1710, 1711.
WALKER'S EXPEDITION.
Scheme of La Ronde Denys.--Boston warned against British
Designs.--Boston to be ruined.--Plans of the Ministry.--Canada
doomed.--British Troops at Boston.--The Colonists denounced.--The
Fleet sails for Quebec.--Forebodings of the Admiral.--Storm and
Wreck.--Timid Commanders.--Retreat.--Joyful News for Canada.--Pious
Exultation.--Fanciful Stories.--Walker Disgraced.
Military aid from Old England to New, promised in one year and actually
given in the next, was a fact too novel and surprising to escape the
notice either of friends or of foes.
The latter drew strange conclusions from it. Two Irish deserters from an
English station in Newfoundland appeared at the French post of Placentia
full of stories of British and provincial armaments against Canada. On
this, an idea seized the French commandant, Costebelle, and he hastened
to make it known to the colonial minister. It was to the effect that the
aim of England was not so much to conquer the French colonies as to
reduce her own to submission, especially Massachusetts,--a kind of
republic which has never willingly accepted a governor from its
king.[147] In sending ships and soldiers to the "Bastonnais" under
pretence of helping them to conquer their French neighbors, Costebelle
is sure that England only means to bring them to a dutiful subjection.
"I do not think," he writes on another occasion, "that they are so blind
as not to see that they will insensibly be brought under the yoke of the
Parliament of Old England; but by the cruelties that the Canadians and
Indians exercise in continual incursions upon their lands, I judge that
they would rather be delivered from the inhumanity of such neighbors
than preserve all the former powers of their little republic."[148] He
thinks, however, that the design of England ought to be strongly
represented to the Council at Boston, and that M. de la Ronde Denys will
be a good man to do it, as he speaks English, has lived in Boston, and
has many acquaintances there.[149]
The minister, Ponchartrain, was struck by Costebelle's suggestion, and
wrote both to him and to Vaudreuil in high approval of it. To Vaudreuil
he says: "Monsieur de Costebelle has informed me that the chief object
of the armament made by the English last year was to establish their
sovereignty at Boston and New York, the people of these provinces having
always maintained a sort of republic, governed by their council, and
having been unwilling to receive absolute governors from the kings of
England. This destination of the armament seems to me probable, and it
is much to be wished that the Council at Boston could be informed of the
designs of the English court, and shown how important it is for that
province to remain in the state of a republic. The King would even
approve our helping it to do so. If you see any prospect of success, no
means should be spared to secure it. The matter is of the greatest
importance, but care is essential to employ persons who have the talents
necessary for conducting it, besides great secrecy and prudence, as well
as tried probity and fidelity. This affair demands your best attention,
and must be conducted with great care and precaution, in order that no
false step may be taken."[150]
Ponchartrain could not be supposed to know that while under her old
charter Massachusetts, called by him and other Frenchmen the government
of Boston, had chosen her own governor, New York had always received
hers from the court. What is most curious in this affair is the attitude
of Louis XIV., who abhorred republics, and yet was prepared to bolster
up one or more of them beyond the Atlantic,--thinking, no doubt, that
they would be too small and remote to be dangerous.
Costebelle, who had suggested the plan of warning the Council at Boston,
proceeded to unfold his scheme for executing it. This was to send La
Ronde Denys to Boston in the spring, under the pretext of treating for
an exchange of prisoners, which would give him an opportunity of
insinuating to the colonists that the forces which the Queen of England
sends to join their own for the conquest of Acadia and Canada have no
object whatever but that of ravishing from them the liberties they have
kept so firmly and so long, but which would be near ruin if the Queen
should become mistress of New France by the fortune of war; and that
either they must have sadly fallen from their ancient spirit, or their
chiefs have been corrupted by the Court of London, if they do not see
that they are using their own weapons for the destruction of their
republic.[151]
La Ronde Denys accordingly received his instructions, which authorized
him to negotiate with the "Bastonnais" as with an independent people,
and offer them complete exemption from French hostility if they would
promise to give no more aid to Old England either in ships or men. He
was told at the same time to approach the subject with great caution,
and unless he found willing listeners, to pass off the whole as a
pleasantry.[152] He went to Boston, where he was detained in consequence
of preparations then on foot for attacking Canada. He tried to escape;
but his vessel was seized and moored under the guns of the town, and it
is needless to say that his mission was a failure.
