: 98%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Fortress, by William Wood +#2 in our series by William Wood +#8 in our series Chronicles of Canada + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Great Fortress + A Chronicle of Louisbourg 1720-1760 + +Author: William Wood + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6026] +[This file was first posted on October 21, 2002] +Last Updated: February 6, 2019 + + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT FORTRESS *** + + + + +Etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE GREAT FORTRESS + </h1> + <h2> + A Chronicle of Louisbourg 1720-1760 + </h2> + <h3> + CHRONICLES OF CANADA + </h3> + <h2> + Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton + </h2> + <h4> + In thirty-two volumes + </h4> + <h4> + Volume 8 + </h4> + <h2> + By William Wood + </h2> + <h4> + Toronto, 1915 + </h4> + <hr /> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I — THE LAST SEA LINK WITH FRANCE + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II — THE SEA LINK LOST </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III — THE LINK RECOVERED </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV — LOST FOR EVER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V — ANNIHILATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + Louisbourg was no mere isolated stronghold which could be lost or won + without affecting the wider issues of oversea dominion. On the contrary, + it was a necessary link in the chain of waterside posts which connected + France with America by way of the Atlantic, the St Lawrence, the Great + Lakes, and the Mississippi. But since the chain itself and all its other + links, and even the peculiar relation of Louisbourg to the Acadians and + the Conquest, have been fully described elsewhere in the Chronicles of + Canada, the present volume only tries to tell the purely individual tale. + Strange to say, this tale seems never to have been told before; at least, + not as one continuous whole. Of course, each siege has been described, + over and over again, in many special monographs as well as in countless + books about Canadian history. But nobody seems to have written any + separate work on Louisbourg showing causes, crises, and results, all + together, in the light of the complete naval and military proof. So + perhaps the following short account may really be the first attempt to + tell the tale of Louisbourg from the foundation to the fall. + </p> + <p> + W. W. + </p> + <p> + 59 GRANDE ALLEE, + </p> + <p> + QUEBEC, 2nd January 1915. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I — THE LAST SEA LINK WITH FRANCE + </h2> + <h3> + 1720-1744 + </h3> + <p> + The fortress of Louisbourg arose not from victory but from defeat; not + from military strength but from naval weakness; not from a new, + adventurous spirit of attack, but from a half-despairing hope of keeping + one last foothold by the sea. It was not begun till after the fortunes of + Louis XIV had reached their lowest ebb at the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. + It lived a precarious life of only forty years, from 1720 to 1760. And + nothing but bare ruins were left to mark its grave when it finally passed, + unheeded and unnamed, into the vast dominions of the conquering British at + the Peace of Paris in 1763. + </p> + <p> + The Treaty of Utrecht narrowed the whole French sea-coast of America down + to the single island of Cape Breton. Here, after seven years of official + hesitation and maritime exhaustion, Louisbourg was founded to guard the + only harbour the French thought they had a chance of holding. A medal was + struck to celebrate this last attempt to keep the one remaining seaway + open between Old France and New. Its legend ran thus: Ludovicoburgum + Fundatum et Munitum, M.DCC.XX ('Louisbourg Founded and Fortified, 1720'). + Its obverse bore the profile of the young Louis XV, whose statesmen hoped + they had now established a French Gibraltar in America, where French + fleets and forts would command the straits leading into the St Lawrence + and threaten the coast of New England, in much the same way as British + fleets and forts commanded the entrance to the Mediterranean and + threatened the coasts of France and Spain. This hope seemed flattering + enough in time of peace; but it vanished at each recurrent shock of war, + because the Atlantic then became a hostile desert for the French, while it + still remained a friendly highway for the British. + </p> + <p> + The first French settlers in Louisbourg came over from Newfoundland, which + had been given up to the British by the treaty. The fishermen of various + nations had frequented different ports all round these shores for + centuries; and, by the irony of fate, the new French capital of Cape + Breton was founded at the entrance to the bay which had long been known as + English Harbour. Everything that rechristening could do, however, was done + to make Cape Breton French. Not only was English Harbour now called + Louisbourg, but St Peter's became Port Toulouse, St Anne's became Port + Dauphin, and the whole island itself was solemnly christened Ile Royale. + </p> + <p> + The shores of the St Lawrence up to Quebec and Montreal were as entirely + French as the islands in the Gulf. But Acadia, which used to form the + connection by land between Cape Breton and Canada, had now become a + British possession inhabited by the so-called 'neutral French.' These + Acadians, few in numbers and quite unorganized, were drawn in opposite + directions, on the one hand by their French proclivities, on the other by + their rooted affection for their own farms. Unlike the French + Newfoundlanders, who came in a body from Plaisance (now Placentia), the + Acadians preferred to stay at home. In 1717 an effort was made to bring + some of them into Louisbourg. But it only succeeded in attracting the + merest handful. On the whole, the French authorities preferred leaving the + Acadians as they were, in case a change in the fortunes of war might bring + them once more under the fleurs-de-lis, when the connection by land + between Quebec and the sea would again be complete. A plan for promoting + the immigration of the Irish Roman Catholics living near Cape Breton never + got beyond the stage of official memoranda. Thus the population of the new + capital consisted only of government employees, French fishermen from + Newfoundland and other neighbouring places, waifs and strays from points + farther off, bounty-fed engages from France, and a swarm of camp-following + traders. The regular garrison was always somewhat of a class apart. + </p> + <p> + The French in Cape Breton needed all the artificial aid they could get + from guns and forts. Even in Canada there was only a handful of French, + all told, at the time of the Treaty of Utrecht—twenty-five thousand; + while the British colonists in North America numbered fifteen times as + many. The respective populations had trebled by the time of the Cession of + Canada to the British fifty years later, but with a tendency for the vast + British preponderance to increase still more. Canada naturally had neither + men nor money to spare for Louisbourg; so the whole cost of building the + fortress, thirty million livres, came direct from France. This sum was + then the equivalent, in purchasing power, of at least as many dollars now, + though the old French livre was only rated at the contemporary value of + twenty cents. But the original plans were never carried out; moreover, not + half the money that actually was spent ever reached the military chest at + all. There were too many thievish fingers by the way. + </p> + <p> + The French were not a colonizing people, their governing officials hated a + tour of duty oversea, and Louisbourg was the most unpopular of all the + stations in the service. Those Frenchmen who did care for outlandish + places went east to India or west to Canada. Nobody wanted to go to a + small, dull, out-of-the-way garrison town like Louisbourg, where there was + no social life whatever—nothing but fishermen, smugglers, petty + traders, a discontented garrison, generally half composed of foreigners, + and a band of dishonest, second-rate officials, whose one idea was how to + get rich and get home. The inspectors who were sent out either failed in + their duty and joined the official gang of thieves, or else resigned in + disgust. Worse still, because this taint was at the very source, the royal + government in France was already beset with that entanglement of weakness + and corruption which lasted throughout the whole century between the + decline of Louis XIV and the meteoric rise of Napoleon. + </p> + <p> + The founders of Louisbourg took their time to build it. It was so very + profitable to spin the work out as long as possible. The plan of the + fortress was good. It was modelled after the plans of Vauban, who had been + the greatest engineer in the greatest European army of the previous + generation. But the actual execution was hampered, at every turn, by want + of firmness at headquarters and want of honest labour on the spot. Sea + sand was plentiful, worthless, and cheap. So it was used for the mortar, + with most disastrous results. The stone was hewn from a quarry of + porphyritic trap near by and used for the walls in the rough. Cut stone + and good bricks were brought out from France as ballast by the fishing + fleet. Some of these finer materials were built into the governor's and + the intendant's quarters. Others were sold to New England traders and + replaced by inferior substitutes. + </p> + <p> + Of course, direct trade between the opposing colonies was strictly + forbidden by both the French and British navigation acts. But the + Louisbourg officials winked at anything that would enrich them quickly, + while the New Englanders pushed in eagerly wherever a profit could be made + by any means at all. Louisbourg was intended to be the general rendezvous + of the transatlantic French fishing vessels; a great port of call between + France, Canada, and the French West Indies; and a harbour of refuge in + peace and war. But the New England shipping was doing the best trade at + Louisbourg, and doing it in double contraband, within five years of the + foundation. Cod caught by Frenchmen from Louisbourg itself, French wines + and brandy brought out from France, tobacco and sugar brought north from + the French West Indies, all offered excellent chances to enterprising + Yankees, who came in with foodstuffs and building materials of their own. + One vessel sailed for New York with a cargo of claret and brandy that + netted her owners a profit of a hundred per cent, even after paying the + usual charges demanded by the French custom-house officials for what + really was a smuggler's licence. + </p> + <p> + Fishing, smuggling, and theft were the three great industries of + Louisbourg. The traders shared the profits of the smuggling. But the + intendant and his officials kept most of the choice thieving for + themselves. + </p> + <p> + The genuine settlers—and a starveling crew they were—wrested + their debt-laden livelihood from the local fishing. This was by no means + bad in itself. But, like other fishermen before and since, they were in + perpetual bondage to the traders, who took good care not to let accounts + get evened up. A happier class of fishermen made up the engages, who were + paid by government to 'play settler' for a term of years, during which + they helped to swell the official census of uncongenial Louisbourg. The + regular French fishing fleet of course returned to France at the end of + every season, and thus enjoyed a full spell of French delights on shore. + </p> + <p> + The Acadians supplied Louisbourg with meat and vegetables. These were + brought in by sea; for there were no roads worth mentioning; nor, in the + contemporary state of Cape Breton, was there any need for roads. The + farmers were few, widely scattered, and mostly very poor. The only + prosperous settlement within a long day's march was situated on the + beautiful Mira river. James Gibson, a Boston merchant and militiaman, who + served against Louisbourg in 1745, was much taken by the appearance of an + establishment 'at the mouth of a large salmon fishery,' by one 'very + handsome house, with two large barns, two large gardens, and fine fields + of corn,' and by another with 'six rooms on a floor and well furnished.' + He adds that 'in one of the barns were fifteen loads of hay, and room + sufficient for sixty horses and cattle.' In 1753 the intendant sent home a + report about a proposed 'German' settlement near the 'Grand Lake of Mira.' + A new experiment was then being tried, the importation of settlers from + Alsace-Lorraine. But five years afterwards Cape Breton had been lost to + France for ever. + </p> + <p> + The fact is that the French never really colonized Cape Breton at large, + and Louisbourg least of all. They knew the magnificent possibilities of + Sydney harbour, but its mere extent prevented their attempting to make use + of it. They saw that the whole island was a maritime paradise, with + seaports in its very heart as well as round its shores. But they were a + race of gallant, industrious landsmen at home, with neither the wish nor + the aptitude for a nautical life abroad. They could not have failed to see + that there was plenty of timber in some parts of the island, and that the + soil was fit to bear good crops of grain in others. A little prospecting + would also have shown them iron, coal, and gypsum. But their official + parasites did not want to see smuggling and peculation replaced by + industry and trade. Nothing, indeed, better proves how little they thought + of making Ile Royale a genuine colony than their utter failure to exploit + any one of its teeming natural resources in forest, field, or mine. + </p> + <p> + What the French did with extraneous resources and artificial aids in the + town of Louisbourg is more to the purpose in hand. The problem of their + position, and of its strength and weakness in the coming clash of arms, + depended on six naval, military, and governmental factors, each one of + which must be considered before the whole can be appreciated. These six + factors were—the government, the garrison, the militia, the Indians, + the navy, and the fortress. + </p> + <p> + Get rich and go home. The English-speaking peoples, whose ancestors once + went to England as oversea emigrants, and two-thirds of whom are now + themselves the scions of successive migrations across the Seven Seas, + cannot understand how intensely the general run of French officials + detested colonial service, especially in a place like Louisbourg, which + was everything the average Frenchman hated most. This British failure to + understand a national trait, which is still as strongly marked as ever, + accounts for a good deal of the exaggerated belief in the strength of the + French position in America. The British Americans who tried to think out + plans of conquest were wont to under-estimate their own unorganized + resources and to over-estimate the organized resources of the French, + especially when they set their minds on Louisbourg. + </p> + <p> + The British also entertained the erroneous idea that 'the whole country + was under one command.' This was the very thing it was not. The French + system was the autocratic one without the local autocrat; for the + functions of the governor and the intendant overlapped each other, and all + disputes had to be referred to Quebec, where the functions of another + governor and another intendant also overlapped each other. If no decision + could be reached at Quebec, and the question at issue was one of + sufficient importance, the now double imbroglio would be referred to the + Supreme Council in France, which would write back to Quebec, whence the + decision would be forwarded to Louisbourg, where it would arrive months + after many other troubles had grown out of the original dispute. + </p> + <p> + The system was false from the start, because the overlapping was + intentional. The idea was to prevent any one man from becoming too strong + and too independent. The result was to keep governors and intendants at + perpetual loggerheads and to divide every station into opposing parties. + Did the governor want money and material for the fortifications? Then the + intendant was sure the military chest, which was in his own charge, could + not afford it. The governor might sometimes gain his ends by giving a + definite emergency order under his hand and seal. But, if the emergency + could not be proved, this laid him open to great risks from the + intendant's subsequent recriminations before the Superior Council in + Quebec or the Supreme Council in France. The only way such a system could + be worked at all was either by corrupt collusion or by superhuman + co-operation between the two conflicting parties, or by appointing a man + of genius who could make every other official discharge his proper duties + and no more. Corrupt collusion was not very common, because the governors + were mostly naval or military men, and the naval and military men were + generally honest. Co-operation was impossible between two merely average + men; and no genius was ever sent to such a place as Louisbourg. The ablest + man in either of the principal posts was the notorious intendant Bigot, + who began here on a small scale the consummate schemes that proved so + disastrously successful at Quebec. Get rich and go home. + </p> + <p> + The minor governmental life of Louisbourg was of a piece with the major. + There were four or five lesser members of the Superior Council, which also + had jurisdiction over Ile St Jean, as Prince Edward Island was then + called. The lucrative chances of the custom-house were at the mercy of + four under-paid officials grandiloquently called a Court of Admiralty. An + inferior court known as the bailiwick tried ordinary civil suits and + breaches of the peace. This bailiwick also offered what might be + euphemistically called 'business opportunities' to enterprising members. + True, there was no police to execute its decrees; and at one time a + punctilious resident complained that 'there was not even a common hangman, + nor a jail, nor even a tormentor to rack the criminals or inflict other + appropriate tortures.' But appeals took a long time and cost much money; + so even the officials of the bailiwick could pick up a living by threats + of the law's delay, on the one hand, and promises of perverted local + justice, on the other. That there was money to be made, in spite of the + meagre salaries, is proved by the fact that the best journeyman wig-maker + in Louisbourg 'grew extremely rich in different branches of commerce, + especially in the contraband,' after filling the dual position of judge of + the admiralty and judge of the bailiwick, both to the apparent + satisfaction of his friend the intendant. + </p> + <p> + The next factor was the garrison of regulars. This was under the direct + command of the king's lieutenant, who took his orders from the governor. + The troops liked Louisbourg no better than the officials did. True, there + were taverns in plenty: even before Louisbourg was officially founded they + had become such a thriving nuisance that orders for their better control + had been sent out from France. But there was no other place for the + ordinary soldier to go to in his spare time. The officers felt the want of + a larger outlook even more than the men did; and neither man nor officer + ever went to Louisbourg if he could help it. When Montcalm, the greatest + Frenchman the New World ever saw, came out to Canada, there was eager + competition among the troops at home to join his army in the field. + Officers paid large sums for the honour of exchanging into any one of the + battalions ordered to the front; and when volunteers were called for from + the ranks every single man stepped forward. But no Montcalm came out to + Louisbourg, and nothing but bounties could get a volunteer. There were + only between five and six hundred regulars in the whole garrison during + the first siege, twenty-five years after the foundation, and nearly half + of these were foreigners, mostly 'pay-fighting Swiss.' + </p> + <p> + The third factor was the militia. Every able-bodied man, not specially + exempt for other duties, was liable for service in time of war; and the + whole island could be drawn upon for any great emergency at Louisbourg. + Between thirteen and fourteen hundred men were got under arms for the + siege of 1745. Those who lived in Louisbourg had the advantage of a little + slack discipline and a little slack drill. Those in the country had some + practice in the handling of firearms. But, taken all round, it would be an + exaggeration to call them even quarter-trained soldiers. + </p> + <p> + The