English, were so far successful, that the Indians permitted the French
to erect the Fort La Presentation near their border; and but for the
perseverance and extraordinary influence of Sir William Johnston, the
wily character of the Canadians would have gone far to frustrate the
confederacy forming between the English and the Indians, for the
expulsion of the French; whose downfall was ultimately occasioned by the
corruption that prevailed within the colony, and the scandalous jobs
that the very highest authorities not only winked at, but profited by.
The arrival of the Marquis du Quesne de Menneville, in 1752, as Governor
of Canada, Louisiana, Cape Breton, St. John’s, and their dependencies,
gave indications that hostilities might soon be expected in Europe; and
the activity of the marquis was displayed in training and organizing the
militia for internal defence: detachments of regulars, militia, and
Indians, were despatched to the Ohio; Fort du Quesne (actually within
the Virginian territory) and other posts were erected, with a view of
keeping the English within the Apalachian or Alleghany mountains; and
from Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Fort Niagara, the most ferocious
attacks were made on the peaceable English settlers, notwithstanding the
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. The British, though still acting on
the defensive, were not idle; a fort was built in the vicinity of Du
Quesne, quaintly termed _Necessity_, and a garrison was despatched from
Virginia, under the command of George Washington, whose name has since
become so illustrious, and who then held a Lieutenant-colonel’s
commission. Washington, on his march to assume the command of Fort
_Necessity_, was met by a reconnoitring party from Du Quesne fort, under
M. de Jumouville, who peremptorily forbad the English to proceed
further. This mandate was answered by a burst of indignation, and a
volley of musquetry, which killed Jumouville and several of his men. The
French commandant at Du Quesne, Monsieur Contrecœur, quickly commenced
offensive hostilities, invested Fort _Necessity_, and obliged Washington
to capitulate. England at that time was preparing for an open war with
France, which the ambition of Frederick of Prussia, and the state of
Europe soon rendered general. A strong fleet, with troops and warlike
munition, was despatched to reinforce Quebec; an English fleet pursued
it, but succeeded in capturing only two frigates, with the engineers and
troops on board, on the banks of Newfoundland.
[Illustration: _Quebec,_
from the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence.]
In 1755, the Marquis du Quesne having resigned, he was succeeded, in
July, by the last French governor in Canada, the Marquis de Vandreuil de
Cavagnal, whose administration was auspiciously opened by the defeat of
the brave but rash General Braddock, on the 29th July, 1755, in one of
the defiles of the Alleghany mountains. Braddock, accustomed to
European, rather than to Indian warfare, neglected every precaution of
scouts and advanced posts, and refused to make any preparations against
the French and their Indian allies, who, when the enemy had entered a
gorge, where retreat was almost impossible, poured from their ambuscades
on the devoted British a deadly fire, under which the soldiers of the
unfortunate Braddock fell rapidly, without even the satisfaction of
seeing or meeting their foes. The death of their leader was the signal
that further advance was hopeless; and to the credit of George
Washington, the second in command, he succeeded in rescuing the
remainder of the British army, who were afterwards joined by 6,000
provincial troops, under General Johnston and Governor Shirley.
Johnston, with the intention of investing Crown Point, joined General
Lyman near Lake George, where they were attacked by 3,000 French,
commanded by Baron Dieskau. After a battle of four hours’ duration, the
French retreated to Crown Point, with the loss of 1,000 men, and the
capture of their leader, who was severely wounded. This success restored
the drooping spirits of the British army, and helped to train the
provincials (who were brigaded along with the regular troops,) for those
contests which they were soon to wage for their independence with the
very men by whose side they now fought hand to hand against the
French—their subsequent allies. Little did Washington then contemplate
the destiny that awaited him.
The campaign of 1755 was closed in October, by the British retiring to
Albany, after reinforcing the garrison of Oswego, but without any attack
on Crown Point. France, fully aware of the importance of Canada, sent
out early in the ensuing year a large body of chosen troops, under the
command of the gallant and experienced Major-General the Marquis de
Montcalm, who soon invested Fort Oswego, and compelled the garrison to
surrender. In the next year’s campaign (1757), success still signalized
the progress of the French arms; Fort George was invested and captured;
and the English prisoners, amounting to nearly 2,000 regular troops of
His Majesty’s service, were brutally massacred while on their march to
Fort Edward, by the Indian allies of the French—the latter asserting,
or pretending that they were, through inability or neglect,
incapacitated from preventing the perpetration of this horrid slaughter.