The idea of Costebelle, or rather of La Ronde,--for it probably
originated with him,--was not without foundation; for though there is no
reason to believe that in sending ships and soldiers against the French,
England meant to use them against the liberties of her own colonies,
there can be no doubt that she thought those liberties excessive and
troublesome; and, on the other side, while the people of Massachusetts
were still fondly attached to the land of their fathers, and still
called it "Home," they were at the same time enamoured of their
autonomy, and jealously watchful against any abridgment of it.
While La Ronde Denys was warning Massachusetts of the danger of helping
England to conquer Canada, another Frenchman, in a more prophetic
spirit, declared that England would make a grave mistake if she helped
her colonies to the same end. "There is an antipathy," this writer
affirms, "between the English of Europe and those of America, who will
not endure troops from England even to guard their forts;" and he goes
on to say that if the French colonies should fall, those of England
would control the continent from Newfoundland to Florida. "Old
England"--such are his words--"will not imagine that these various
provinces will then unite, shake off the yoke of the English monarchy,
and erect themselves into a democracy."[153] Forty or fifty years later,
several Frenchmen made the same prediction; but at this early day, when
the British provinces were so feeble and divided, it is truly a
remarkable one.
The anonymous prophet regards the colonies of England, Massachusetts
above all, as a standing menace to those of France; and he proposes a
drastic remedy against the danger. This is a powerful attack on Boston
by land and sea, for which he hopes that God will prepare the way. "When
Boston is reduced, we would call together all the chief men of the other
towns of New England, who would pay heavy sums to be spared from the
flames. As for Boston, it should be pillaged, its workshops,
manufactures, shipyards, all its fine establishments ruined, and its
ships sunk." If these gentle means are used thoroughly, he thinks that
New England will cease to be a dangerous rival for some time, especially
if "Rhodelene" (Rhode Island) is treated like Boston.[154]
While the correspondent of the French court was thus consigning New
England to destruction, an attack was preparing against Canada less
truculent but quite as formidable as that which he urged against Boston.
The French colony was threatened by an armament stronger in proportion
to her present means of defence than that which brought her under
British rule half a century later. But here all comparison ceases; for
there was no Pitt to direct and inspire, and no Wolfe to lead.
The letters of Dudley, the proposals of Vetch, the representations of
Nicholson, the promptings of Jeremiah Dummer, agent of Massachusetts in
England, and the speech made to the Queen by the four Indians who had
been the London sensation of the last year, had all helped to draw the
attention of the ministry to the New World, and the expediency of
driving the French out of it. Other influences conspired to the same
end, or in all likelihood little or nothing would have been done.
England was tiring of the Continental war, the costs of which threatened
ruin. Marlborough was rancorously attacked, and his most stanch
supporters the Whigs had given place to the Tories, led by the Lord
Treasurer Harley, and the Secretary of State St. John, soon afterwards
Lord Bolingbroke. Never was party spirit more bitter; and the new
ministry found a congenial ally in the coarse and savage but powerful
genius of Swift, who, incensed by real or imagined slights from the late
minister, Godolphin, gave all his strength to the winning side.
The prestige of Marlborough's victories was still immense. Harley and
St. John dreaded it as their chief danger, and looked eagerly for some
means of counteracting it. Such means would be supplied by the conquest
of New France. To make America a British continent would be an
achievement almost worth Blenheim or Ramillies, and one, too, in which
Britain alone would be the gainer; whereas the enemies of Marlborough,
with Swift at their head, contended that his greatest triumphs turned
more to the profit of Holland or Germany than of England.[155] Moreover,
to send a part of his army across the Atlantic would tend to cripple his
movements and diminish his fame.
St. John entered with ardor into the scheme. Seven veteran regiments,
five of which were from the army in Flanders, were ordered to embark.
But in the choice of commanders the judgment of the ministers was not
left free; there were influences that they could not disregard. The
famous Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, lately the favorite of the feeble
but wilful queen, had lost her good graces and given place to Mrs.
Masham, one of the women of her bedchamber. The new favorite had a
brother, John Hill, known about the court as Jack Hill, whom Marlborough
had pronounced good for nothing, but who had been advanced to the rank
of colonel, and then of brigadier, through the influence of Mrs. Masham;
and though his agreeable social qualities were his best recommendation,
he was now appointed to command the troops on the Canada expedition. It
is not so clear why the naval command was given to Admiral Sir Hovenden
Walker, a man whose incompetence was soon to become notorious.