fourth factor was the Indians. They belonged to the Micmac tribe of + the great Algonquin family, and probably numbered no more than about four + thousand throughout the whole French sphere of influence in what are now + the Maritime Provinces. A few hundred braves might have been ready to take + the war-path in the wilds of Cape Breton; but sieges were not at all in + their line, except when they could hang round the besiegers' inland + flanks, on the chance of lifting scalps from careless stragglers or + ambushing an occasional small party gone astray. As in Canada, so in Cape + Breton, the Indians naturally sided with the French, who disturbed them + less and treated them better than the British did. The British, who + enjoyed the inestimable advantage of superior sea-power, had more goods to + exchange. But in every other respect the French were very much preferred. + The handful of French sent out an astonishingly great number of heroic and + sympathetic missionaries to the natives. The many British sent out + astonishingly few. The Puritan clergy did shamefully little compared with + the wonderful Jesuits. Moreover, while the French in general made the + Indian feel he was at all events a fellow human being, the average British + colonist simply looked on him as so much vermin, to be destroyed together + with the obstructive wilds that harboured him. + </p> + <p> + The fifth factor, the navy, brings us into contact with world-wide + problems of sea-power which are too far-reaching for discussion here + [Footnote: See in this Series The Winning of Canada and The Passing of New + France, where they are discussed.] Suffice it to say that, while + Louisbourg was an occasional convenience, it had also peculiar dangers for + a squadron from the weaker of two hostile navies, as squadrons from France + were likely to be. The British could make for a dozen different harbours + on the coast. The French could make for only this one. Therefore the + British had only to guard against this one stronghold if the French were + in superior force; they could the more easily blockade it if the French + were in equal force; and they could the more easily annihilate it if it + was defended by an inferior force. + </p> + <p> + The last factor was the fortress itself. This so-called 'Gibraltar of the + West,' this 'Quebec by the sea,' this 'Dunkirk of New France,' was + certainly first of its kind. But it was first only in a class of one; + while the class itself was far from being a first among classes. The + natural position was vastly inferior to that of Quebec or Gibraltar; while + the fortifications were not to be compared with those of Dunkirk, which, + in one sense, they were meant to replace. Dunkirk had been sold by Charles + II to Louis XIV, who made it a formidable naval base commanding the + straits of Dover. When the Treaty of Utrecht compelled its demolition, the + French tried to redress the balance a little by building similar works in + America on a very much smaller scale, with a much more purely defensive + purpose, and as an altogether subsidiary undertaking. Dunkirk was 'a + pistol held at England's head' because it was an integral part of France, + which was the greatest military country in the world and second to England + alone on the sea. Louisbourg was no American Dunkirk because it was much + weaker in itself, because it was more purely defensive, because the odds + of population and general resources as between the two colonies were + fifteen to one in favour of the British, and because the preponderance of + British sea-power was even greater in America than it was in Europe. + </p> + <p> + The harbour of Louisbourg ran about two miles north-east and south-west, + with a clear average width of half a mile. The two little peninsulas on + either side of the entrance were nearly a mile apart. But the actual + fairway of the entrance was narrowed to little more than a clear quarter + of a mile by the reefs and islands running out from the south-western + peninsula, on which the fortress stood. This low, nubbly tongue of land + was roughly triangular. It measured about three-quarters of a mile on its + longest side, facing the harbour, over half a mile on the land side, + facing the enemy's army, and a good deal under half a mile on the side + facing the sea. It had little to fear from naval bombardment so long as + the enemy's fleet remained outside, because fogs and storms made it a very + dangerous lee shore, and because, then as now, ships would not pit + themselves against forts unless there was no rival fleet to fight, and + unless other circumstances were unusually propitious. + </p> + <p> + The entrance was defended by the Island Battery, which flanked the + approach with thirty-nine guns, and the Royal Battery, which directly + faced it with thirty guns. Some temporary lines with a few more guns were + prepared in time of danger to prevent the enemy from landing in Gabarus + Bay, which ran for miles south-west of Louisbourg. But the garrison, even + with the militia, was never strong enough to keep the enemy at arm's + length from any one of these positions. Moreover, the north-east + peninsula, where the lighthouse stood, commanded the Island Battery; and + the land side of Louisbourg itself was commanded by a range of low + hillocks less than half a mile away. + </p> + <p> + It was this land side, containing the citadel and other works, which so + impressed outsiders with the idea of impregnable strength. The glacis was + perfect—not an inch of cover wherever you looked; and the approach + was mostly across a slimy bog. The ditch was eighty feet wide. The walls + rose over thirty feet above the ditch. There were embrasures for one + hundred and forty-eight guns all round; though not more than ninety were + ever actually mounted. On the seaward face Louisbourg was not so strongly + fortified; but in the centre of this face there were a deep ditch and high + wall, with bastions on each immediate flank, and lighter defences + connecting these with the landward face. A dozen streets were laid out, so + as to divide the whole town into conveniently square little blocks. The + area of the town itself was not much more than a hundred acres altogether—rather + close quarters for several thousand men, women, and children during a + siege. + </p> + <p> + If reports and memoranda could defend a fortress, then Louisbourg ought + indeed to have been impregnable. Of course every official trust entails + endless correspondence. But, quite apart from the stated returns that go + through 'the usual channel of communication,' reams and reams of paper + were filled with special reports, inspections, complaints, and good + advice. The governor wrote home, most elaborately, in 1724, about the + progress of the works. Ten years later he announced the official + inauguration of the lighthouse on the 1st of April. In 1736 the chief item + was the engineer's report on the walls. Next year the great anxiety was + about a dangerous famine, with all its attendant distress for the many and + its shameless profits for the few. On November 23, 1744, reinforcements + and provisions were asked for, because intelligence had been received that + the New Englanders were going to blockade Louisbourg the following summer. + At the same time, the discontent of the garrison had come to a head, and a + mutiny had broken out because the extra working pay had not been + forthcoming. After this the discipline became, not sterner, but slacker + than ever, especially among the hireling Swiss. On February 8, 1745, + within three months of the first siege, a memorandum was sent in to + explain what was still required to finish the works begun twenty-five + years before. + </p> + <p> + But, after all, it was not so much the defective works that really + mattered as the defective garrison behind them. English-speaking civilians + who have written about Louisbourg have sometimes taken partial account of + the ordinary Frenchman's repugnance to oversea duty in time of peace and + of the little worth of hireling foreigners in time of war. But they have + always ignored that steady drip, drip, drip of deterioration which reduces + the efficiency of every garrison condemned to service in remote and + thoroughly uncongenial countries. Louisbourg was remote, weeks away from + exchanges with Quebec, months from exchanges with any part of France or + Switzerland. And what other foreign station could have been more + thoroughly uncongenial, except, perhaps, a convict station in the tropics? + Bad quarters were endurable in Paris or even in the provinces, where five + minutes' walk would take one into something pleasanter. Bad fortifications + would inspire less apprehension anywhere in France, where there was at + least an army always ready to take the field. But cold, cramped quarters + in foggy little Louisbourg, between the estranging sea and an uncouth land + of rock, bog, sand, and scrubby vegetation, made all the world of + difference in the soldier's eyes. Add to this his want of faith in works + which he saw being scamped by rascally contractors, and we can begin to + understand why the general attitude of town and garrison alike was one of + 'Here to-day and gone to-morrow.' + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II — THE SEA LINK LOST + </h2> + <h3> + 1745 + </h3> + <p> + Rome would not rest till she had ruined Carthage. Britain would not rest + till she had seen Dunkirk demolished. New England would not rest till she + had taken Louisbourg. + </p> + <p> + Louisbourg was unique in all America, and that was its undoing. It was the + one sentinel beside the gateway to New France; therefore it ought to be + taken before Quebec and Canada were attacked. It was the one corsair lying + in perpetual wait beside the British lines of seaborne trade; therefore it + must be taken before British shipping could be safe. It was the one French + sea link between the Old World and the New; therefore its breaking was of + supreme importance. It was the one real fortress ever heard of in America, + and it was in absolutely alien hands; therefore, so ran New England logic, + it was most offensive to all true Britons, New Englanders, and Puritans; + to all rivals in smuggling, trade, and privateering; and to all + right-thinking people generally. + </p> + <p> + The weakness of Louisbourg was very welcome news to energetic + Massachusetts. In 1744, when Frederick the Great had begun the War of the + Austrian Succession and France had taken arms against Great Britain, du + Quesnel, the governor of Louisbourg, who had received the intelligence of + these events some weeks before the alert Bostonians, at once decided to + win credit by striking the first blow. He was much disliked in Louisbourg. + He drank hard, cursed his subordinates when in his cups, and set the whole + place by the ears. Moreover, many of those under him wished to avoid + giving the British Americans any provocation, in the hope that the war + might be confined to Europe. But none dared to refuse a legal and positive + order. So in May his expedition left for Canso, where there was a little + home-made British fort on the strait between Cape Breton and the mainland + of Nova Scotia. The eighty fishermen in Canso surrendered to du Vivier, + the French commander, who sent them on to Boston, after burning their fort + to the ground. Elated by this somewhat absurd success, and strengthened by + nearly a hundred regulars and four hundred Indians, who raised his total + force to at least a thousand men, du Vivier next proceeded against + Annapolis on the west side of Nova Scotia. But Mascarene, the British + commander there, stood fast on his defence, though his men were few and + his means small. The Acadian French in the vicinity were afraid to join du + Vivier openly. The siege dragged on. The British received a slight + reinforcement. The French did not. And in September du Vivier suddenly + retired without attempting an assault. + </p> + <p> + The burning of Canso and the attack on Annapolis stirred up the wrath of + New England. A wild enthusiast, William Vaughan, urged Governor Shirley of + Massachusetts to make an immediate counter-attack. Shirley was an English + lawyer, good at his own work, but very anxious to become famous as a + conqueror. He lent a willing ear to Vaughan, and astounded the General + Court of Massachusetts on January 21, 1745, by first inducing the members + to swear secrecy and then asking them to consider a plan for a colonial + expedition against Louisbourg. He and they were on very good terms. But + they were provincial, cautious, and naturally slow when it came to + planning campaigns and pledging their credit for what was then an enormous + sum of money. Nor could they be blamed. None of them knew much about + armies and navies; most thought Louisbourg was a real transatlantic + Dunkirk; and all knew that they were quite insolvent already. Their joint + committee of the two Houses reported against the scheme; whereupon each + House carried a secret adverse vote by a large majority. + </p> + <p> + But, just before these votes were taken, a Puritan member from a country + district wrestled in what he thought confidential prayer with such loud + ejaculations that an eavesdropper overheard him and passed the secret on. + Of course the momentous news at once began to run like wildfire through + the province. Still, the 'Noes had it,' both in the country and the House. + Shirley was dejected and in doubt what to do next. But James Gibson, the + merchant militiaman, suddenly hit on the idea of getting up a petition + among the business community. The result surpassed every expectation. All + the merchants were eager for attack. Louisbourg embodied everything they + feared and hated: interference with seaborne commerce, rank popery, French + domination, trouble with Acadia, and the chance of being themselves + attacked. When the petition was presented to both Houses, the whole + subject was again debated. Provincial insolvency and the absence of either + a fleet or an army were urged by the Opposition. But the fighting party + put forth all their strength and pleaded that delay meant reinforcements + for Louisbourg and a good chance lost for ever. The vote would have been a + tie if a member of the Opposition had not slipped and broken his leg as he + was hurrying down to the House. Once the decision had been reached, + however, all did their best to ensure success. + </p> + <p> + Shirley wrote to his brother governors. Vaughan galloped off post-haste to + New Hampshire with the first official letter. Gibson led the merchants in + local military zeal. The result was that Massachusetts, which then + included Maine, raised over 3,000 men, while New Hampshire and Connecticut + raised about 500 each. Rhode Island concurred, but ungraciously and + ineffectually late. She nursed two grudges against Massachusetts, one + about the undeniably harsh treatment meted out to her great founder, Roger + Williams, the other about that most fruitful source of inter-provincial + mischief-making, a disputed boundary. New York lent some guns, which + proved very useful. The remaining colonies did nothing. + </p> + <p> + Shirley's choice of a commander-in-chief wisely fell on William + Pepperrell. There was no military leader in the whole of New England. So + the next most suitable man was the civilian who best combined the + necessary qualities of good sense, sound knowledge of men and affairs, + firmness, diplomacy, and popularity. Popularity was essential, because all + the men were volunteers. Pepperrell, who answered every reasonable test, + went through the campaign with flying colours and came out of it as the + first and only baronet of Massachusetts. He was commissioned as + major-general by all three contributing provinces, since none of them + recognized any common authority except that of the crown. He was ably + seconded by many leading men who, if not trained soldiers, were at least + accustomed to the organization of public life; for in those days the word + politician had not become a term of reproach in America, and the people + were often represented by men of the highest character. + </p> + <p> + The financial difficulty was overcome by issuing letters of credit, which + were afterwards redeemed by the Imperial government, at a total cost of + nearly a quarter of a million sterling. There was no time and there were + no means to change the militia into an army. But many compensating + advantages helped to make up for its deficiencies. The men volunteered + eagerly. They were all very keen to fight the French. Most of them + understood the individual use of firearms. Many of them had been to sea + and had learned to work together as a crew. Nearly all of them had the + handiness then required for life in a new country. And, what with + conviction and what with prejudice, they were also quite disposed to look + upon the expedition as a sort of Crusade against idolatrous papists, and + therefore as a very proper climax to the Great Awakening which had + recently roused New England to the heights of religious zealotry under the + leadership of the famous George Whitefield himself. + </p> + <p> + Strangely enough, neither Whitefield nor his friend Pepperrell was at all + sure that the expedition was a wise or even a godly venture. Whitefield + warned Pepperrell that he would be envied if he succeeded and abused if he + failed. The Reverend Thomas Prince openly regretted the change of enemy. + 'The Heavenly shower is over. From fighting the Devil they needs must turn + to fighting the French.' But Parson Moody, most truculent of Puritans, had + no doubts whatever. The French, the pope, and the Devil were all one to + him; and when he embarked as senior chaplain he took a hatchet with which + to break down the graven images of Louisbourg. In the end Whitefield + warmed up enough to give the expedition its official motto: 'Nil + desperandum Christo Duce.' The 'Never Despair' heartened the worldlings. + The 'Christ our Commander' appealed to the 'Great Awakened.' And the whole + saying committed him to nothing particular concerning the issue at stake. + </p> + <p> + The three militia contingents numbered 4,270 men. The three naval + contingents had 13 vessels mounting 216 guns. In addition to both these + forces there were the transports, which had considerable crews. But all + these together, if caught on the open sea, would be no match for a few + regular men-of-war. New England had no navy, though the New Englanders had + enjoyed a good deal of experience in minor privateering against the + Spaniards during the last few years, as well as a certain amount of + downright piracy in time of peace, whenever a Frenchman or a Spaniard + could be safely taken at a disadvantage. So Shirley asked Commodore + Warren, commanding the North American station, to lend his aid. Warren had + married an American and was very well disposed towards the colonists. But, + having no orders from England, he at first felt obliged to refuse. Within + a short time, however, he was given a free hand by the Imperial + government, which authorized him to concert measures with Shirley 'for the + annoyance of the enemy, and for his Majesty's Service in North America.' + </p> + <p> + Warren immediately sailed for Canso with three men-of-war and sent for + another to join him. His wait for orders made him nearly three weeks later + than the New Englanders in arriving at the rendezvous. But this delay, due + to no fault of his own, was really an advantage to the New England + militia, who thus had a chance of learning a little more drill and + discipline. His four vessels carried 180 guns and 1,150 men at full + strength. The thirteen Provincial armed vessels carried more than 1,000 + men. No exact returns were ever made out for the transports. But as '68 + lay at anchor' in Canso harbour, while others 'came dropping in from day + to day,' as there were 4,270 militiamen on board, in addition to all the + stores, and as the French counted '96 transports' making for Gabarus Bay, + there could not have been less than 100, while the crews could hardly have + mustered less than an average of 20 men each. The grand total, at the + beginning of the expedition, could not, therefore, have been less than + 8,000 men, of all sorts put together—over 4,000 American Provincial + militia, over 1,000 men of the Royal Navy, quite 1,000 men aboard the + Provincial fighting vessels, and at least 2,000 more as crews to work the + transports. + </p> + <p> + May 1, the first Sunday the Provincials spent at Canso, was a day of great + and multifarious activity, both sacred and profane. Parson Moody, the same + who had taken the war-path with his iconoclastic hatchet, delivered a + tremendous philippic from the text, 'Thy people shall be willing in the + day of Thy power.' Luckily for his congregation he