Extreme care was taken to hide the destination of the fleet. Even the
Lords of the Admiralty were kept ignorant of it. Some thought the ships
bound for the West Indies; some for the South Sea. Nicholson was sent to
America with orders to the several colonies to make ready men and
supplies. He landed at Boston on the eighth of June. The people of the
town, who were nearly all Whigs, were taken by surprise, expecting no
such enterprise on the part of the Tory ministry; and their perplexity
was not diminished when they were told that the fleet was at hand, and
that they were to supply it forthwith with provisions for ten
weeks.[156] There was no time to lose. The governors of New York,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island were summoned to meet at New London, and
Dudley and Nicholson went thither to join them. Here plans were made for
the double attack; for while Walker and Hill were to sail up the St.
Lawrence against Quebec, Nicholson, as in the former attempt, was to
move against Montreal by way of Lake Champlain. In a few days the
arrangements were made, and the governors hastened back to their
respective posts.[157]
When Dudley reached Boston, he saw Nantasket Roads crowded with
transports and ships of war, and the pastures of Noddle's Island studded
with tents. The fleet had come on the twenty-fourth, having had what the
Admiral calls "by the blessing of God a favorable and extraordinary
passage, being but seven weeks and two days between Plymouth and
Nantasket."[158]
The Admiral and the General had been welcomed with all honor. The
provincial Secretary, with two members of the Council, conducted them to
town amid salutes from the batteries of Copp's Hill and Fort Hill, and
the Boston militia regiment received them under arms; after which they
were feasted at the principal tavern, and accompanied in ceremony to the
lodgings provided for them.[159] When the troops were disembarked and
the tents pitched, curious townspeople and staring rustics crossed to
Noddle's Island, now East Boston, to gaze with wonder on a military
pageant the like of which New England had never seen before. Yet their
joy at this unlooked-for succor was dashed with deep distrust and
jealousy. They dreaded these new and formidable friends, with their
imperious demeanor and exacting demands. The British officers, on their
part, were no better pleased with the colonists, and one of them,
Colonel King, of the artillery, thus gives vent to his feelings: "You'll
find in my Journal what Difficultyes we mett with through the Misfortune
that the Coloneys were not inform'd of our Coming two Months sooner, and
through the Interestedness, ill Nature, and Sowerness of these People,
whose Government, Doctrine, and Manners, whose Hypocracy and canting,
are insupportable; and no man living but one of Gen'l Hill's good Sense
and good Nature could have managed them. But if such a Man mett with
nothing he could depend on, altho' vested with the Queen's Royal Power
and Authority, and Supported by a Number of Troops sufficient to reduce
by force all the Coloneys, 'tis easy to determine the Respect and
Obedience her Majesty may reasonably expect from them." And he gives it
as his conviction that till all the colonies are deprived of their
charters and brought under one government, "they will grow more stiff
and disobedient every Day."[160]
It will be seen that some coolness on the part of the Bostonians was not
unnatural. But whatever may have been the popular feeling, the
provincial authorities did their full part towards supplying the needs
of the new-comers; for Dudley, with his strong Tory leanings, did not
share the prevailing jealousy, and the country members of the Assembly
were anxious before all things to be delivered from war-parties. The
problem was how to raise the men and furnish the supplies in the least
possible time. The action of the Assembly, far from betraying any
slackness, was worthy of a military dictatorship. All ordinary business
was set aside. Bills of credit for £40,000 were issued to meet the needs
of the expedition. It was ordered that the prices of provisions and
other necessaries of the service should stand fixed at the point where
they stood before the approach of the fleet was known. Sheriffs and
constables, jointly with the Queen's officers, were ordered to search
all the town for provisions and liquors, and if the owners refused to
part with them at the prescribed prices, to break open doors and seize
them. Stringent and much-needed Acts were passed against harboring
deserters. Provincial troops, in greater number than the ministry had
demanded, were ordered to be raised at once, and quartered upon the
citizens, with or without their consent, at the rate of eightpence a day
for each man.[161] Warrants were issued for impressing pilots, and also
mechanics and laborers, who, in spite of Puritan scruples, were required
to work on Sundays.
Such measures, if imposed by England, would have roused the most bitter
resentment. Even when ordered by their own representatives, they caused
a sullen discontent among the colonists, and greatly increased the
popular dislike of their military visitors. It was certain that when the
expedition sailed and the operation of the new enactments ceased, prices
would rise; and hence the compulsion to part with goods at low fixed
rates was singularly trying to the commercial temper. It was a busy
season, too, with the farmers, and they showed no haste to bring their
produce to the camp. Though many of the principal inhabitants bound
themselves by mutual agreement to live on their family stores of salt
provisions, in order that the troops might be better supplied with
fresh, this failed to soothe the irritation of the British officers,
aggravated by frequent desertions, which the colonists favored, and by
the impossibility of finding pilots familiar with the St. Lawrence. Some
when forced into the service made their escape, to the great indignation
of Walker, who wrote to the governor: "Her Majesty will resent such
actions in a very signal manner; and when it shall be represented that
the people live here as if there were no king in Israel, but every one
does what seems right in his own eyes, measures will be taken to put
things upon a better foot for the future."[162] At length, however,
every preparation was made, the supplies were all on board, and after a
grand review of the troops on the fields of Noddle's Island, the whole
force set sail on the thirtieth of July, the provincials wishing them
success, and heartily rejoicing that they were gone.
The fleet consisted of nine ships of war and two bomb-ketches, with
about sixty transports, store-ships, hospital-ships, and other vessels,
British and provincial. They carried the seven British regiments,
numbering, with the artillery train, about fifty-five hundred men,
besides six hundred marines and fifteen hundred provincials; counting,
with the sailors, nearly twelve thousand in all.[163]
Vetch commanded the provincials, having been brought from Annapolis for
that purpose. The great need was of pilots. Every sailor in New England
who had seen the St. Lawrence had been pressed into the service, though
each and all declared themselves incapable of conducting the fleet to
Quebec. Several had no better knowledge of the river than they had
picked up when serving as soldiers under Phips twenty-one years before.
The best among them was the veteran Captain Bonner, who afterwards
amused his old age by making a plan of Boston, greatly prized by
connoisseurs in such matters. Vetch had studied the St. Lawrence in his
several visits to Quebec, but, like Bonner, he had gone up the river
only in sloops or other small craft, and was, moreover, no sailor. One
of Walker's ships, the "Chester," sent in advance to cruise in the Gulf,
had captured a French vessel commanded by one Paradis, an experienced
old voyager, who knew the river well. He took a bribe of five hundred
pistoles to act as pilot; but the fleet would perhaps have fared better
if he had refused the money. He gave such dismal accounts of the
Canadian winter that the Admiral could see nothing but ruin ahead, even
if he should safely reach his destination. His tribulation is recorded
in his Journal. "That which now chiefly took up my thoughts, was
contriving how to secure the ships if we got up to Quebec; for _the ice
in the river freezing to the bottom_ would have utterly destroyed and
bilged them as much as if they had been squeezed between rocks."[164]
These misgivings may serve to give the measure of his professional
judgment. Afterwards, reflecting on the situation, he sees cause for
gratitude in his own mishaps; "because, had we arrived safe at Quebec,
our provisions would have been reduced to a very small proportion, not
exceeding eight or nine weeks at short allowance, so that between ten
and twelve thousand men must have been left to perish with the extremity
of cold and hunger. I must confess the melancholy contemplation of this
(had it happened) strikes me with horror; for how dismal must it have
been to have beheld the seas and earth locked up by adamantine frosts,
and swoln with high mountains of snow, in a barren and uncultivated
region; great numbers of brave men famishing with hunger, and drawing
lots who should die first to feed the rest."[165]
All went well till the eighteenth of August, when there was a strong
head-wind, and the ships ran into the Bay of Gaspé. Two days after, the
wind shifted to the southeast, and they set sail again, Walker in his
flagship, the "Edgar," being at or near the head of the fleet. On the
evening of the twenty-second they were at some distance above the great
Island of Anticosti. The river is here about seventy miles wide, and no
land had been seen since noon of the day before. There was a strong east
wind, with fog. Walker thought that he was not far from the south shore,
when in fact he was at least fifty miles from it, and more than half
that distance north of his true course. At eight in the evening the
Admiral signalled the fleet to bring to, under mizzen and main-topsails,
with heads turned southward. At half-past ten, Paddon, the captain of
the "Edgar," came to tell him that he saw land which he supposed must be
the south shore; on which Walker, in a fatal moment, signalled for the
ships to wear and bring to, with heads northward. He then turned into
his berth, and was falling asleep, when a military officer, Captain
Goddard, of Seymour's regiment, hastily entered, and begged him to come
on deck, saying that there were breakers on all sides. Walker, scornful
of a landsman, and annoyed at being disturbed, answered impatiently and
would not stir. Soon after, Goddard appeared again, and implored him for
Heaven's sake to come up and see for himself, or all would be lost. At
the same time the Admiral heard a great noise and trampling, on which he
turned out of his berth, put on his dressing-gown and slippers, and
going in this attire on deck, found a scene of fright and confusion. At
first he could see nothing, and shouted to the men to reassure them; but
just then the fog opened, the moon shone out, and the breaking surf was
plainly visible to leeward. The French pilot, who at first could not be
found, now appeared on deck, and declared, to the astonishment of both
the Admiral and Captain Paddon, that they were off the north shore.