had the voice of a + Stentor, as there were several mundane competitors in an adjoining field, + each bawling the word of command at the full pitch of his lungs. A + conscientious diarist, though full of sabbatarian zeal, was fain to admit + that 'Severall sorts of Busnesses was a-Going on: Sum a-Exercising, Sum + a-Hearing o' the Preaching.' + </p> + <p> + On May 5 Warren sailed into Canso. The Provincials thought the date of his + arrival a very happy omen, as it fell on what was then, according to the + Old Style calendar, St George's Day, April 23. After a conference with + Pepperrell he hurried off to begin the blockade of Louisbourg. A week + later, May 21, the transports joined him there, and landed their + militiamen for one of the most eccentric sieges ever known. + </p> + <p> + While the British had been spending the first four months of 1745 in + preparing 8,000 men, the French authorities in Louisbourg, whose force was + less than 2,000, had been wasting the same precious time in ridiculous + councils of war. It is a well-known saying that councils of war never + fight. But these Louisbourg councils did not even prepare to fight. The + news from Boston was not heeded. Worse yet, no attention was paid to the + American scouting vessels, which had been hovering off the coast for more + than a month. The bibulous du Quesnel had died in October. But his + successor, du Chambon, was no better as a commandant. Perhaps the kindest + thing to say of du Chambon is that he was the foolish father of a knavish + son—of that du Chambon de Vergor who, in the next war, surrendered + Fort Beausejour without a siege and left one sleepy sentry to watch + Wolfe's Cove the night before the Battle of the Plains. + </p> + <p> + It is true that du Chambon had succeeded to a thoroughly bad command. He + had no naval force whatever; and the military force had become worse + instead of better. The mutiny in December had left the 560 regulars in a + very sullen frame of mind. They knew that acquisitive government officials + were cheating them out of their proper rations of bacon and beans. The + officials knew that the soldiers knew. And so suspicion and resentment + grew strong between them. The only other force was the militia, which, + with certain exceptions, comprised every male inhabitant of Cape Breton + who could stand on two legs and hold a musket with both hands. There were + boys in their early teens and old men in their sixties. Nearly 1,800 ought + to have been available. But four or five hundred that might have been + brought in never received their marching orders. So the total combatants + only amounted to some 1,900, of whom 1,350 were militia. The + non-combatants numbered nearly as many. The cramped hundred acres of + imprisoned Louisbourg thus contained almost 4,000 people—mutineers + and militia, women and children, drones and other officials, all huddled + up together. + </p> + <p> + No reinforcements arrived after the first appearance of the British fleet. + Marin, a well-known guerilla leader, had been sent down from Quebec, + through the bush, with six or seven hundred whites and Indians, to join + the two thousand men whom the French government had promised du Vivier for + a second, and this time a general, attack on Acadia. But these other two + thousand were never sent; and Marin, having failed to take Annapolis by + the first week in June, was too late and too weak to help Louisbourg + afterwards. The same ill luck pursued the French by sea. On April 30 the + Renommee, a very smart frigate bringing out dispatches, was chased off by + the Provincial cruisers; while all subsequent arrivals from the outside + world were intercepted by Warren. + </p> + <p> + The landing effected on May 12 was not managed according to Shirley's + written instructions; nor was the siege. Shirley had been playing a little + war game in his study, with all the inconvenient obstacles left out—the + wind, the weather, the crashing surf in Gabarus Bay, the rocks and bogs of + the surrounding country, the difficulties of entering a narrow-necked + harbour under a combination of end-on and broadside fire, the terrible lee + shore off the islands, reefs, and Lighthouse Point, the commonest + vigilance of the most slovenly garrison, and even the offensive power of + the guns on the walls of Louisbourg itself. Shirley's plan was that + Pepperrell should arrive in the offing too late to be seen, land + unobserved, and march on Louisbourg in four detachments while the garrison + was wrapped in slumber. Two of these detachments were to march within + striking distance and then 'halt and keep a profound silence.' The third + was to march 'under cover of said hills' until it came opposite the Royal + Battery, which it was to assault on a given signal; while the 'profound + silence' men rushed the western gate. The fourth detachment was to race + along the shore, scale a certain spot in the wall, 'and secure the windows + of the Governor's Apartments.' All this was to be done by raw militia, on + ground they had never reconnoitred, and in the dead of night. + </p> + <p> + Needless to say, Pepperrell tried something quite different. At daybreak + of the 12th the whole fleet stood into Gabarus Bay, a large open roadstead + running west from the little Louisbourg peninsula. The Provincials eyed + the fortress eagerly. It looked mean, squat, and shrunken in the dim grey + light of early dawn. But it looked hard enough, for all that. Its alarm + bells began to ring. Its signal cannon fired. And all the people who had + been living outside hurried in behind the walls. + </p> + <p> + The New Englanders were so keen to land that they ran some danger of + falling into complete disorder. But Pepperrell managed very cleverly. + Seeing that some Frenchmen were ready to resist a landing on Flat Point, + two miles south-west of Louisbourg, he made a feint against it, drew their + fire, and then raced his boats for Freshwater Cove, another two miles + beyond. Having completely outdistanced the handful of panting Frenchmen, + he landed in perfect safety and presently scattered them with a wild + charge which cost them about twenty in killed, wounded, and prisoners. + Before dark two thousand Provincials were ashore. The other two thousand + landed at their leisure the following day. + </p> + <p> + The next event in this extraordinary siege is one of the curiosities of + war. On May 14 the enthusiastic Vaughan took several hundreds of these + newly landed men to the top of the nearest hillock and saluted the walls + with three cheers. He then circled the whole harbour, keeping well inland, + till he reached the undefended storehouses on the inner side of the + North-East Harbour, a little beyond the Royal Battery. These he at once + set on fire. The pitch, tar, wood, and other combustibles made a blinding + smoke, which drifted over the Royal Battery and spread a stampeding panic + among its garrison of four hundred men. Vaughan then retired for the + night. On his return to the Royal Battery in the morning, with only + thirteen men, he was astounded to see no sign of life there. Suspecting a + ruse, he bribed an Indian with a flask of brandy to feign being drunk and + reel up to the walls. The Indian reached the fort unchallenged, climbed + into an embrasure, and found the whole place deserted. Vaughan followed at + once; and a young volunteer, shinning up the flag-pole, made his own red + coat fast to the top. This defiance was immediately answered by a random + salvo from Louisbourg, less than a mile across the harbour. + </p> + <p> + Vaughan's next move was to write a dispatch to Pepperrell: 'May it please + your Honour to be informed that by the Grace of God and the courage of 13 + Men I entered the Royal Battery about 9 o' the clock and am waiting for a + reinforcement and a flag.' He had hardly sent this off before he was + attacked by four boats from Louisbourg. Quite undaunted, however, he stood + out on the open beach with his thirteen men and kept them all at bay till + the reinforcement and the flag arrived with Bradstreet, who was afterwards + to win distinction as the captor of Fort Frontenac during the great + campaign of 1759. + </p> + <p> + This disgraceful abandonment and this dramatic capture of the Royal + Battery marked the first and most decisive turning-point in the fortunes + of the siege. The French were dismayed, the British were elated; and both + the dismay and the elation grew as time wore on, because everything seemed + to conspire against the French and in favour of the British. Even the + elements, as the anonymous Habitant de Louisbourg complains in his + wonderfully candid diary, seemed to have taken sides. There had never been + so fine a spring for naval operations. But this was the one thing which + was entirely independent of French fault or British merit. All the other + strokes of luck owed something to human causes. Wise-acres had shaken + their heads over the crazy idea of taking British cannon balls solely to + fit French cannon that were to be taken at the beginning of the siege: it + was too much like selling the pelt before the trap was sprung. Yet these + balls actually were used to load the forty-two pounders taken with the + Royal Battery! Moreover, as if to cap the climax, ten other cannon were + found buried in the North-East Harbour; and again spare British balls were + found to fit exactly! The fact is that what we should now call the + Intelligence Department had been doing good work the year before by spying + out the land at Louisbourg and reporting to the proper men in Boston. + </p> + <p> + The Bostonians had always intended to take the Royal Battery at the + earliest possible moment. But nobody had thought that the French would + abandon it without a blow and leave it intact for their enemy, with all + its armament complete. The French council of war apparently shrank from + hurting the feelings of the engineer in charge, who had pleaded for its + preservation! They then ran away without spiking the guns properly, and + without making the slightest attempt either to burn the carriages or knock + the trunnions off. The invaluable stores were left in their places. The + only real destruction was caused by a barrel of powder, which some + bunglers blew up by mistake. The inevitable consequence of all this French + ineptitude was that the Royal Battery roared against Louisbourg the very + next morning with tremendous effect, smashing the works most exposed to + its fire, bringing down houses about the inhabitants' ears, and sending + the terrified non-combatants scurrying off to underground cover. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the bulk of the New Englanders were establishing their camp + along the brook which fell into Gabarus Bay beside Flat Point and within + two miles of Louisbourg. Equipment of all kinds was very scarce. Tents + were so few and bad that old sails stretched over ridge-poles had to be + used instead. When sails ran short, brushwood shelters roofed in with + overlapping spruce boughs were used as substitutes. + </p> + <p> + Landing the four thousand men had been comparatively easy work. But + landing the stores was very hard indeed; while landing the guns was not + only much harder still, but full of danger as well. Many a flat-boat was + pounded into pulpwood while unloading the stores, though the men waded in + waist-deep and carried all the heavy bundles on their heads and shoulders. + When it came to the artillery, it meant a boat lost for every single piece + of ordnance landed. Nor was even this the worst; for, strange as it may + seem, there was, at first, more risk of foundering ashore than afloat. + There were neither roads nor yet the means to make them. There were no + horses, oxen, mules, or any other means of transport, except the brawny + men themselves, who literally buckled to with anchor-cable drag-ropes—a + hundred pair of straining men for each great, lumbering gun. Over the sand + they went at a romp. Over the rocks they had to take care; and in the + dense, obstructing scrub they had to haul through by main force. But this + was child's play to what awaited them in the slimy, shifting, and + boulder-strewn bog they had to pass before reaching the hillocks which + commanded Louisbourg. + </p> + <p> + The first attempts here were disastrous. The guns sank out of sight in the + engulfing bog; while the toiling men became regular human targets for shot + and shell from Louisbourg. It was quite plain that the British batteries + could never be built on the hillocks if the guns had nothing to keep them + from a boggy grave, and if the men had no protection from the French + artillery. But a ship-builder colonel, Meserve of New Hampshire, came to + the rescue by designing a gun-sleigh, sixteen feet in length and five in + the beam. Then the crews were told off again, two hundred men for each + sleigh, and orders were given that the work should not be done except at + night or under cover of the frequent fogs. After this, things went much + better than before. But the labour was tremendous still; while the danger + from random shells bursting among the boulders was not to be despised. + Four hundred struggling feet, four hundred straining arms—each team + hove on its long, taut cable through fog, rain, and the blackness of the + night, till every gun had been towed into one of the batteries before the + walls. The triumph was all the greater because the work grew, not easier, + but harder as it progressed. The same route used twice became an + impassable quagmire. So, when the last two hundred men had wallowed + through, the whole ensnaring bog was seamed with a perfect maze of + decoying death-trails snaking in and out of the forbidding scrub and + boulders. + </p> + <p> + Pepperrell's dispatches could not exaggerate these 'almost incredible + hardships.' Afloat and ashore, awake and asleep, the men were soaking wet + for days together. At the end of the longest haul they had nothing but a + choice of evils. They could either lie down where they were, on hard rock + or oozing bog, exposed to the enemy's fire the moment it was light enough + to see the British batteries, or they could plough their way back to camp. + Here they were safe enough from shot and shell; but, in other respects, no + better off than in the batteries. Most men's kits were of the very + scantiest. Very few had even a single change of clothing. A good many went + bare-foot. Nearly all were in rags before the siege was over. + </p> + <p> + When twenty-five pieces had been dragged up to Green Hill and its + adjoining hillocks, the bombardment at last began. The opening salvo + seemed to give the besiegers new life. No sooner was their first rough + line of investment formed than they commenced gaining ground, with a + disregard for cover which would have cost them dear if the French practice + had not been quite as bad as their own. A really wonderful amount of + ammunition was fired off on both sides without hitting anything in + particular. Louisbourg itself was, of course, too big a target to be + missed, as a rule; and the besiegers soon got so close that they simply + had to be hit themselves now and then. But, generally speaking, it may be + truthfully said that while, in an ordinary battle, it takes a man's own + weight in cartridges to kill him, in this most extraordinary siege it took + at least a horse's weight as well. + </p> + <p> + The approach to the walls defied all the usual precautions of regular war. + But the circumstances justified its boldness. With only four thousand men + at the start, with nearly half of this total on the sick list at one + rather critical juncture, with very few trained gunners, and without any + corps of engineers at all, the Provincials adapted themselves to the + situation so defiantly that they puzzled, shook, and overawed the French, + who thought them two or three times stronger than they really were. + Recklessly defiant though they were, however, they did provide the + breaching batteries with enough cover for the purpose in hand. This is + amply proved both by the fewness of their casualties and by the evidence + of Bastide, the British engineer at Annapolis, who inspected the lines of + investment on his arrival, twelve days before the surrender, and reported + them sufficiently protected. + </p> + <p> + Where the Provincials showed their 'prentice hands to genuine disadvantage + was in their absurdly solemn and utterly futile councils of war. No + schoolboys' debating club could well have done worse than the council held + to consider du Chambon's stereotyped answer to the usual summons sent in + at the beginning of a siege. The formula that 'his cannon would answer for + him' provoked a tremendous storm in the council's teacup and immediately + resulted in the following resolution: 'Advised, Unanimously, that the + Towne of Louisbourg be Attacked this Night.' But, confronted with 'a great + Dissatysfaction in many of the officers and Souldiers at the designed + attack of the towne this Night,' it was 'Advised, Unanimously,' by a + second council, called in great haste, 'that the Said Attack be deferred + for the Present.' This 'Present' lasted during the rest of the siege. + </p> + <p> + Once the New Englanders had settled down, however, they wisely began to + increase their weight of metal, as well as to decrease the range at which + they used it. They set to work with a will to make a breach at the + North-West Gate of Louisbourg, near where the inner angle of the walls + abutted on the harbour; and they certainly needed all their indomitable + perseverance when it came to arming their new 'North-Western' or + 'Titcomb's Battery.' The twenty-two pounders had required two hundred men + apiece. The forty-two pounders took three hundred. Two of these unwieldy + guns were hauled a couple of miles round the harbour, in the dark, from + that 'Royal Battery' which Vaughan had taken 'by the Grace of God and the + courage of 13 Men,' and then successfully mounted at 'Titcomb's,' just + where they could do the greatest damage to their former owners, the + French. + </p> + <p> + Well-trained gunners were exceedingly scarce. Pepperrell could find only + six among his four thousand men. But Warren lent him three more, whom he + could ill spare, as no one knew when a fleet might come out from France. + With these nine instructors to direct them Pepperrell's men closed in + their line of fire till besieged and besiegers came within such easy + musket-shot of one another that taunting challenges and invitations could + be flung across the intervening space. + </p> + <p> + Each side claimed advantages and explained shortcomings to its own + satisfaction. A New England diarist says: 'We began our fire with as much + fury as possible, and the French returned it as warmly with Cannon, + Mortars, and continual showers of musket balls; but by 11 o'clock we had + beat them all from their guns.' A French diarist of the same day says that + the fire from the walls was stopped on purpose, chiefly to save powder; + while the same reason is assigned for the British order to cease fire + exactly one hour later. + </p> + <p> + The practice continued to be exceedingly bad on both sides; so bad, + indeed, that the New Englanders suffered more from the bursting of their + own guns than from the enemy's fire. The nine instructors could not be + everywhere; and all their good advice could not prevent the eager amateurs + from grossly overloading the double-shotted pieces. 'Another 42-pound gun + burst at the Grand Battery.' 