Paddon, in his perplexity, had ordered an anchor to be let go; Walker
directed the cable to be cut, and, making all sail, succeeded in beating
to windward and gaining an offing.[166]
The ship that carried Colonel King, of the artillery, had a narrow
escape. King says that she anchored in a driving rain, "with a shoal of
rocks on each quarter within a cable's length of us, which we plainly
perceived by the waves breaking over them in a very violent manner."
They were saved by a lull in the gale; for if it had continued with the
same violence, he pursues, "our anchors could not have held, and the
wind and the vast seas which ran, would have broke our ship into ten
thousand pieces against the rocks. All night we heard nothing but ships
firing and showing lights, as in the utmost distress."[167]
Vetch, who was on board the little frigate "Despatch," says that he was
extremely uneasy at the course taken by Walker on the night of the
storm. "I told Colonel Dudley and Captain Perkins, commander of the
'Despatch,' that I wondered what the Flag meant by that course, and why
he did not steer west and west-by-south."[168] The "Despatch" kept well
astern, and so escaped the danger. Vetch heard through the fog guns
firing signals of distress; but three days passed before he knew how
serious the disaster was. The ships of war had all escaped; but eight
British transports, one store-ship, and one sutler's sloop were dashed
to pieces.[169] "It was lamentable to hear the shrieks of the sinking,
drowning, departing souls," writes the New England commissary, Sheaf,
who was very near sharing their fate.
The disaster took place at and near a rocky island, with adjacent reefs,
lying off the north shore and called Isle aux Oeufs. On the second day
after it happened, Walker was told by the master of one of the wrecked
transports that eight hundred and eighty-four soldiers had been lost,
and he gives this hasty estimate in his published Journal; though he
says in his Introduction to it that the total loss of officers,
soldiers, and sailors was scarcely nine hundred.[170] According to a
later and more trustworthy statement, the loss of the troops was
twenty-nine officers, six hundred and seventy-six sergeants, corporals,
drummers, and private soldiers, and thirty-five women attached to the
regiments; that is, a total of seven hundred and forty lives.[171] The
loss of the sailors is not given; but it could scarcely have exceeded
two hundred.
The fleet spent the next two days in standing to and fro between the
northern and southern shores, with the exception of some of the smaller
vessels employed in bringing off the survivors from the rocks of Isle
aux Oeufs. The number thus saved was, according to Walker, four
hundred and ninety-nine. On the twenty-fifth he went on board the
General's ship, the "Windsor," and Hill and he resolved to call a
council of war. In fact, Hill had already got his colonels together.
Signals were made for the captains of the men-of-war to join them, and
the council began.
"Jack Hill," the man about town, placed in high command by the influence
of his sister, the Queen's tire-woman, had now an opportunity to justify
his appointment and prove his mettle. Many a man of pleasure and
fashion, when put to the proof, has revealed the latent hero within him;
but Hill was not one of them. Both he and Walker seemed to look for
nothing but a pretext for retreat; and when manhood is conspicuously
wanting in the leaders, a council of war is rarely disposed to supply
it. The pilots were called in and examined, and they all declared
themselves imperfectly acquainted with the St. Lawrence, which, as some
of the captains observed, they had done from the first. Sir William
Phips, with pilots still more ignorant, had safely carried his fleet to
Quebec in 1690, as Walker must have known, for he had with him Phips's
Journal of the voyage. The expedition had lost about a twelfth part of
its soldiers and sailors, besides the transports that carried them;
with this exception there was no reason for retreat which might not as
well have been put forward when the fleet left Boston. All the war-ships
were safe, and the loss of men was not greater than might have happened
in a single battle. Hill says that Vetch, when asked if he would pilot
the fleet to Quebec, refused to undertake it;[172] but Vetch himself
gives his answer as follows: "I told him [the Admiral] I never was bred
to sea, nor was it any part of my province; but I would do my best by
going ahead and showing them where the difficulty of the river was,
which I knew pretty well."[173] The naval captains, however, resolved
that by reason of the ignorance of the pilots and the dangerous currents
it was impossible to go up to Quebec.[174] So discreditable a backing
out from a great enterprise will hardly be found elsewhere in English
annals. On the next day Vetch, disappointed and indignant, gave his mind
freely to the Admiral. "The late disaster cannot, in my humble opinion,
be anyways imputed to the difficulty of the navigation, but to the wrong
course we steered, which most unavoidably carried us upon the north
shore. Who directed that course you best know; and as our return without
any further attempt would be a vast reflection upon the conduct of this
affair, so it would be of very fatal consequence to the interest of the
Crown and all the British colonies upon this continent."[175] His
protest was fruitless. The fleet retraced its course to the gulf, and
then steered for Spanish River,--now the harbor of Sydney,--in the
Island of Cape Breton; the Admiral consoling himself with the reflection
that the wreck was a blessing in disguise and a merciful intervention of
Providence to save the expedition from the freezing, starvation, and
cannibalism which his imagination had conjured up.[176]
The frigate "Sapphire" was sent to Boston with news of the wreck and the
retreat, which was at once despatched to Nicholson, who, if he continued
his movement on Montreal, would now be left to conquer Canada alone. His
force consisted of about twenty-three hundred men, white and red, and
when the fatal news reached him he was encamped on Wood Creek, ready to
pass Lake Champlain. Captain Butler, a New York officer at the camp,
afterwards told Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, that when Nicholson heard
what had happened, he was beside himself with rage, tore off his wig,
threw it on the ground and stamped upon it, crying out, "Roguery!
Treachery!"[177] When his fit was over, he did all that was now left for
him to do,--burned the wooden forts he had built, marched back to
Albany, and disbanded his army, after leaving one hundred and fifty men
to protect the frontier against scalping-parties.[178]
Canada had been warned of the storm gathering against her. Early in
August, Vaudreuil received letters from Costebelle, at Placentia,
telling him that English prisoners had reported mighty preparations at
Boston against Quebec, and that Montreal was also to be attacked.[179]
The colony was ill prepared for the emergency, but no effort was spared
to give the enemy a warm reception. The militia were mustered, Indians
called together, troops held in readiness, and defences strengthened.
The saints were invoked, and the aid of Heaven was implored by masses,
processions, and penances, as in New England by a dismal succession of
fasts. Mother Juchereau de Saint-Denis tells us how devout Canadians
prayed for help from God and the most holy Virgin; "since their glory
was involved, seeing that the true religion would quickly perish if the
English should prevail." The general alarm produced effects which,
though transient, were thought highly commendable while they lasted. The
ladies, according to Mother Juchereau, gave up their ornaments, and
became more modest and more pious. "Those of Montreal," pursues the
worthy nun, "even outdid those of Quebec; for they bound themselves by
oath to wear neither ribbons nor lace, to keep their throats covered,
and to observe various holy practices for the space of a year." The
recluse of Montreal, Mademoiselle Le Ber, who, by reason of her morbid
seclusion and ascetic life, was accounted almost a saint, made a flag
embroidered with a prayer to the Virgin, to be borne against the
heretical bands of Nicholson.
When that commander withdrew, his retreat, though not the cause of it,
was quickly known at Montreal, and the forces gathered there went down
to Quebec to aid in repelling the more formidable attack by sea. Here
all was suspense and expectancy till the middle of October, when the
report came that two large ships had been seen in the river below. There
was great excitement, for they were supposed to be the van of the
British fleet; but alarm was soon turned to joy by the arrival of the
ships, which proved to be French. On the nineteenth, the Sieur de la
Valterie, who had come from Labrador in September, and had been sent
down the river again by Vaudreuil to watch for the English fleet,
appeared at Quebec with tidings of joy. He had descended the St.
Lawrence in a canoe, with two Frenchmen and an Indian, till, landing at
Isle aux Oeufs on the first of October, they met two French sailors or
fishermen loaded with plunder, and presently discovered the wrecks of
seven English ships, with, as they declared, fifteen or sixteen hundred
dead bodies on the strand hard by, besides dead horses, sheep, dogs, and
hens, three or four hundred large iron-hooped casks, a barrel of wine
and a barrel and a keg of brandy, cables, anchors, chains, planks,
boards, shovels, picks, mattocks, and piles of old iron three feet
high.[180]
"The least devout," writes Mother Juchereau, "were touched by the
grandeur of the miracle wrought in our behalf,--a marvellous effect of
God's love for Canada, which, of all these countries, is the only one
that professes the true religion."