'Captain Hale is dangerously hurt by the + bursting of another gun. He was the mainstay of our gunnery since Captain + Rhodes's misfortune'—a misfortune due to the same cause. But, in + spite of all such drawbacks on the British side, Louisbourg got much the + worst of it. The French had to fire from the centre outwards, at a + semicircle of batteries that fired back convergingly at them. Besides, it + was almost as hard to hit the thin, irregular line of British batteries as + it was to miss the deep, wide target of overcrowded Louisbourg. The walls + were continually being smashed from without and patched up from within. + The streets were ploughed from end to end. Many houses were laid in ruins: + only one remained intact when the siege was over. The non-combatants, who + now exceeded the garrison effectives, were half buried in the smothering + casemates underground; and though the fighting men had light, air, and + food enough, and though they were losing very few in killed and wounded, + they too began to feel that Louisbourg must fall if it was not soon + relieved from outside. + </p> + <p> + The British, on the contrary, grew more and more confident, both afloat + and ashore, though they had one quite alarming scare ashore. They knew + their navy outmatched the French; and they saw that, while Warren was + being strengthened, du Chambon was being left as devoid of naval force as + ever. But their still greater confidence ashore was, for the time being, + very rudely shaken when they heard that Marin, the same French guerilla + leader who had been sent down from Quebec against Annapolis with six or + seven hundred whites and Indians, had been joined by the promised + reinforcements from France and was coming to take the camp in rear. The + truth was that the reinforcements never arrived, that Marin had failed to + take Annapolis, and that there was no real danger from his own dwindling + force, even if it had tried to relieve Louisbourg in June. But the rumour + ran quickly through the whole camp, probably not without Pepperrell's own + encouragement, and at once produced, not a panic, but the most excellent + effect. Discipline, never good, had been growing worse. Punishments were + unknown. Officers and men were petitioning for leave to go home, quite + regardless of the need for their services at the front. Demands for + promotion, for extra allowances, and for increased pay were becoming a + standing nuisance. Then, just as the leaders were at their wits' ends what + to do, Marin's threatened attack came to their aid; and their brave armed + mob once more began to wear the semblance of an army. Sentries, piquets, + and outposts appeared as if by magic. Officers went their rounds with + zeal. The camp suddenly ceased to be a disorderly playground for every one + off duty. The breaching batteries redoubled their efforts against the + walls. + </p> + <p> + The threat of danger once past, however, the men soon slipped back into + their careless ways. A New England chronicler records that 'those who were + on the spot have frequently, in my hearing, laughed at the recital of + their own irregularities and expressed their admiration when they + reflected on the almost miraculous preservation of the army from + destruction.' Men off duty amused themselves with free-and-easy musketry, + which would have been all very well if there had not been such a dearth of + powder for the real thing. Races, wrestling, and quoits were better; while + fishing was highly commendable, both in the way of diet as well as in the + way of sport. Such entries as 'Thritty Lobbsters' and '6 Troutts' appear + in several diaries. + </p> + <p> + Nor were other forms of gaiety forgotten. Even a Massachusetts Puritan + could recommend a sermon for general distribution in the camp because 'It + will please your whole army, as it shows them the way to gain by their + gallantry the hearts and affections of the Ladys.' And even a city of the + 'Great Awakening,' like Boston, could produce a letter like the following: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + I hope this will find you at Louisbourg with a bowl + of Punch, a Pipe, and a Pack of Cards, and whatever + else you desire. (I had forgot to mention a Pretty + French Madammoselle.) Your Friend Luke has lost several + Beaver Hatts already concerning the Expedition. He is + so very zealous about it that he has turned poor + Boutier out of his house for saying he believed you + wouldn't take the Place. Damn his Blood, says Luke, + let him be an Englishman or a Frenchman and not pretend + to be an Englishman when he is a Frenchman in his + Heart. If Drinking to your Success would take Cape + Britton you must be in possession of it now, for it's + a Standing Toast. +</pre> + <p> + The day this letter was written in Boston, May 6, Warren had already begun + the regular blockade. Only a single ship eluded him, an ably handled + Basque, which stood in and rounded to, under the walls of Louisbourg, + after running the gauntlet of the Royal Battery, on which the French fired + with all their might to keep its own fire down. A second vessel was forced + aground. Her captain fought her to the last; but Warren's boat crews took + her. Some men who escaped from her brought du Chambon the news that a + third French ship, the Vigilant, was coming to the relief of Louisbourg + with ammunition and other stores. This ship had five hundred and sixty men + aboard, that is, as many as all the regulars in Louisbourg. On May 31 the + garrison heard a tremendous cannonading out at sea. It grew in volume as + Warren's squadron was seen to surround the stranger, who was evidently + making a gallant fight against long odds. Presently it ceased; the + clustered vessels parted; spread out; and took up their stations exactly + as before, except that a new vessel was now flying the British flag. This + was the Vigilant, which had been put in charge of a prize crew, while her + much-needed stores had been sent in to the Provincial army. + </p> + <p> + The French in Louisbourg were naturally much discouraged to see one of + their best frigates flying the Union Jack. But they still hoped she might + not really be the anxiously expected Vigilant. Warren, knowing their + anxiety, determined to take advantage of it at the first opportunity. He + had not long to wait. A party of New Englanders, wandering too far inland, + were ambushed by the French Indians, who promptly scalped all the + prisoners. Warren immediately sent in a formal protest to du Chambon, with + a covering letter from the captain of the Vigilant, who willingly + testified to the good treatment he and his crew were receiving on board + the British men-of-war. Warren's messenger spoke French perfectly, but he + concealed his knowledge by communicating with du Chambon through an + interpreter. This put the French off their guard and induced them to + express their dismay without reserve when they read the news about the + Vigilant. Everything they said was of course reported back to Warren, who + immediately passed it on to Pepperrell. + </p> + <p> + Warren now thought the time had come to make a bold, decisive stroke. He + had just been reinforced by two more frigates out from England. Titcomb's + famous brace of forty-two's had just begun to hammer in the North-West + Gate of Louisbourg. Pepperrell's lines of investment were quite complete. + The chance was too tempting to let slip, especially as it was safe + strategy to get into Louisbourg before the French could be relieved either + by land or sea. Still, there was the Island Battery to reckon with. It was + full of fight, and it flanked the narrow entrance in the most threatening + way. Warren paused to consider the strength of this last outpost of the + French defences and called a council of war to help him. For once a + council favoured extreme measures; whereupon Warren sent in word to + Pepperrell, asking for 1,500 Provincials, and proposing a combined assault + immediately. The plan was that Warren should sail in, past the Island + Battery, and attack the harbour face of Louisbourg with every soldier, + sailor, and ship's gun at his disposal; while Pepperrell carried the + landward face by assault. This plan might have succeeded, though at + considerable loss, if Pepperrell's whole 4,000 had been effective. But as + he then had 1,900 sick and wounded, and 600 guarding his rear against the + rumoured advance of Marin from Annapolis, it was quite evident that if he + gave Warren another 1,500 he would have to assault the landward face + alone. Under these circumstances he very sensibly declined to co-operate + in the way Warren had suggested. But he offered 600 men, both from his + army and the transports, for the Vigilant, whose prize crew would thus be + released for duty aboard their own vessels. Warren, who was just over + forty, replied with some heat. But Pepperrell, who was just under fifty, + kept his temper admirably and carried the day. + </p> + <p> + Warren, however, still urged Pepperrell to take some decisive step. Both + fleet and army agreed that a night attack on the Island Battery was the + best alternative to Warren's impracticable plan. Vaughan jumped at the + idea, hoping to repeat in another way his success against the Royal + Battery. He promised that, if he was given a free hand, he would send + Pepperrell the French flag within forty-eight hours. But Vaughan was not + to lead. The whole attack was entrusted to men who specially volunteered + for it, and who were allowed to choose their own officers. A man called + Brooks happened to be on the crest of the wave of camp popularity at the + moment; so he was elected colonel for this great occasion. The volunteers + soon began to assemble at the Royal Battery. But they came in by driblets, + and most of them were drunk. The commandant of the battery felt far from + easy. 'I doubt whether straggling fellows, three, four, or seven out of a + company, ought to go on such service. They seem to be impatient for + action. If there were a more regular appearance, it would give me greater + sattysfaction.' His misgivings were amply justified; for the men whom + Pepperrell was just beginning to form into bodies with some kind of + cohesion were once more being allowed to dissolve into the original armed + mob. + </p> + <p> + The night of June 7 was dark and calm. A little before twelve three + hundred men, wisely discarding oars, paddled out from the Royal Battery + and met another hundred who came from Lighthouse Point. The paddles took + them along in silence while they circled the island, looking for the + narrow landing-place, where only three boats could go abreast between the + destroying rocks on which the surf was breaking. Presently they found the + tiny cove, and a hundred and fifty men landed without being discovered. + But then, with incredible folly, they suddenly announced their presence by + giving three cheers. The French commandant had cautioned his garrison to + be alert, on account of the unusual darkness; and, at this very moment, he + happened himself to be pacing up and down the rampart overlooking the spot + where the volunteers were expressing their satisfaction at having + surprised him so well. + </p> + <p> + His answer was instantaneous and effective. The battery 'blazed with + cannon, swivels, and small-arms,' which fired point-blank at the men + ashore and with true aim at the boats crowded together round the narrow + landing-place. Undaunted though undisciplined, the men ashore rushed at + the walls with their scaling-ladders and began the assault. The attempt + was vain. The first men up the rungs were shot, stabbed, or cut down. The + ladders were smashed or thrown aside. Not one attacker really got home. + Meanwhile the leading boats in the little cove were being knocked into + splinters by the storm of shot. The rest sheered off. None but the hundred + and fifty men ashore were left to keep up the fight with the garrison. For + once the odds were entirely with the French, who fired from under perfect + cover, while the unfortunate Provincials fired back from the open rocks. + This exchange of shots went on till daylight, when one hundred and + nineteen Provincials surrendered at discretion. Their total loss was one + hundred and eighty-nine, nearly half the force employed. + </p> + <p> + Despairing Louisbourg naturally made the most of this complete success. + The bells were rung and the cannon were fired to show the public joy and + to put the best face on the general situation. Du Chambon surpassed + himself in gross exaggerations. He magnified the hundred and fifty men + ashore into a thousand, and the two hundred and fifty afloat into eight + hundred; while he bettered both these statements by reporting that the + whole eighteen hundred had been destroyed except the hundred and nineteen + who had been taken prisoners. + </p> + <p> + Du Chambon's triumph was short-lived. The indefatigable Provincials began + a battery at Lighthouse Point, which commanded the island at less than + half a mile. They had seized this position some time before and called it + Gorham's Post, after the colonel whose regiment held it. Fourteen years + later there was another and more famous Gorham's Post, on the south shore + of the St Lawrence near Quebec, opposite Wolfe's Cove. The arming of this + battery was a stupendous piece of work. The guns had to be taken round by + sea, out of range of the Island Battery, hauled up low but very dangerous + cliffs, and then dragged back overland another mile and a quarter. The + directing officer was Colonel Gridley, who drew the official British maps + and plans of Louisbourg in 1745, and who, thirty years later, traced the + American defences on the slopes of Bunker's Hill. Du Chambon had attempted + to make an attack on Gorham's Post as soon as it was established. His idea + was that his men should follow the same route as the British guns had + followed—that is, that they should run the gauntlet between the + British fleet and army, land well north of Gorham's Post, and take it by + surprise from the rear. But his detachment, which was wholly inadequate, + failed to strike its blow, and was itself very nearly cut off by Warren's + guard-boats on its crest-fallen return to Louisbourg. + </p> + <p> + Gridley's Lighthouse Battery soon over-matched the Island Battery, where + powder was getting dangerously scarce. Many of the French guns were + knocked off their mountings, while the walls were breached. Finally, the + British bombardment became so effective that Frenchmen were seen running + into the water to escape the bursting shells. It was now past the middle + of June, and the siege had lasted more than a month. The circle of fire + was closing in on the beleaguered garrison. Their total effectives had + sunk to only a thousand men. This thousand laboured harder in its losing + cause than might have been expected. Perhaps the mutineers hoped to be + pardoned if they made a firm defence. Perhaps the militia thought they + ought not to be outdone by mutineers and hireling foreigners. But, + whatever the reason, great efforts were certainly made to build up by + night what the British knocked down by day. Two could play at that game, + however, and the British had the men and means to win. Their western + batteries from the land were smashing the walls into ruins. Their Royal + Battery wrecked the whole inner water-front of Louisbourg. Breaches were + yawning elsewhere. British fascines were visible in large quantities, + ready to fill up the ditch, which was already half full of debris. The + French scouts reported hundreds of scaling-ladders on the reverse slopes + of the nearest hillocks. Warren's squadron had just been again reinforced, + and now numbered eleven sail, carrying 554 guns and 3,000 men. There was + no sign of help, by land or sea, for shrunken, battered, and despairing + Louisbourg. Food, ammunition, stores were all running out. Moreover, the + British were evidently preparing a joint attack, which would result in + putting the whole garrison to the sword if a formal surrender should not + be made in time. + </p> + <p> + Now that the Island Battery had been silenced there was no reason why + Warren's plan should not be crowned with complete success. Accordingly he + arranged with Pepperrell to run in with the first fair wind, at the head + of the whole fleet, which, with the Provincial armed vessels, now numbered + twenty-four sail, carried 770 guns, and was manned by 4,000 sailors. Half + these men could be landed to attack the inner water-front, while + Pepperrell could send another 2,000 against the walls. The total odds + against Louisbourg would thus be about four to one in men and over eight + to one in guns actually engaged. + </p> + <p> + But this threatened assault was never made. In the early morning of June + 27 the non-combatants in Louisbourg unanimously petitioned du Chambon to + surrender forthwith. They crept out of their underground dungeons and + gazed with mortal apprehension at the overwhelming forces that stood + arrayed against their crumbling walls and dwindling garrison. Noon came, + and their worst fears seemed about to be realized. But when the drums + began beating, it was to a parley, not to arms. A sigh of ineffable relief + went up from the whole of Louisbourg, and every eye followed the little + white flutter of the flag of truce as it neared that terrible breaching + battery opposite the West Gate. A Provincial officer came out to meet it. + The French officer and he saluted. Then both moved into the British lines + and beyond, to where Warren and Pepperrell were making their last + arrangements on Green Hill. + </p> + <p> + After a short consultation the British leaders sent in a joint reply to + say that du Chambon could have till eight the next morning to make his + proposals. These proved to be so unacceptable that Pepperrell refused to + consider them, and at once sent counter-proposals of his own. Du Chambon + had now no choice between annihilation and acceptance, so he agreed to + surrender Louisbourg the following day. He was obliged to guarantee that + none of the garrison should bear arms against the British, in any part of + the world, for a whole year. Every one in Louisbourg was of course + promised full protection for both property and person. Du Chambon's one + successful stipulation was that his troops should march out with the + honours of war, drums beating, bayonets fixed, and colours flying. Warren + and Pepperrell willingly accorded this on the 28th; and the formal + transfer took place next day, exactly seven weeks since the first eager + New Englanders had waded ashore through the thundering surf of Gabarus + Bay. + </p> + <p> + The total losses in killed and wounded were never precisely determined. + Each side minimized its own and maximized the enemy's. But as du Chambon + admitted a loss of one hundred and forty-five, and as the Provincials + claimed to have put three hundred out of action, the true number is + probably about two hundred, or just over ten per cent of the whole + garrison. The Provincials reported their own killed, quite correctly, at a + hundred. The remaining deaths, on both sides, were due to disease. The + Provincial wounded were never grouped together in any official returns. + They amounted to about three hundred. This brings the total casualties in + Pepperrell's army up to four hundred and gives the same percentage as the + French. The highest proportion of casualties among all the different + forces was the fifteen per cent lost by the French on board the Vigilant + in less than five hours' fighting. The lowest was in Warren's squadron and + the Provincial Marine—about five in each. The loss of material + suffered by the French was, of course, on quite a different scale. Every + fortification and other building in Louisbourg, with the remarkable + exception of a single house, was at least partly demolished by the nine + thousand cannon balls and six hundred shells that hit the target of a + hundred acres peopled by four thousand souls. + </p> + <p> + On the 29th the French marched out with the honours of war, laid down + their arms, and were put under guard as prisoners, pending their transport + to France. Du Chambon handed the keys to Pepperrell at the South Gate. The + victorious but disgusted Provincials marched in by the West Gate, and + found themselves set to protect the very houses that they had hoped to + plunder. Was it not high time to recoup themselves for serving as soldiers + at sixpence a day? Great Babylon had fallen, and ought to be destroyed—of + course, with due profit to the destroyers. There was a regular Louisbourg + legend, current in New England, that stores of goods and money were to be + found in the strong rooms of every house. So we can understand the + indignation of men whose ideas were coloured by personal contact with + smuggling and privateering, and sometimes with downright piracy, when they + were actually told off as sentries over these mythical hoards of wealth. + One diarist made the following entry immediately after he had heard the + news: 'Sabbath Day, ye 16th June [Old Style] they came to Termes for us to + enter ye Sitty to morrow, and Poore Termes they Bee too.' Another added + that there was 'a great Noys and hubbub a mongst ye Solders a bout ye + Plunder: Som a Cursing, Som a Swarein.' Five days later a third indignant + Provincial wrote: 'Ye French keep possession yet, and we are forsed to + stand at their Dores to gard them.' Another sympathetic chronicler, after + pouring out the vials of his wrath on the clause which guaranteed the + protection of French private property, lamented that 'by these means the + poor souldiers lost all their hopes and just demerit [sic] of plunder + promised them.' + </p> + <p> + While Parson Moody was preaching a great thanksgiving sermon, and all the + senior officers were among his congregation, there was what responsible + officials called 'excessive stealing in every part of the Towne.' Had this + stealing really been very 'excessive' no doubt it would have allayed the + grumbling in the camp. But, as a matter of fact, there was so little to + steal that the looters began to suspect collusion between their leaders + and the French. Another fancied wrong exasperated the Provincials at this + critical time. A rumour ran through the camp that Warren had forestalled + Pepperrell by receiving the keys himself. Warren was cursed, Pepperrell + blamed; and a mutinous spirit arose. Then it was suddenly discovered that + Pepperrell had put the keys in his pocket. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the fleet was making haul after haul. When Pepperrell marched + through the battered West Gate, at the head of his motley army, Warren had + led his squadron into the harbour; and both commanders had saluted the + raising of the Union Jack which marked the change of ownership. But no + sooner had the sound of guns and cheering died away than the Union Jack + was lowered and the French flag was raised again, both over the citadel of + Louisbourg and over the Island Battery. This stratagem succeeded beyond + Warren's utmost expectations. Several French vessels were lured into + Louisbourg and captured with stores and men enough to have kept the + British out for some weeks longer. Their cargoes were worth about a + million dollars. Then, just as the naval men were wondering whether their + harvest was over or not, a fine French frigate made for the harbour quite + unsuspectingly, and only discovered her fatal mistake too late to turn + back. By the irony of circumstances she happened to be called Notre-Dame + de la Delivrance. Among her passengers was the distinguished man of + science, Don Antonio de Ulloa, on his way to Paris, with all the results + of those explorations in South America which he afterwards embodied in a + famous book of travel. Warren treated him with the greatest courtesy and + promised that all his collections should be duly forwarded to the Royal + Academy of Sciences. Once this exchange of international amenities had + been ended, however, the usual systematic search began. The visible cargo + was all cocoa. But hidden underneath were layers and layers of shining + silver dollars from Peru; and, underneath this double million, another two + million dollars' worth of ingots of silver and ingots of gold. + </p> + <p> + The contrast between the poverty of Louisbourg, where so much had been + expected, and the rich hauls of prize-money made by the fleet, was gall + and wormwood to the Provincials. But their resentment was somewhat + tempered by Warren's genial manner towards them. Warren was at home with + all sorts and conditions of men. His own brother-officers, statesmen and + courtiers, distinguished strangers like Ulloa, and colonial merchants like + Pepperrell, were equally loud in his praise. With the lesser and much more + easily offended class of New Englanders found in the ranks he was no less + popular. A rousing speech, in which he praised the magnificently stubborn + work accomplished by 'my wife's fellow-countrymen,' a hearty generosity + all round, and a special hogshead of the best Jamaica rum for the garrison + of the Royal Battery, won him a great deal of goodwill, in spite of the + fact that his 'Admiral's eighth' of the naval prize-money amounted to some + sixty thousand pounds, while Pepperrell found himself ten thousand pounds + out of pocket at the end of the siege. + </p> + <p> + Pepperrell, however, was a very rich man, for those colonial days; and he + could well afford to celebrate the fall of Louisbourg by giving the chief + naval and military officers a dinner, the fame of which will never fade + away from some New England memories. Everything went off without a hitch. + But, as the hour approached, there was a growing anxiety, on the part of + both host and guests, as to whether or not the redoubtable Parson Moody + would keep them listening to his grace till all the meats got cold. He was + well known for the length, as well as for the strength, of his discourses. + He had once denounced the Devil in a grace of forty minutes. So what was + the surprised delight of his fellow-revellers when he hardly kept them + standing longer than as many seconds. 'Good Lord!' he said, 'we have so + much to thank Thee for, that Time will be too short. Therefore we must + leave it for Eternity. Bless our food and fellowship on this joyful + occasion, for the sake of Christ our Lord. Amen!' + </p> + <p> + News of the victory was sent at once to Boston. The vessel bearing it + arrived in the middle of the night. But long before the summer sun was up + the streets were filled with shouts of triumph, while the church bells + rang in peals of exultation, and all the guns and muskets in the place + were fired as fast as men could load them. + </p> + <p> + The mother country's joy was less exuberant. There were so many other + things to think of nearer home; among them the British defeat at Fontenoy + and the landing of the Young Pretender. Nor was the actual victory without + alloy; for prescient people feared that a practically independent colonial + army had been encouraged to become more independent still. And who can say + the fear was groundless? Louisbourg really did serve to blood New + Englanders for Bunker's Hill. But, in spite of this one drawback, the news + was welcomed, partly because any victory was welcome at such a time, and + partly because the fall of Louisbourg was a signal assertion of British + sea-power on both sides of the Atlantic. + </p> + <p> + London naturally made overmuch of Warren's share, just as Boston made + overmuch of Pepperrell's. But the Imperial government itself perfectly + understood that the fleet and the army were each an indispensable half of + one co-operating whole. Warren was promoted rear-admiral of the blue, the + least that could be given him. Pepperrell received much higher honours. He + was made a baronet and, like Shirley, was given the colonelcy of a + regiment which was to bear his name. Such 'colonelcies' do not imply the + actual command of men, but are honorary distinctions of which even kings + and conquerors are proud. Nor was the Provincial Marine forgotten. Rous, + of the Shirley, was sent to England with dispatches, and was there made a + post-captain in the Royal Navy for his gallantry in action against the + Vigilant. He afterwards enjoyed a distinguished career and died an + admiral. It was in his ship, the Sutherland, that Wolfe wrote the final + orders for the Battle of the Plains fourteen years after this first siege + of Louisbourg. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III — THE LINK RECOVERED + </h2> + <h3> + 1748 + </h3> + <p> + Louisbourg was the most thoroughly hated place in all America. The French + government hated it as Napoleon hated the Peninsula, because it was a + drain on their resources. The British government hated it because it cut + into their oversea communications. The American colonists hated it because + it was a standing menace to their ambitious future. And every one who had + to live in it—no matter whether he was French or British, European + or American, naval or military, private or official—hated it as only + exiles can. + </p> + <p> + But perhaps even exiled Frenchmen detested it less heartily than the + disgusted Provincials who formed its garrison from the summer of 1745 to + the spring of the following year. Warren and Pepperrell were obliged to + spend half their time in seeing court-martial justice done. The + bluejackets fretted for some home port in which to enjoy their plentiful + prize-money. The Provincials fretted for home at any cost. They were angry + at being kept on duty at sixpence a day after the siege was over. They + chafed against the rules about looting, as well as against what they + thought the unjust difference between the million sterling that had been + captured at sea, under full official sanction, and the ridiculous + collection of odds and ends that could be stolen on land, at the risk of + pains and penalties. Imagine the rage of the sullen Puritan, even if he + had a sense of humour, when, after hearing a bluejacket discussing plans + for spending a hundred golden guineas, he had to make such entries in his + diary as these of Private Benjamin Crafts: 'Saturday. Recd a half-pint of + Rum to Drinke ye King's Health. The Lord look upon Us and prepare us for + His Holy Day. Sunday. Blessed be the Lord that has given us to enjoy + another Sabath. Monday. Last Night I was taken verry Bad. The Lord be + pleased to strengthen my Inner Man. May we all be Prepared for his Holy + Will. Recd part of Plunder—9 Small tooth combs.' + </p> + <p> + No wonder there was trouble in plenty. The routine of a small and + uncongenial station is part of a regular's second nature, though a very + disagreeable part. But it maddens militiamen when the stir of active + service is past and they think they are being kept on such duty overtime. + The Massachusetts men had the worst pay and the best ringleaders, so they + were the first to break out openly. One morning they fell in without their + officers, marched on to the general parade, and threw their muskets down. + This was a dramatic but ineffectual form of protest, because nearly all + the muskets were the private property of the men themselves, who soon came + back to take their favourite weapons up again. One of their most zealous + chaplains, however, was able to enter in his diary, perhaps not without a + qualm, but certainly not without a proper pride in New England spirit, the + remark of a naval officer 'that he had thought the New England men were + cowards—But that Now he thought that if they had a Pick ax and Spade + they would digg ye way to Hell and storm it.' + </p> + <p> + The only relief from the deadly monotony and loneliness of Louisbourg was + to be found in the bad bargains and worse entertainment offered by the + camp-followers, who quickly gathered, like a flock of vultures, to pick + the carcass to the bone. There were few pickings to be had, but these + human parasites held on until the bones were bare. Of course, they gave an + inordinate amount of trouble. They always do. But well-organized armies + keep them in their place; while militiamen can not. + </p> + <p> + Between the camp-followers and the men Pepperrell was almost driven mad. + He implored Shirley to come and see things for himself. Shirley came. He + arrived at the end of August accompanied both by his own wife and by + Warren's. He delivered a patriotic speech, in which he did not stint his + praise of what had really been a great and notable achievement. His + peroration called forth some genuine enthusiasm. It began with a promise + to raise the pay of the Massachusetts contingent by fifteen shillings a + month, and ended with free rum all round and three cheers for the king. + The prospect thereupon brightened a little. The mutineers kept quiet for + several days, and a few men even agreed to re-enlist until the following + June. Shirley was very much pleased with the immediate result, and still + more pleased with himself. His next dispatch assured the Duke of Newcastle + that nobody else could have quelled the incipient mutiny so well. Nor was + the boast, in one sense, vain, since nobody else had the authority to + raise the men's pay. + </p> + <p> + But discontent again became rife when it began to dawn on the Provincials + that they would have to garrison Louisbourg till the next open season. The + unwelcome truth was that, except for a few raw recruits, no reliefs were + forthcoming from any quarter. The promised regulars had left Gibraltar so + late that they had to be sent to Virginia for the winter, lest the sudden + change to cold and clammy Louisbourg should put them on the sick list. The + two new regiments, Shirley's and Pepperrell's, which were to be recruited + in the American colonies and form part of the Imperial Army, could not be + raised in time. There even seemed to be some doubt as to whether they + could be raised at all. The absence of Pepperrell from New England, the + hatred of garrison duty in Louisbourg, and resentment at seeing some + Englishmen commissioned to command Americans, were three great obstacles + in the way. The only other resource was the colonial militia, whose waifs + and strays alone could be induced to enlist. + </p> + <p> + Thus, once the ice began to form, the despairing Provincial garrison saw + there could be no escape. The only discharge was death. What were then + known as camp fevers had already broken out in August. As many as + twenty-seven funerals in a single day passed by the old lime-kiln on the + desolate point beyond the seaward walls of Louisbourg. 'After we got into + the Towne, a sordid indolence or Sloth, for want of Discipline, induced + putrid fevers and dyssentrys, which at length became contagious, and the + people died like rotten sheep.' Medical men were ignorant and few. Proper + attendance was wholly lacking. But the devotion of the Puritan chaplains, + rivalling that of the early Jesuits, ran through those awful horrors like + a thread of gold. Here is a typical entry of one day's pastoral care: + 'Prayed at Hospital. Prayed at Citadel. Preached at Grand Batery. Visited + [a long list of names] all verry Sick. [More names] Dy'd. Am but poorly + myself, but able to keep about.' + </p> + <p> + No survivor ever forgot the miseries of that dire winter in cold and + clammy Louisbourg. When April brought the Gibraltar regiments from + Virginia, Pepperrell sent in to Shirley his general report on the three + thousand men with whom he had begun the autumn. Barely one thousand were + fit for duty. Eleven hundred lay sick and suffering in the ghastly + hospital. Eight hundred and ninety lay buried out on the dreary tongue of + land between the lime-pit and the fog-bound, ice-encumbered sea. + </p> + <p> + Warren took over the command of all the forces, as he had been appointed + governor of Louisbourg by the king's commission. Shirley had meanwhile + been revolving new plans, this time for the complete extirpation of the + French in Canada during the present summer of 1746. He suggested that + Warren should be the naval joint commander, and Warren, of course, was + nothing loth. + </p> + <p> + Massachusetts again rose grandly to the situation. She voted 3,500 men, + with a four pound sterling bounty to each one of them. New Hampshire, + Connecticut, and Rhode Island followed well. New York and New Jersey did + less in proportion. Maryland did less still. Virginia would only pass a + lukewarm vote for a single hundred men. Pennsylvania, as usual, refused to + do anything at all. The legislature was under the control of the Quakers, + who, when it came to war, were no better than parasites. upon the body + politic. They never objected to enjoying the commercial benefits of + conquest; any more than they objected to living on land which could never + have been either won or held without the arms they reprobated. But their + principles forbade them to face either the danger or expense of war. The + honour of the other Pennsylvanians was, however, nobly saved by a + contingent of four hundred, raised as a purely private venture. + Altogether, the new Provincial army amounted to over 8,000 men. + </p> + <p> + The French in Canada were thoroughly alarmed. Rumour had magnified the + invading fleet and army till, in July, the Acadians reported the combined + forces, British regulars included, at somewhere between forty and fifty + thousand. But the alarm proved groundless. The regulars were sent on an + abortive expedition against the coast of France, while the Duke of + Newcastle ordered Shirley to discharge the 'very expensive' Provincials, + who were now in Imperial pay, 'as cheap as possible.' This was then done, + to the intense disgust of the colonies concerned. New York and + Massachusetts, however, were so loth to give up without striking a single + blow that they raised a small force, on their own account, to take Crown + Point and gain control of Lake Champlain. [Footnote: An account of this + expedition will be found in Chapter ii of 'The War Chief of the Six + Nations' in this Series.] + </p> + <p> + Before October came the whole of the colonies were preparing for a quiet + winter, except that it was to be preceded by the little raid on Crown + Point, when, quite suddenly, astounding news arrived from sea. This was + that the French had sent out a regular armada to retake Louisbourg and + harry the coast to the south. Every ship brought in further and still more + alarming particulars. The usual exaggerations gained the usual credence. + But the real force, if properly handled and combined, was dangerous + enough. It consisted of fourteen sail of the line and twenty-one frigates, + with transports carrying over three thousand veteran troops; altogether, + about 17,000 men, or more than twice as many as those in the contingents + lately raised for taking Canada. + </p> + <p> + New York and Massachusetts at once recalled their Crown Point expeditions. + Boston was garrisoned by 8,000 men. All the provinces did their + well-scared best. There was no danger except along the coast; for there + were enough armed men to have simply mobbed to death any three thousand + Frenchmen who marched into the hostile continent, which would engulf them + if they lost touch with the fleet, and wear them out if they kept + communications open. Those who knew anything of war knew this perfectly + well; and they more than half suspected that the French force had been + doubled or trebled by the panic-mongers. But the panic spread, and spread + inland, for all that. No British country had ever been so thoroughly + alarmed since England had watched the Great Armada sailing up the Channel. + </p> + <p> + The poets and preachers quickly changed their tune. Ames's Almanac for + 1746 had recently edified Bostonians with a song of triumph over fallen + Louisbourg: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Bright Hesperus, the Harbinger of Day, + Smiled gently down on Shirley's prosperous sway, + The Prince of Light rode in his burning car, + To see the overtures of Peace and War + Around the world, and bade his charioteer, + Who marks the periods of each month and year, + Rein in his steeds, and rest upon High Noon + To view our Victory over Cape Brittoon. +</pre> + <p> + But now the Reverend Thomas Prince's litany, rhymed by a later bard, + summed up the gist of all the supplications that ascended from the + Puritans: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + O Lord! We would not advise; + But if, in Thy Providence, + A Tempest should arise, + To drive the French fleet hence, + And scatter it far and wide, + Or sink it in the sea, + We should be satisfied, + And Thine the Glory be. +</pre> + <p> + Strange to say, this pious suggestion had been mostly answered before it + had been made. Disaster after disaster fell upon the doomed French fleet + from the very day it sailed. The admiral was the Duc d'Anville, one of the + illustrious La Rochefoucaulds, whose family name is known wherever French + is read. He was not wanting either in courage or good sense; but, like his + fleet, he had little experience at sea. The French ships, as usual, were + better than the British. But the French themselves were a nation of + landsmen. They had no great class of seamen to draw upon at will, a fact + which made an average French crew inferior to an average British one. This + was bad enough. But the most important point of all was that their fleets + were still worse than their single ships. The British always had fleets at + sea, constantly engaged in combined manoeuvres. The French had not; and, + in face of the British command of the sea, they could not have them. The + French harbours were watched so closely that the French fleets were often + attacked and defeated before they had begun to learn how to work together. + Consequently, they found it still harder to unite two different fleets + against their almost ubiquitous enemy. + </p> + <p> + D'Anville's problem was insoluble from the start, Four large men-of-war + from the West Indies were to join him at Chibucto Bay, now the harbour of + Halifax, under Admiral Conflans, the same who was defeated by Hawke in + Quiberon Bay thirteen years later, on the very day that Wolfe was buried. + Each contributory part of the great French naval plan failed in the + working out. D'Anville's command was a collection of ships, not a + co-ordinated fleet. The French dockyards had been neglected; so some of + the ships were late, which made it impossible to practise manoeuvres + before sailing for the front. Then, in the bungling hurry of fitting out, + the hulls of several vessels were left foul, which made them dull sailers; + while nearly all the holds were left unscoured, which, of course, helped + to propagate the fevers, scurvy, plague, and pestilence brought on by bad + food badly stowed. Nor was this all. Officers who had put in so little sea + time with working fleets were naturally