Quebec was not ungrateful. A solemn mass was ordered every month during
a year, to be followed by the song of Moses after the destruction of
Pharaoh and his host.[181] Amazing reports were spread concerning the
losses of the English. About three thousand of "these wretches"--so the
story ran--died after reaching land, without counting the multitudes
drowned in the attempt; and even this did not satisfy divine justice,
for God blew up one of the ships by lightning during the storm. Vessels
were sent to gather up the spoils of the wreck, and they came back, it
was reported, laden with marvellous treasures, including rich clothing,
magnificent saddles, plate, silver-hilted swords, and the like; bringing
also the gratifying announcement that though the autumn tides had swept
away many corpses, more than two thousand still lay on the rocks, naked
and in attitudes of despair.[182] These stories, repeated by later
writers, find believers to this day.[183]
When Walker and his ships reached Spanish River, he called another
council of war. The question was whether, having failed to take Quebec,
they should try to take Placentia; and it was resolved that the short
supply of provisions, the impossibility of getting more from Boston
before the first of November, and the risks of the autumnal storms, made
the attempt impracticable. Accordingly, the New England transports
sailed homeward, and the British fleet steered for the Thames.
Swift writes on the sixth of October in his Journal to Stella: "The news
of Mr. Hill's miscarriage in his expedition came to-day, and I went to
visit Mrs. Masham and Mrs. Hill, his two sisters, to condole with them."
A week after, he mentions the arrival of the general himself; and again
on the sixteenth writes thus: "I was to see Jack Hill this morning, who
made that unfortunate expedition; and there is still more misfortune,
for that ship which was admiral of his fleet [the "Edgar"] is blown up
in the Thames by an accident and carelessness of some rogue, who was
going, as they think, to steal some gunpowder: five hundred men are
lost."
A report of this crowning disaster reached Quebec, and Mother Juchereau
does not fail to improve it. According to her, the Admiral, stricken
with divine justice, and wrought to desperation, blew up the ship
himself, and perished with all on board, except only two men.
There was talk of an examination into the causes of the failure, but
nothing was done. Hill, strong in the influence of Mrs. Masham, reaped
new honors and offices. Walker, more answerable for the result, and less
fortunate in court influence, was removed from command, and his name was
stricken from the half-pay list. He did not, however, blow himself up,
but left England and emigrated to South Carolina, whence, thinking
himself ill-treated by the authorities, he removed to Barbadoes, and
died some years later.[184]
FOOTNOTES:
[147] _Rapport de Costebelle, 14 Octobre, 1709._ _Ibid., 3 Décembre,
1709._
[148] "Je ne les crois pas assez aveugles pour ne point s'apercevoir
qu'insensiblement ils vont subir le joug du parlement de la vieille
Angleterre, mais par les cruautés que les Canadiens et sauvages exercent
sur leurs terres par des courses continuelles je juge qu'ils
aiment encore mieux se délivrer de l'inhumanité de semblables
voisins que de conserver toute l'ancienne autorité de leur petite
république."--_Costebelle au Ministre, 3 Décembre, 1710._ He clung
tenaciously to this idea, and wrote again in 1712 that "les cruautés de
nos sauvages, qui font horreur à rapporter," would always incline the
New England people to peace. They had, however, an opposite effect.
[149] It is more than probable that La Ronde Denys, who had studied the
"Bastonnais" with care, first gave the idea to Costebelle.
[150] _Ponchartrain à Vaudreuil, 10 Août, 1710._ _Ponchartrain à
Costebelle, même date._ These letters are in answer to the reports of
Costebelle, before cited.
[151] _Costebelle à Ponchartrain, 3 Décembre, 1710._
[152] _Instruction pour Monsieur de la Ronde, Capitaine d'Infanterie des
Détachements de la Marine_, 1711. "Le dit sieur de la Ronde pourroit
entrer en négociation et se promettre de faire cesser toutes sortes
d'hostilités du côté du Canada, supposé que les Bastonnais promissent
d'en faire de même de leur côté, et qu'ils ne donassent aucun secours à
l'avenir, d'hommes ni de vaisseaux, aux puissances de la vieille
Angleterre et d'Ecosse."
[153] "La vieille Angleterre ne s'imaginera pas que ces diverses
Provinces se réuniront, et, secouant le joug de la monarchie Anglaise,
s'érigeront en démocratie."--_Mémoire sur la Nouvelle Angleterre_, 1710,
1711. (Archives de la Marine.)