slack and inclined to be + discontented. The fact that they were under sealed orders, which had been + communicated only to d'Anville, roused their suspicions while his weakness + in telling them they were bound for Louisbourg almost produced a mutiny. + </p> + <p> + The fleet left France at midsummer, had a very rough passage through the + Bay of Biscay, and ran into a long, dead calm off the Azores. This ended + in a storm, during which several vessels were struck by lightning, which, + in one case, caused a magazine explosion that killed and wounded over + thirty men. It was not till the last week of September that d'Anville made + the excellently safe harbour of Halifax. The four ships under Conflans + were nowhere to be seen. They had reached the rendezvous at the beginning + of the month, had cruised about for a couple of weeks, and had then gone + home. D'Anville was now in no position to attack Louisbourg, much less New + England. Some of his vessels were quite unserviceable. There was no + friendly port nearer than Quebec. All his crews were sickly; and the five + months' incessant and ever-increasing strain had changed him into a + broken-hearted man. He died very suddenly, in the middle of the night; + some said from a stroke of apoplexy, while others whispered suicide. + </p> + <p> + His successor, d'Estournel, summoned a council of war, which overruled the + plan for an immediate return to France. Presently a thud, followed by + groans of mortal agony, was heard in the new commander's cabin. The door + was burst open, and he was found dying from the thrust of his own sword. + La Jonquiere, afterwards governor-general of Canada, thereupon succeeded + d'Estournel. This commander, the third within three days, was an excellent + naval officer and a man of strong character. He at once set to work to + reorganize the fleet. But reorganization was now impossible. Storms + wrecked the vessels. The plague killed off the men: nearly three thousand + had died already. Only a single thousand, one-tenth of the survivors, were + really fit for duty. Yet La Jonquiere still persisted in sailing for + Annapolis. One vessel was burned, while four others were turned into + hospital ships, which trailed astern, dropping their dead overside, hour + after hour, as they went. + </p> + <p> + But Annapolis was never attacked. The dying fleet turned back and at last + reached Port Louis, on the coast of Brittany. There it found La Palme, a + frigate long since given up for lost, lying at anchor, after a series of + adventures that seem wellnigh impossible. First her crew's rations had + been cut down to three ounces a day. Then the starving men had eaten all + the rats in her filthy hold; and when rats failed they had proposed to eat + their five British prisoners. The captain did his best to prevent this + crowning horror. But the men, who were now ungovernable, had already gone + below to cut up one prisoner into three-ounce rations, when they were + brought on deck again, just in time, by the welcome cry of sail-ho! The + Portuguese stranger fortunately proved to have some sheep, which were + instantly killed and eaten raw. + </p> + <p> + News of these disasters to the French arms at length reached the anxious + British colonies. The militia were soon discharged. The danger seemed + past. And the whole population spent a merrier Christmas than any one of + them had dared to hope for. + </p> + <p> + In May of the next year, 1747, La Jonquiere again sailed for Louisbourg. + But when he was only four days out he was overtaken off Cape Finisterre by + a superior British fleet, under Anson and Warren, and was totally + defeated, after a brave resistance. + </p> + <p> + In 1748 the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave Louisbourg back to the French. + The British colonies were furious, New England particularly so. But the + war at large had not gone severely enough against the French to force them + to abandon a stronghold on which they had set their hearts, and for which + they were ready to give up any fair equivalent. The contemporary colonial + sneer, often repeated since, and quite commonly believed, was that 'the + important island of Cape Breton was exchanged for a petty factory in + India.' This was not the case. Every power was weary of the war. But + France was ready to go on with it rather than give up her last sea link + with Canada. Unless this one point was conceded the whole British Empire + would have been involved in another vast, and perhaps quite barren, + campaign. The only choice the British negotiators could apparently make + was a choice between two evils. And of the two they chose the less. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV — LOST FOR EVER + </h2> + <h3> + 1758 + </h3> + <p> + The ten years of the second French regime in Louisbourg were divided into + very different halves. During the first five years, from 1749 to 1753, the + mighty rivals were as much at peace, all over their conflicting frontiers, + as they ever had been in the past. But from 1754 to 1758 a great and, this + time, a decisive war kept drawing continually nearer, until its strangling + coils at last crushed Louisbourg to death. + </p> + <p> + Three significant events marked 1749, the first of the five peaceful + years. Louisbourg was handed over to its new French garrison; the British + founded Halifax; and the Imperial government indemnified New England in + full for the siege of 1745. Halifax was intended partly as a counterpoise + to Louisbourg, and partly as a place-d'armes for one of the two local + footholds of British sea-power, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, which, + between them, narrowed the French line of communication with Canada into a + single precarious strait. The New England indemnity was meant, in the + first instance, to be a payment for service done. But it was also intended + to soften colonial resentment at the giving up of Louisbourg. A specially + gracious royal message was sent to 'The Council and Assembly' of + Massachusetts, assuring them, 'in His Majesty's name, that their conduct + will always entitle them, in a particular manner, to his Royal favour and + protection.' This message, however, did not reconcile the Provincial army + to the disappointment of their own expectations. Nor did it dispose the + colonies in general to be any the more amenable to government from London. + They simply regarded the indemnity as the skinflint payment of an overdue + debt, and the message as no more than the thanks they had well deserved. + But the money was extremely welcome to people who would have been bankrupt + without it. Nearly a quarter of a million sterling was sent out in 217 + cases of Spanish dollars and 100 barrels of coppers, which were driven + through the streets of Boston in 27 trucks. + </p> + <p> + The next three years in Louisbourg were completely uneventful. The town + resumed its former life, but in a still more makeshift fashion. Nobody + knew how long the truce would last; and nobody wanted to take root + commercially in a place that might experience another violent change at + any time. Nevertheless, smuggling flourished as vigorously as before. + British shipping did most of it. Many vessels came from England, many from + Boston, some, and very active ones, from Halifax. Joshua Mauger smuggled + from France to Louisbourg, from Louisbourg to 'Mauger's Beach' near + Halifax, and from Halifax all over Acadia and the adjacent colonies. He + also supplied the Micmacs with scalping-knives and tomahawks for use + against his own countrymen. He died, a very rich man, in England, leaving + his fortune to his daughter, who, with her spendthrift husband, the Duc de + Bouillon, was guillotined during the French Revolution. + </p> + <p> + The officials were naturally affected by the same uncertainty, which made + them more than ever determined to get rich and go home. The intendant + Bigot was promoted to Quebec, there to assist his country's enemies by the + worst corruption ever known in Canada. But the new intendant, Prevost, + though a man of very inferior talent, did his best to follow Bigot's lead. + </p> + <p> + French regulars still regarded the Louisbourg routine as their most + disgusting duty. But it became more tolerable with the increase of the + garrison. The fortifications were examined, reported on, repaired, and + extended. The engineers, like all the other Frenchmen connected with + unhappy Louisbourg, Bigot alone excepted, were second- and third-rate men; + and the actual work was done as badly as before. But, on the whole, the + place was strengthened, especially by a battery near the lighthouse. With + this and the Island Battery, one on either side of the narrow entrance, + which the Royal Battery faced directly, almost a hundred guns could be + brought to bear on any vessels trying to force their way in. + </p> + <p> + The end of the five years' truce was marked by voluminous reports and + elaborate arguments to prove how well Louisbourg was being governed, how + admirably the fortifications had been attended to (with the inadequate + means at the intendant's disposal), and how desirable it was, from every + point of view, for the king to spend a great deal more money all round in + the immediate future. Fisheries, shipbuilding, fortification, Indians, + trade, religion, the naval and military situation, were all represented as + only needing more money to become quite perfect. Louisbourg was correctly + enough described as an indispensable link between France and the long + chain of French posts in the valleys of the Mississippi and the St + Lawrence. But less well explained in America and less well understood in + Europe was the fact that the separate military chains in Old France and + New could never hold an oversea dominion unless a naval chain united them. + Some few Frenchmen understood this thoroughly. But most did not. And + France, as a whole, hoped that a vigorous offensive on land would more + than counterbalance whatever she might lose by an enforced defensive on + the sea. + </p> + <p> + In 1754 Washington's first shot beyond the Alleghanies broke the hollow + truce between the French and British colonies, whose lines of expansion + had once more inevitably crossed each other's path. This proved to be the + beginning of the last 'French and Indian War' in American history, of that + 'British Conquest of Canada' which formed part of what contemporary + Englishmen called the 'Maritime War,' and of that great military struggle + which continental Europe called the 'Seven Years' War.' + </p> + <p> + The year 1755 saw Braddock's Defeat in the west, the battle of Lake George + in the centre, and two pregnant events in the east, one on either side of + Louisbourg—the expulsion of the Acadians, and the capture by + Boscawen of two French men-of-war with several hundred soldiers who were + to reinforce the army that was soon to be commanded by Montcalm. + </p> + <p> + The next year, 1756, saw the formal declaration of war in Europe, its + continued prosecution in America, and the taking of Oswego, which was the + first of Montcalm's four victories against the overwhelming British. But + Louisbourg still remained untouched. + </p> + <p> + Not till 1757 was the first attempt made to break this last sea link with + France. There was a very natural anxiety, among the British on both sides + of the Atlantic, to do conspicuously well against Louisbourg. Fort + Necessity, Braddock's Defeat, and Montcalm's daring capture of Oswego, + coming with cumulative effect, in three successive campaigns, had created + a feeling of bitter disappointment in America; while the Black Hole of + Calcutta; the loss of Minorca, and, worse still, Byng's failure to bring a + British fleet into decisive action, had wounded the national pride in + England. + </p> + <p> + But 1757 turned out to be no better than its disconcerting predecessors. + True, England's ally, Frederick the Great, won consummate victories at + Rossbach and at Leuthen. But that was at the end of a very desperate + campaign. True, also, that Clive won Plassey and took Chandernagore. But + those were far away from English-speaking homes; while heavy reverses + close at hand brought down the adverse balance. Pitt, the greatest of all + civilian ministers of War, was dismissed from office and not reinstated + till the British Empire had been without a cabinet for eleven weeks. The + French overran the whole of Hanover and rounded up the Duke of Cumberland + at Kloster-Seven. Mordaunt and his pettifogging councils of war turned the + joint expedition against Rochefort into a complete fiasco; while Montcalm + again defeated the British in America by taking Fort William Henry. + </p> + <p> + The taking of Louisbourg would have been a very welcome victory in the + midst of so much gloom. But the British were engaged in party strife at + home. They were disunited in America. And neither the naval nor the + military leader of the joint expedition against Louisbourg was the proper + man to act either alone or with his colleague. Speed was of prime + importance. Yet Admiral Holbourne did not sail from England for Halifax + till May. General the Earl of Loudoun was slower yet. He drew in the + troops from the northern frontier, concentrated them in New York, and laid + an embargo on shipping to keep a secret which was already out. Finally, he + and Sir Charles Hardy sailed for Halifax to keep their rendezvous with + Holbourne, from whom no news had come. They arrived there before him; but + his fleet came limping in during the next ten days, after a bad buffeting + on its transatlantic voyage. + </p> + <p> + Loudoun now had nearly 12,000 men, whom he landed and drilled' throughout + July. His preparations were so meticulously careful that they even + included a vegetable garden, which, though an excellent precaution in its + own way, ought to have been left to the commandant of the base. So thought + Sir Charles Hay, who was put under arrest for saying that all the money + was being spent in fighting sham battles and planting out cabbages. + However, a reconnaissance of Louisbourg had been made by Gorham of the + Rangers, whose very imperfect report induced Holbourne and Loudoun to get + ready to sail. But, just as they were preparing to begin, too late, a + Newfoundland vessel came in with captured French dispatches which showed + that Admiral La Motte had united his three squadrons in Louisbourg + harbour, where he was at anchor with twenty-two ships of the line and + several frigates, the whole carrying 1,360 guns. This was correct. But the + garrison was exaggerated by at least a third in the same dispatch, which + estimated it as numbering over 7000 men. + </p> + <p> + The lateness of the season, the strength of the French, and the practical + certainty of failing to take Louisbourg by forcing the attack home at any + cost, were very sensibly held, under existing circumstances, to be + sufficient cause for withdrawing the army. The fleet, however, sailed + north, in the hope of inducing La Motte to come out for a battle in the + open. But, at that particular juncture, La Motte was right not to risk + decisive action. A week later he was equally wrong to refuse it. + Holbourne's fleet had been dispersed by a September hurricane of + extraordinary violence. One ship became a total wreck. Nine were + dismasted. Several had to throw their guns overboard. None was fit for + immediate service. But La Motte did not even reconnoitre, much less + annihilate, his helpless enemy. + </p> + <p> + Pitt returned to power at the end of June 1757, in time to plan a + world-wide campaign for 1758, though not in time to choose the best + commanders and to change the whole course of the war. This became possible + only in the Empire Year of 1759. The English-speaking peoples have nearly + always begun their great wars badly, and have gradually worked up to a + climax of victory after being stung into proper leadership and + organization by several exasperating failures; and though now in the third + year of their most momentous struggle for oversea dominion, they were not + even yet altogether prepared. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, Pitt wielded the amphibious might of Britain with a master + hand. Sea-power, mercantile and naval, enabled him to 'command the riches + of the world' and become the paymaster of many thousand Prussians under + Frederick the Great and Ferdinand of Brunswick. He also sent a small + British army to the Continent. But he devoted his chief attention to + working out a phase of the 'Maritime War' which included India on one + flank and the Canadian frontiers on the other. Sometimes with, and + sometimes without, a contingent from the Army, the British Navy + checkmated, isolated, or defeated the French in Europe, Asia, Africa, and + America. + </p> + <p> + The preliminary isolation of Louisbourg was a particularly effective + stroke of naval strategy. Even before 1758 began the first French fleet + that left for Louisbourg had been shadowed from Toulon and had been shut + up in Cartagena. A second French fleet was then sent to help the first one + out. But it was attacked on the way and totally defeated. In April the + first fleet made another attempt to sail; but it was chased into Rochefort + by Hawke and put out of action for the rest of the campaign. The third + French fleet did manage to reach Louisbourg. But its admiral, du + Chaffault, rightly fearing annihilation in the harbour there, and wishing + to keep some touch between Old France and New, sailed for Quebec with most + of his best ships. + </p> + <p> + Quebec and the rest of Canada were themselves on the defensive; for + Abercromby was leading 15,000 men—the largest single army America + had ever seen—straight up the line of Lake Champlain. Montcalm + defeated him at Ticonderoga in July. But that gave no relief to + Louisbourg; because the total British forces threatening the Canadian + inland frontier were still quite strong enough to keep the French on the + strict defensive. + </p> + <p> + Thus Louisbourg was completely isolated, both by land and sea. It was + stronger and more extensive than during the first siege. It had a better + governor, Drucour, a better and a larger garrison, more food and + ammunition, and, what it formerly lacked altogether, the support of a + considerable fleet. Drucour was a gallant soldier. His garrison numbered + nearly 3,000 effective regulars, with about 1,000 militiamen and some 500 + Indians. Seventeen mortars and over two hundred cannon were mounted on the + walls, as well as on the outworks at the Royal, Island, and Lighthouse + Batteries. There were thirteen vessels in the fleet, mounting 590 guns, + and carrying over 3,500 men. This made the French grand total about 800 + guns and 8,000 men. But not all these were really effective. Ships at + anchor lose a good deal of their fighting value. Crews are less efficient + when ashore than when they are afloat; and the French ships were mostly + fought at anchor, while the crews were gradually landed for the defence of + the crowded little town. Then, the Indians were comparatively useless in a + fort. The militia were not good soldiers anywhere. Moreover, the three + kinds of regulars—French, Canadian, and foreign—did not get on + very well together; while the fleet, as a whole, got on no better with the + army as a whole. + </p> + <p> + The British amphibious force presented a striking contrast to this. Its + naval and military parts worked together like the two branches of one + United Service. The Army and Navy naturally understood each other better + than the two services of less amphibious countries; and when a statesman + like Pitt and a first lord of the Admiralty like Anson were together at + headquarters there was no excuse for misunderstandings at the front. + Boscawen and Amherst, both distinguished members of distinguished Service + families, were the best of colleagues. Boscawen had somewhat over, Amherst + a little under, 12,000 men. Boscawen's fleet comprised 39 sail, from a + 90-gun ship of the line down to a 12-gun sloop. The British grand total + therefore exceeded Drucour's by over three to one, counting mere numbers + alone. If expert efficiency be taken, for the sake of a more exact + comparison, it is not too much to say that the odds in favour of the + British personnel and armament were really four to one. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, the French had the walls of Louisbourg to redress the + balance in their favour. These walls were the crucial factor in the + problem. Both sides knew they were far from being impregnable. But how + long could they withstand a regular siege? If for only one month, then + they were useless as a protection to Quebec. If for two months, then + Quebec and New France were safe until the following year. + </p> + <p> + Boscawen left England in February. Amherst followed separately. One of the + three brigadier-generals in Amherst's army was Wolfe, of whom we shall + hear more presently. The rendezvous was Halifax, where boat work and + landing exercises were sedulously carried out by the troops. Towards the + end of May Boscawen sailed out of Halifax, though Amherst had not yet + arrived. They met at sea. The Dublin, which had brought Amherst across so + slowly, then 'went very sickly into Halifax,' while Amherst joined + Boscawen, and the whole fleet and convoy bore away for Louisbourg. The + French had been expecting them for at least a month; as scouts kept + appearing almost every day, while Hardy's squadron of nine sail had been + maintaining a sort of open blockade. + </p> + <p> + On the night of June 1 the French look-outs in Gabarus Bay saw more lights + than usual to the southward. Next morning Louisbourg was early astir, + anxiously eager to catch the first glimpse of this great destroying + armada, which for several expectant hours lay invisible and dread behind a + curtain of dense fog. Then a light sea breeze came in from the Atlantic. + The curtain drew back at its touch. And there, in one white, enormous + crescent, all round the deep-blue offing, stood the mighty fleet, closing + in for the final death-grip on its prey. + </p> + <p> + Nearly a whole week went by before the British landed. Each day the + scouting boats and vessels stood in as close as possible along the shore. + But they always found the smashing surf too high. At last, on the 8th, the + whole army put off in three brigades of boats, supported by the frigates, + which fired at the French defences. All three landing-places were + threatened simultaneously, White Point, Flat Point, and Kennington Cove. + These landing-places were, respectively, one, two, and four miles west of + Louisbourg. The intervening ground mostly hid them from the ramparts, and + they had to depend upon their own defences. Drucour had sent out + two-thirds of his garrison to oppose the landing. Each point was protected + by artillery and entrenchments. Eight guns were mounted and a thousand men + stood guard over the quarter-mile of beach which lay between the two + little surf-lashed promontories of Kennington Cove. But Wolfe's brigade + made straight for shore. The French held their fire until the leading + boats were well within short musket-shot. Then they began so furiously + that Wolfe, whose tall, lank figure was most conspicuous as he stood up in + the stern-sheets, waved his cane to make the boats sheer off. + </p> + <p> + It looked as if the first successful landing would have to be made + elsewhere, a bitter disappointment to this young and ardent brigadier, + whose command included the pick of the grenadiers, light infantry, and + Highlanders. But three boatloads of light infantry pushed on against the + inner point of the cove. Perhaps their officers turned their blind eye on + Wolfe's signal, as Nelson did on Parker's recall at Copenhagen. But, + whatever the reason, these three boats went in smash against the rocks and + put their men ashore, drenched to the skin. Major Scott, commanding the + light infantry and rangers, followed them at once. Then Wolfe, seeing they + had gained a foothold where the point afforded them a little cover, + signalled the whole brigade to land there in succession. He pushed his own + boat through, jumped in waist-deep, and waded ashore. + </p> + <p> + This sudden change, quite unexpected by either friend or foe, greatly + disconcerted the French. They attacked Major Scott, who withstood them + with a handful of men till reinforcements came clambering up the rocks + behind him. With these reinforcements came Wolfe, who formed the men into + line and carried the nearest battery with the bayonet. The remaining + French, seeing that Wolfe had effected a lodgment on their inner flank, + were so afraid of being cut off from Louisbourg that they ran back and + round towards the next position at Flat Point. But before they reached it + they saw its own defenders running back, because the British were also + landing at White Point. Here too the defences were abandoned as soon as + the little garrison found itself faced by greatly superior numbers afloat + and deserted by its fellow-garrisons ashore. The retreating French kept up + a sort of running fight till they got under the covering fire of + Louisbourg, when the pursuing British immediately drew off. + </p> + <p> + Considering the number of boats that were stove and the intensity of the + first French fire, the British loss was remarkably small, only one hundred + and nine killed, wounded, and drowned. The French loss was still less; + but, in view of the difference between the respective grand totals, it was + a good deal heavier in proportion. + </p> + <p> + That night the glare of a big fire inside the harbour showed that Drucour + felt too weak to hold the Royal Battery. Unlike his incompetent + predecessor, however, he took away everything movable that could be turned + to good account in Louisbourg; and he left the works a useless ruin. The + following day he destroyed and abandoned the battery at Lighthouse Point. + Thus two fortifications were given up, one of them for the second time, + before a single shot had been fired either from or against them. Time, + labour, and expense had all gone for worse than nothing, as the positions + were at once used by the enemy on each occasion. The wasted expense was of + the usual kind-one half spent on inferior construction, the other pocketed + by the Louisbourg officials. Drucour himself was not at all to blame, + either for the way the works were built or the way in which they had to be + abandoned. With odds of more than three to one against him, he had no men + to spare for trying to keep the British at arm's length. + </p> + <p> + Amherst pitched his camp in a crescent two miles long, facing Louisbourg + two miles off. His left overlooked the French squadron in the south-west + harbour next to Louisbourg at the distance of a mile. His right rested on + Flat Point. Thus Louisbourg itself was entirely surrounded both by land + and sea; for the gaps left at the Royal Battery and Lighthouse Point were + immediately seized by the British. Wolfe marched round the harbour on the + 12th with 1,300 infantry and a strong detachment of artillery. The guns + for the Royal Battery and other points inside the harbour were hauled into + place by teams of about a hundred men each. Those for Lighthouse Point + were sent round by sea, landed, with immense difficulty, more than a mile + distant on the rock-bound shore, hauled up the cliff, and then dragged + back over the roughest of ground to the battery. It was, in fact, a + repetition of what the American militiamen had done in 1745. Wolfe worked + incessantly, directing and encouraging his toiling men. The bluejackets + seconded his efforts by doing even harder work. Their boats were often + stove, and a catamaran was wrecked with a brass twenty-four pounder on + board. But nothing could stop the perfect co-operation between the two + halves of the single United Service. 'The Admiral and General,' wrote + Wolfe, 'have carried on the public service with great harmony, industry, + and union. Mr Boscawen has given all, and even more than we could ask of + him. He has furnished arms and ammunition, pioneers, sappers, miners, + gunners, carpenters, and boats.' + </p> + <p> + While Wolfe was doing his eight days' work of preparation at the + Lighthouse Battery, between the 12th and the 20th, Amherst, whose + favourite precept was 'slow and sure,' was performing an even more arduous + task by building a road from Flat Point to where he intended to make his + trenches. This road meandered over the least bad line that could be found + in that country of alternate rock, bog, sand, scrub, bush, and marshy + ponds. The working party was always a thousand strong, and shifts, of + course, were constant. Boscawen landed marines to man the works along the + shore, and bluejackets for any handy-man's job required. This proved of + great advantage to the army, which had so many more men set free for other + duties. The landing of stores went on from sunrise to sunset, whenever the + pounding surf calmed down enough. Landing the guns was, of course, much + harder still. It accounted for most of the hundred boats that were dashed + to pieces against that devouring shore. + </p> + <p> + Thorough and persistent as this work was, however, it gave the garrison of + Louisbourg little outward sign of what was happening just beyond the + knolls and hillocks. Besides, just at this time, when there was a lull + before the storm that was soon to burst from Wolfe and Amherst, both sides + had more dramatic things to catch the general eye. First, there was the + worthy namesake of 'the saucy Arethusa' in the rival British Navy, the + Arethuse, whose daring and skilful captain, Vauquelin, had moored her + beside the Barachois, or sea-pond, so that he could outflank Amherst's + approach against the right land face of Louisbourg. Then, of still more + immediate interest was the nimble little Echo, which tried to run the + gauntlet of the British fleet on June 18, a day long afterwards made + famous on the field of Waterloo. Drucour had entrusted his wife and + several other ladies to the captain of the Echo, who was to make a dash + for Quebec with dispatches for the governor of Canada. A muffling fog shut + down and seemed to promise her safety from the British, though it brought + added danger from that wrecking coast. With infinite precautions she + slipped out on the ebb, between the French at the Island Battery and + Wolfe's strenuous workers at the Lighthouse Point. But the breeze that + bore her north also raised the fog enough to let the Juno and Sutherland + sight her and give chase. She crowded on a press of sail till she was + overhauled, when she fought her captors till her case was hopeless. + </p> + <p> + Madame Drucour and the other ladies were then sent back to Louisbourg with + every possible consideration for their feelings. This act of kindness was + remembered later on, when a regular interlude of courtesies followed + Drucour's offer to send his own particularly skilful surgeon to any + wounded British officer who might need his services. Amherst sent in + several letters and messages from wounded Frenchmen, and a special message + from himself to Madame Drucour, complimenting her upon her bravery, and + begging her acceptance of some West Indian pineapples. Once more the flag + of truce came out, this time to return the compliment with a basket of + wine. As the gate swung to, the cannon roared again on either side. + Amherst's was no unmerited compliment; for Madame Drucour used to mount + the ramparts every day, no matter what the danger was, and fire three + cannon for the honour of her king. But the French had no monopoly in + woman's work. True, there were no officers' wives to play the heroine on + the British side. But there were others to play a humbler part, and play + it well. In those days each ship or regiment bore a certain proportion of + women on their books for laundering and other work which is still done, at + their own option, by women 'married on the strength' of the Army. Most of + the several hundred women in the besieging fleet and army became so keen + to see the batteries armed that they volunteered to team the guns, which, + in some cases, they actually did, with excellent effect. + </p> + <p> + By June 26 Louisbourg had no defences left beyond its own walls, except + the reduced French squadron huddled together in the south-west harbour. + The more exposed ships had come down on the 21st, after a day's + bombardment from Wolfe's terrific battery at Lighthouse Point: 'they in + return making an Infernall Fire from all their Broadsides; but, wonderfull + to think of, no harm done us.' Five days later every single gun in the + Island Battery was dumb. At the same time Amherst occupied Green Hill, + directly opposite the citadel and only half a mile away. Yet Drucour, with + dauntless resolution, resisted for another month. His object was not to + save his own doomed fortress but Quebec. + </p> + <p> + He needed all his resolution. The British were pressing him on every side, + determined to end the siege in time to transfer their force elsewhere. + Louisbourg itself was visibly weakening. The walls were already crumbling + under Amherst's converging fire, though the British attack had not yet + begun in earnest. Surely, thoroughly, and with an irresistible zeal, the + besiegers had built their road, dragged up their guns, and begun to worm + their way forward, under skilfully constructed cover, towards the right + land face of Louisbourg, next to the south-west harbour, where the ground + was less boggy than on the left. The French ships fired on the British + approaches; but, with one notable exception, not effectively, because some + of them masked others, while they were all under British fire themselves, + both from the Lighthouse and the Royal Batteries, as well as from smaller + batteries along the harbour. Vauquelin, who shares with Iberville the + honour of being the naval hero of New France, was the one exception. He + fought the Arethuse so splendidly that he hampered the British left attack + long enough to give Louisbourg a comparative respite for a few hasty + repairs. + </p> + <p> + But nothing could now resist Boscawen if the British should choose to run + in past the demolished Island Battery and attack the French fleet, first + from a distance, with the help of the Lighthouse and Royal Batteries, and + then hand-to-hand. So the French admiral, des Gouttes, agreed to sink four + of his largest vessels in the fairway. This, however, still left a gap; so + two more were sunk. The passage was then mistakenly reported to be safely + closed. The crews, two thousand strong, were landed and camped along the + streets. This caused outspoken annoyance to the army and to the + inhabitants, who thought the crews had not shown fight enough afloat, who + consequently thought them of little use ashore, who found them in the way, + and who feared they had come in without bringing a proper contribution of + provisions to the common stock. + </p> + <p> + The Arethuse was presently withdrawn from her perilous berth next to the + British left approach, as she was the only frigate left which seemed to + have a chance of running the gauntlet of Boscawen's fleet. Her shot-holes + were carefully stopped; and on the night of July 14, she was silently + towed to the harbour mouth, whence she sailed for France with dispatches + from Drucour and des Gouttes. The fog held dense, but the wind was light, + and she could hardly forge ahead under every stitch of canvas. All round + her the lights of the British fleet and convoy rose and fell with the + heaving rollers, like little embers blurring through the mist. Yet + Vauquelin took his dark and silent way quite safely, in and out between + them, and reached France just after Louisbourg had fallen. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile Drucour had made several sorties against the British front, + while Boishebert had attacked their rear with a few hundred Indians, + Acadians, and Canadians. Boishebert's attack was simply brushed aside by + the rearguard of Amherst's overwhelming force. The American Rangers ought + to have defeated it themselves, without the aid of regulars. But they were + not the same sort of men as those who had besieged Louisbourg thirteen + years before. The best had volunteered then. The worst had been enlisted + now. Of course, there were a few good men with some turn for soldiering. + But most were of the wastrel and wharf-rat kind. Wolfe expressed his + opinion of them in very vigorous terms: 'About 500 Rangers are come, + which, to appearance, are little better than la canaille. These Americans + are in general the dirtiest, most contemptible, cowardly dogs that you can + conceive. There is no depending upon 'em in action. They fall down dead in + their own dirt, and desert by battalions, officers and all.' + </p> + <p> + Drucour's sorties, made by good French regulars, were much more serious + than Boishebert's feeble, irregular attack. On the night of July 8, while + Montcalm's Ticonderogan heroes were resting on their hard-won field a + thousand miles inland, Drucour's best troops crept out unseen and charged + the British right. Lord Dundonald and several of his men were killed, + while the rest were driven back to the second approach, where desperate + work was done with the bayonet in the dark. But Wolfe commanded that part + of the line, and his supports were under arms in a moment. The French + attack had broken up into a score of little rough-and-tumble fights—bayonets, + butts, and swords all at it; friend and foe mixed up in wild confusion. So + the first properly formed troops carried all before them. The knots of + struggling combatants separated into French and British. The French fell + back on their defences. Their friends inside fired on the British; and + Wolfe, having regained his ground, retired in the same good order on his + lines. + </p> + <p> + A week later Wolfe suddenly dashed forward on the British left and seized + Gallows Hill, within a musket-shot of the French right bastion. Here his + men dug hard all night long, in spite of the fierce fire kept up on them + at point-blank range. In the morning reliefs marched in, and the digging + still continued. Sappers, miners, and infantry reliefs, they never stopped + till they had burrowed forward another hundred yards, and the last great + breaching battery had opened its annihilating fire. By the 21st both sides + saw that the end was near, so far as the walls were concerned. + </p> + <p> + But it was not only the walls that were failing. For, that very afternoon + of the 21st, a British seaman gunner's cleverly planted bomb found out a + French ship's magazine, exploded it with shattering force, and set fire to + the ships on either side. All three blazed furiously. The crews ran to + quarters and did their best. But all to no purpose. Meanwhile the British + batteries had turned every available gun on the conflagration, so as to + prevent the French from saving anything. Between the roaring flames, the + bursting shells, and the whizzing cannon balls, the three doomed vessels + soon became an inferno too hot for men to stay in. The crews swarmed over + the side and escaped; not, however, without losing a good many of their + number. Then the British concentrated on the only two remaining vessels, + the Prudent and the Bienfaisant. But the French sailors, with admirable + pluck and judgment, managed to haul them round to a safer berth. + </p> + <p> + Next day a similar disaster befell the Louisbourg headquarters. A shell + went through the roof of the barracks at the King's Bastion, burst among + the men there, and set the whole place on fire. As the first tongues of + flame shot up the British concentrated on them. The French ran to the + threatened spot and worked hard, in spite of the storm of British shot and + shell. But nothing was saved, except Drucour's own quarters. During the + confusion the wind blew some burning debris against the timbers which + protected the nearest casemates from exploding shells. An alarm was raised + among the women and children inside. A panic followed; and the civilians + of both sexes had their nerves so shaken that they thought of nothing but + surrender on the spot. + </p> + <p> + Hardly had this excitement been allayed when the main barracks themselves + caught fire. Fortunately they had been cleared when the other fire had + shown how imminent the danger was to every structure along the walls. The + barracks were in special danger of fire, for they had been left with the + same wooden roof which the New Englanders had put on thirteen years + before. Again the British guns converged their devastating fire on the + point of danger, and the whole place was burned to the ground. + </p> + <p> + Most of the troops were now deprived of all shelter. They had no choice + but to share the streets with a still larger number of sailors than those + to whom they had formerly objected. Yet they had scarcely tried to settle + down and make the best of it before another batch of sailors came crowding + in from the last of the whole French fleet. At one o'clock in the morning + of July 25 a rousing British cheer from the harbour had announced an + attack on the Prudent and the Bienfaisant by six hundred bluejackets, who + had stolen in, with muffled oars, just on the stroke of midnight. + Presently the sound of fighting died away, and all was still. At first the + nearest gunners on the walls had lost their heads and begun blazing away + at random. But they were soon stopped; and neither