[154] "Pour Baston, il faudrait la piller, ruiner ses ateliers, ses
manufactures, tous ses beaux établissements, couler bas ses navires, ...
ruiner les ateliers de construction de navires."--_Mémoire sur la
Nouvelle Angleterre_, 1710, 1711. The writer was familiar with Boston
and its neighborhood, and had certainly spent some time there. Possibly
he was no other than La Ronde Denys himself, after the failure of his
mission to excite the "Bastonnais" to refuse co-operation with British
armaments. He enlarges with bitterness on the extent of the fisheries,
foreign trade, and ship-building of New England.
[155] See Swift, _Conduct of the Allies_.
[156] Boston, devoted to fishing, shipbuilding, and foreign trade, drew
most of its provisions from neighboring colonies. (Dummer, _Letter to a
Noble Lord_.) The people only half believed that the Tory ministry were
sincere in attacking Canada, and suspected that the sudden demand for
provisions, so difficult to meet at once, was meant to furnish a pretext
for throwing the blame of failure upon Massachusetts. Hutchinson, ii.
173.
[157] _Minutes of Proceedings of the Congress of Governors, June, 1711._
[158] _Walker to Burchett, Secretary of the Admiralty, 14 August, 1711._
[159] _Abstract of the Journal of the Governor, Council, and Assembly of
the Province of the Massachusetts Bay._
[160] _King to Secretary St. John, 25 July, 1711._
[161] The number demanded from Massachusetts was one thousand, and that
raised by her was eleven hundred and sixty. _Dudley to Walker, 27 July,
1711._
[162] Walker prints this letter in his Journal. Colonel King writes in
his own Journal: "The conquest of Canada will naturally lead the Queen
into changing their present disorderly government;" and he thinks that
the conviction of this made the New Englanders indifferent to the
success of the expedition.
[163] The above is drawn from the various lists and tables in Walker,
_Journal of the Canada Expedition_. The armed ships that entered Boston
in June were fifteen in all; but several had been detached for cruising.
The number of British transports, store-ships, etc., was forty, the rest
being provincial.
[164] Walker, _Journal; Introduction_.
[165] _Ibid._, 25.
[166] Walker, _Journal_, 124, 125.
[167] King, _Journal_.
[168] Vetch, _Journal_.
[169] King, _Journal_.
[170] Compare Walker, _Journal_, 45, and _Ibid._, 127, 128. He elsewhere
intimates that his first statement needed correction.
[171] _Report of ye Soldiers, etc., Lost._ (Public Record Office.) This
is a tabular statement, giving the names of the commissioned officers
and the positions of their subordinates, regiment by regiment. All the
French accounts of the losses are exaggerations.
[172] _Hill to Dudley, 25 August, 1711._
[173] Vetch, _Journal_. His statement is confirmed by the report of the
council.
[174] _Report of a Consultation of Sea Officers belonging to the
Squadron under Command of Sir Hovenden Walker, Kt., 25 August, 1711._
Signed by Walker and eight others.
[175] _Vetch to Walker, 26 August, 1711._
[176] Walker, _Journal, Introduction_, 25.
[177] Kalm, _Travels_, ii. 135.
[178] Schuyler, _Colonial New York_, ii. 48.
[179] _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 25 Octobre, 1711._
[180] _Déposition de François de Marganne, Sieur de la Valterie; par
devant Nous, Paul Dupuy, Ecuyer, Conseiller du Roy, etc., 19 Octobre,
1711._
[181] _Monseigneur de Saint-Vallier et l'Histoire de l'Hôpital Général
de Quebec_, 209.
[182] Juchereau, _Histoire de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Québec_, 473-491. La Ronde
Denys says that nearly one thousand men were drowned, and that about two
thousand died of injuries received. _La Ronde au Ministre, 30 Décembre,
1711._
[183] Some exaggeration was natural enough. Colonel Lee, of the Rhode
Island contingent, says that a day or two after the wreck he saw "the
bodies of twelve or thirteen hundred brave men, with women and children,
lying in heaps." _Lee to Governor Cranston, 12 September, 1711._
[184] Walker's Journal was published in 1720, with an Introduction of
forty-eight pages, written in bad temper and bad taste. The Journal
contains many documents, printed in full. In the Public Record Office
are preserved the Journals of Hill, Vetch, and King. Copies of these,
with many other papers on the same subject, from the same source, are
before me. Vetch's Journal and his letter to Walker after the wreck are
printed in the _Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society_, vol.
iv.
It appears by the muster-rolls of Massachusetts that what with manning
the coast-guard vessels, defending the frontier against Indians, and
furnishing her contingent to the Canada expedition, more than one in
five of her able-bodied men were in active service in the summer of
1711. Years passed before she recovered from the effects of her
financial exhaustion.