side dared fire, not + knowing whom the shots might kill. Then, as the escaping French came in to + the walls, a bright glare told that the Prudent was on fire. She had cut + her cable during the fight and was lying, hopelessly stranded, right under + the inner walls of Louisbourg. The Bienfaisant, however, though now + assailed by every gun the French could bring to bear, was towed off to a + snug berth beside the Lighthouse Battery, the British bluejackets showing + the same disregard of danger as their gallant enemies had shown on the + 21st, when towing her to safety in the opposite direction. + </p> + <p> + At daylight Drucour made a thorough inspection of the walls, while the + only four serviceable cannon left fired slowly on, as if for the funeral + of Louisbourg. The British looked stronger than ever, and so close in that + their sharpshooters could pick off the French gunners from the foot of the + glacis. The best of the French diarists made this despairing entry: 'Not a + house in the whole place but has felt the force of their cannonade. + Between yesterday morning and seven o'clock to-night from a thousand to + twelve hundred shells have fallen inside the town, while at least forty + cannon have been firing incessantly as well. The surgeons have to run at + many a cry of 'Ware Shell! for fear lest they should share the patients' + fate.' Amherst had offered to spare the island or any one of the French + ships if Drucour would put his hospital in either place. But, for some + unexplained reason, Drucour declined the offer; though Amherst pointed out + that no spot within so small a target as Louisbourg itself could possibly + be made immune by any gunners in the world. + </p> + <p> + Reduced to the last extremity, the French council of war decided to ask + for terms. Boscawen and Amherst replied that the whole garrison must + surrender in an hour. Drucour sent back to beg for better terms. But the + second British answer was even sterner—complete surrender, yes or + no, in half an hour. Resentment still ran high against the French for the + massacre at Fort William Henry the year before. The actual massacre had + been the work of drunken Indians. The Canadians present had looked on. The + French, headed by Montcalm, had risked their lives to save the prisoners. + But such distinctions had been blotted out in the general rage among the + British on both sides of the Atlantic; and so Louisbourg was now made the + scapegoat. + </p> + <p> + Drucour at once wrote back to say that he stood by his first proposal, + which meant, of course, that he was ready to face the storming of his + works and no quarter for his garrison. His flag of truce started off with + this defiance. But Prevost the intendant, with other civilians, now came + forward, on behalf of the inhabitants, to beg for immediate surrender on + any terms, rather than that they should all be exposed to the perils of + assault. Drucour then gave way, and sent an officer running after the + defiant flag of truce. As soon as this second messenger got outside the + walls he called out, at the top of his voice, 'We accept! We accept!' He + then caught up to the bearer of the flag of truce, when both went straight + on to British headquarters. + </p> + <p> + Boscawen and Amherst were quite prepared for either surrender or assault. + The storming parties had their scaling-ladders ready. The Forlorn Hopes + had been told off to lead the different columns. Every gun was loaded, + afloat and ashore. The fleet were waiting for the signal to file in and + turn a thousand cannon against the walls. Nothing was lacking for complete + success. On the other hand, their terms were also ready waiting. The + garrison was to be sent to England as prisoners of war. The whole of + Louisbourg, Cape Breton, and Isle St Jean (now Prince Edward Island) were + to be surrendered immediately, with all the public property they + contained. The West Gate was to be handed over to a British guard at eight + the next morning; and the French arms were to be laid down for good at + noon. With this document the British commanders sent in the following + note: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + SIR,—We have the honour to send Your Excellency the + signed articles of Capitulation. + + Lieutenant Colonel d'Anthony has spoken on behalf of + the people in the town. We have no intention of + molesting them; but shall give them all the protection + in our power. + + Your Excellency will kindly sign the duplicate of the + terms and send it back to us. + + It only remains for us to assure Your Excellency that + we shall seize every opportunity of convincing you + that we are, with the most perfect consideration, Your + Excellency's most Obedient Servants, + + E. BOSCAWEN. + J. AMHERST. +</pre> + <p> + No terms were offered either to the Indians or to the armed Canadians, on + account of Fort William Henry; and it is certain that all these would have + been put to the sword, to the very last man, had Drucour decided to stand + an assault. To the relief of every one concerned the Indians paddled off + quietly during the night, which luckily happened to be unusually dark and + calm. The Canadians either followed them or mingled with the unarmed + inhabitants. This awkward problem therefore solved itself. + </p> + <p> + Few went to bed that last French night in Louisbourg. All responsible + officials were busy with duties, reports, and general superintendence. The + townsfolk and soldiery were restless and inclined to drown their + humiliation in the many little cabarets, which stood open all night. A + very different place, the parish church, was also kept open, and for a + very different purpose. Many hasty marriages were performed, partly from a + wholly groundless fear of British licence, and partly because those who + wished to remain in Cape Breton thought they would not be allowed to do so + unless they were married. + </p> + <p> + Precisely at eight the next morning Major Farquhar drew up his grenadiers + in front of the West Gate, which was immediately surrendered to him. No + one but the officers concerned witnessed this first ceremony. But the + whole population thronged every point of vantage round the Esplanade to + see the formal surrender at noon. All the British admirals and generals + were present on parade as Drucour stepped forward, saluted, and handed his + sword to Boscawen. His officers followed his example. Then the troops laid + down their arms, in the ranks as they stood, many dashing down their + muskets with a muttered curse. + </p> + <p> + The French—naval, military, and civilian—were soon embarked. + The curse of Louisbourg followed most of them, in one form or another. The + combatants were coldly received when they eventually returned to France, + in spite of their gallant defence, and in spite of their having saved + Quebec for that campaign. Several hundreds of the inhabitants were + shipwrecked and drowned. One transport was abandoned off the coast of + Prince Edward Island, with the loss of two hundred lives. Another sprang a + leak as she was nearing England; whereupon, to their eternal dishonour, + the crew of British merchant seamen took all the boats and started to pull + off alone. The three hundred French prisoners, men, women, and children, + crowded the ship's side and begged that, if they were themselves to be + abandoned, their priest should be saved. A boat reluctantly put back for + him. Then, leaving the ship to her fate, the crew pulled for Penzance, + where the people had just been celebrating the glorious victory of + Louisbourg. + </p> + <p> + The French loss had been enough without this. About one in five of all the + combatants had been hit. Twice as many were on the sick list. Officers and + men, officials and traders, fishermen and other inhabitants, all lost + something, in certain cases everything they had; and it was to nothing but + the sheer ruin of all French power beside the American Atlantic that + Madame Drucour waved her long white scarf in a last farewell. + </p> + <p> + France was stung to the quick. Her sea link gone, she feared that the + whole of Canada would soon be won by the same relentless British + sea-power, which was quite as irresistible as it was ubiquitous in the + mighty hands of Pitt. So deeply did her statesmen feel her imminent danger + on the sea, and resent this particular British triumph in the world-wide + 'Maritime War,' that they took the unusual course of sending the following + circular letter to all the Powers of Europe: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + We are advised that Louisbourg capitulated to the + English on July 26, We fully realize the consequences + of such a grave event. But we shall redouble our + efforts to repair the misfortune. + + All commercial nations ought now to open their eyes + to their own interests and join us in preventing the + absolute tyranny which England will soon exercise on + every sea if a stop be not put to her boundless avarice + and ambition. + + For a century past the Powers of Europe have been + crying out against France for disturbing the balance + of power on the Continent. But while England was + artfully fomenting this trouble she was herself engaged + in upsetting that balance of power at sea without + which these different nations' independent power on + land cannot subsist. All governments ought to give + their immediate and most serious attention to this + subject, as the English now threaten to usurp the + whole world's seaborne commerce for themselves. +</pre> + <p> + While the French were taken up with unavailing protests and regrets the + British were rejoicing with their whole heart. Their loss had been small. + Only a twentieth of their naval and military total had been killed or + wounded, or had died from sickness, during the seven weeks' siege. Their + gain had been great. The one real fortress in America, the last sea link + between Old France and New, the single sword held over their transatlantic + shipping, was now unchallengeably theirs. + </p> + <p> + The good news travelled fast. Within three weeks of the surrender the + dispatches had reached England. Defeats, disasters, and exasperating + fiascos had been common since the war began. But at last there was a + genuine victory, British through and through, won by the Army and Navy + together, and won over the greatest of all rivals, France. 'When we lost + Minorca,' said the London Chronicle, just a month after the surrender, 'a + general panic fell upon the nation; but now that Louisbourg is taken our + streets echo with triumph and blaze with illuminations.' Loyal addresses + poured in from every quarter. The king stood on the palace steps to + receive the eleven captured colours; and then, attended by the whole + court, went in state to the royal thanksgiving service held in St Paul's + Cathedral. + </p> + <p> + The thanks of parliament were voted to Amherst and Boscawen. Boscawen + received them in person, being a member of the House of Commons. The + speaker read the address, which was couched in the usual verbiage worked + up by one of the select committees employed on such occasions. But + Boscawen replied, as men of action should, with fewer words and much more + force and point: 'Mr Speaker, Sir, I am happy to have been able to do my + duty. I have no words to express my sense of the distinguished reward that + has been conferred upon me by this House; nor can I thank you, Sir, enough + for the polite and elegant manner in which you have been pleased to convey + its resolution to me.' + </p> + <p> + The American colonists in general rejoiced exceedingly that Louisbourg and + all it meant had been exterminated. But, especially in New England, their + joy was considerably tempered by the reflection that the final blow had + been delivered without their aid, and that the British arms had met with a + terrible reverse at Ticonderoga, where the American militia had + outnumbered the old-country regulars by half as much again. Nevertheless + Boston built a 'stately bonfire,' which made a 'lofty and prodigious + blaze'; while Philadelphia, despite its parasitic Quakers, had a most + elaborate display of fireworks representing England, Louisbourg, the + siege, the capture, the triumph, and reflected glory generally. + </p> + <p> + At the inland front, near Lake Champlain, where Abercromby now went by the + opprobrious nickname of 'Mrs Nabbycrumby,' 'The General put out orders + that the breastwork should be lined with troops, and to fire three rounds + for joy, and give thanks to God in a Religious Way.' But the joy was more + whole-hearted among the little, half-forgotten garrisons of Nova Scotia. + At Annapolis no news arrived till well on in September, when a Boston + sloop came sailing up the bay. Captain Knox, that most industrious of + diarists, records the incident. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Every soul was impatient, yet shy of asking. At length + I called out, 'What news from Louisbourg?' To which + the master simply replied, and with some gravity, + 'Nothing strange.' This threw us all into great + consternation, and some of us even turned away. But + one of our soldiers called out with some warmth 'Damn + you, Pumpkin, isn't Louisbourg taken yet?' The poor + New England man then answered: 'Taken, yes, above a + month ago; and I have been there since; but if you + haven't heard of it before, I have a good parcel of + letters for you now.' Instantly all hats flew off, + and we made the neighbouring woods resound with our + cheers for almost half an hour. +</pre> + <p> + Halifax naturally heard the news sooner than other places; and being then, + as now, a naval port and a garrison town, it gave full vent to its + feelings. Bells pealed. Bonfires blazed. Salutes thundered from the fort + and harbour. But all this was a mere preliminary canter. The real race + came off when the victorious fleet and army returned in triumph. Land and + water were then indeed alive with exultant crowds. The streets were like a + fair, and a noisy one at that. Soldiers, sailors, and civilians drank + standing toasts the whole night through. The commissioner of excise + recorded, not without a touch of proper pride, that, quite apart from all + illicit wines and spirits, no less than sixty thousand gallons of good + Jamaica rum were drunk in honour of the fall of Louisbourg. In higher + circles, where wine was commoner than spirits, the toasts were honoured + just as often. Governor Lawrence, fresh from Louisbourg himself, opened + the new Government House with a grand ball; and Wolfe, whom all now + thought the coming man, drank healths, sang songs, and danced with pretty + partners to his heart's content. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V — ANNIHILATION + </h2> + <h3> + 1760 + </h3> + <p> + The new garrison of Louisbourg hated it as thoroughly as any of their + predecessors, French or British. They repaired the breaches, in a + temporary way, and ran up shelters for the winter. Interest revived with + the spring; for Wolfe was coming back again, this time to command an army + of his own and take Quebec. + </p> + <p> + The great absorbing question was, Who's for the front and who for the + base? Both fleet and army made their rendezvous at Louisbourg; a larger + fleet and a smaller army than those of the year before. Two new toasts + were going the rounds of the Service: 'Here's to the eye of a Hawke and + the heart of a Wolfe!' and 'Here's to British colours on every French + fort, port, and garrison in America!' Of course they were standing toasts. + The men who drank them already felt the presage of Pitt's great Empire + Year of 1759. + </p> + <p> + The last two weeks in May and the first in June were full of glamour in + crowded, stirring Louisbourg. There was Wolfe's picked army of nine + thousand men, with Saunders's mighty fleet of fifty men-of-war, mounting + two thousand guns, comprising a quarter of the whole Royal Navy, and + convoying more than two hundred transports and provision ships; all coming + and going, landing, embarking, drilling, dividing, massing; every one + expectant of glorious results and eager to begin. Who wouldn't be for the + front at the climax of a war like this? + </p> + <p> + Then came the final orders issued in Louisbourg. '1st June, 1759. The + Troops land no more. The flat-bottomed boats to be hoisted in, that the + ships may be ready to sail at the first signal.' '2nd June, 1759. The + Admiral purposes sailing the first fair wind.' On the 4th a hundred and + forty-one sail weighed anchor together. All that day and the next they + were assembling outside and making for the island of Scatari, just beyond + the point of Cape Breton, which is only ten miles north of Louisbourg. By + noon on the 6th the last speck of white had melted away from the + Louisbourg horizon and the men for the front were definitely parted from + those left behind at the base. + </p> + <p> + Great things were dared and done at the front that year, in Europe, Asia, + and America. But nothing was done at dull little Louisbourg, except the + wearisome routine of a disgustingly safe base. Rocks, bogs, fogs, sand, + and scrubby bush ashore. Tantalizing news from the stirring outside world + afloat. So the long, blank, summer days wore through. + </p> + <p> + The second winter proved a little more comfortable than the first had + been. But there was less, far less, for the garrison to expect in the + spring. In February 1760 the death-warrant of Louisbourg was signed in + London by Pitt and King George II. In the following summer it was executed + by Captain John Byron, R. N., the poet's grandfather. Sailors, sappers, + and miners worked for months together, laying the pride of Louisbourg + level with the dust. That they carried out their orders with grim + determination any one can see to-day by visiting the grave in which they + buried so many French ambitions. + </p> + <p> + All the rest of Ile Royale lost its French life in the same supreme + catastrophe—the little forts and trading-posts, the fishing-villages + and hamlets; even the farms along the Mira, which once were thought so + like the promise of a second French Acadia. + </p> + <p> + Nothing remains of that dead past, anywhere inland, except a few gnarled, + weather-beaten stumps of carefully transplanted plum and apple trees, + with, here and there, a straggling little patch of pale, forlorn + narcissus, now soothing the alien air in vain, round shapeless ruins, as + absolute and lone as those of Louisbourg itself. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + </h2> + <p> + There is no complete naval and military history of Louisbourg, in either + French or English. The first siege is a prominent feature in all histories + of Canada, New England, and the United States, though it is not much + noticed in works written in the mother country. The second siege is + noticed everywhere. The beginning and end of the story is generally + ignored, and the naval side is always inadequately treated. + </p> + <p> + Parkman gives a good account of the first siege in 'A Half-Century of + Conflict', and a less good account of the second in 'Montcalm and Wolfe'. + Kingsford's accounts are in volumes iii and iv of the 'History of Canada'. + Sir John Bourinot, a native of the island, wrote a most painstaking work + on 'Cape Breton and its Memorials of the French Regime' which was first + published in the 'Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada' for 1891. + Garneau and other French-Canadian historians naturally emphasize a + different set of facts and explanations. An astonishingly outspoken + account of the first siege is given in the anonymous 'Lettre d'un Habitant + de Louisbourg', which has been edited, with a translation, by Professor + Wrong. The gist of many accounts is to be found, unpretentiously put + together, in 'The Last Siege of Louisbourg', by C. O. Macdonald. New + England produced many contemporary and subsequent accounts of the first + siege, and all books concerned with the Conquest give accounts of the + second. + </p> + <p> + Those who wish to go straight to original sources will find useful + bibliographies in the notes to Parkman's and Bourinot's books, as well as + in Justin Winsor's 'Narrative and Critical History of America'. But none + of these includes some important items to be found either in or through + the Dominion Archives at Ottawa, the Public Records Office in London, and + the Archives de la Marine in Paris. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Fortress, by William Wood + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT FORTRESS *** + +This file should be named 6026-h.htm or 6026-h.zip + +Etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan + +HTML file produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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