The feelings with which the news of this monstrous deed was received in
England, and throughout British America, may well be conceived; it
helped to hasten the downfall of the French dominion in Canada, the
deepest abhorrence being excited against those who permitted or
sanctioned such a diabolical act. The elder Pitt (afterwards Earl of
Chatham) then at the head of affairs, and in the full blaze of his
eloquence, infused a noble spirit into His Majesty’s counsels, and so
wielded the resources and energies of the nation, that the effects were
speedily felt in America.
France reinforced her Canadian garrisons; and England opened the
campaign of 1759 with a plan of combined operations by sea and land,
somewhat, if not mainly, formed on the plan adopted in 1690, and already
detailed. The invasion of Canada was to take place at three different
points, under three generals of high talent; that destined for Quebec
being considered the chief. The forces for the latter place were under
the command of the heroic General Wolfe, and amounted to about 8,000
men, chiefly drawn from the army which, under the same commander, had
taken Fort Louisberg in Cape Breton, and subdued the whole island in the
preceding year. Wolfe’s army was conveyed to the vicinity of Quebec by a
fleet of vessels of war and transports, commanded by Admiral Saunders,
and was landed in two divisions off the island of Orleans, 27th June,
1759. The Marquis de Montcalm made vigorous preparations for defending
Quebec; his armed force consisted of about 13,000 men, of whom six
battalions were regulars, and the remainder well disciplined Canadian
militia, with some cavalry and Indians; and his army was ranged from the
river St. Lawrence to the Falls of Montmorency, with the view of
opposing the landing of the British forces. A few ships of war,
including fire ships, assisted De Montcalm. The skilful disposition of
the French commander was shown in the failure of the British attack on
the intrenchments at Montmorency, where the British lost 182 killed and
450 wounded, including 11 officers killed and 46 wounded. In consequence
of this repulse, Wolfe sent despatches to England, stating that he had
doubts of being able to reduce Quebec during that campaign.
[Illustration: _Montmorency Cove._]
[Illustration: _Monument to Wolfe and Montcalm_
(near Quebec.)]
Prudence and foresight are the characteristics of a good general, as
well as of an able statesman. Wolfe called a council of war—he showed
that the fire of his ships of war, which had passed and repassed Quebec,
had done little damage to the citadel, though the lower town had been
nearly destroyed—that further attacks on the Montmorency intrenchments
were useless: it was therefore proposed, as the only hope of success, to
gain the heights of Abraham behind and above the city, commanding the
weakest point of the fortress. The council, composed of the principal
naval and military commanders, acceded to this daring proposal; and
their heroic leader, although suffering severely from sickness,
commenced his operations on the memorable morning of the 13th of
September, 1759, with an address, secrecy and silence, that have perhaps
never been equalled; indeed, so difficult was the ascent of the narrow
pass where the troops landed, that the soldiers had to climb the
precipice, by the aid of the branches of shrubs and roots of trees
growing among the rocks. De Montcalm found all his vigilance unavailing
to guard this important pass—he lost his usual prudence and
forbearance, and finding his opponent had gained so much by hazarding
all, he, with an infatuation for which it is difficult to account,
resolved to meet the British in battle array on the plains of Abraham.
The French sallied forth from a strong fortress without field
artillery—without even waiting for the return of a large force of 2,000
men, detached as a corps of observation under De Bougainville against
the British fleet—and with a heat and precipitation as remarkable as
were the coolness of the British. The eagle eye of Wolfe saw that to him
retreat was almost impossible; but, while directing his main attention
to the steady advance of his right division, he skilfully covered his
flanks, and endeavoured to preserve their communication with the shore.
Both armies may be said to have been without artillery, the French
having only two guns, and the English a light cannon, which the sailors
dragged up the heights with ropes; the sabre and the bayonet accordingly
decided the day, and never was the nervous strength of the British arm
better wielded. The agile Scotch Highlanders, with their stout
claymores, served the purpose of cavalry, and the steady fire of the
English fusileers compensated in some degree for the want of artillery.
The French fought with a desperation heightened by the fanaticism to
which their priests had excited them against the English heretics, while
the heroism of De Montcalm was as conspicuous as that of his illustrious
opponent; both headed their men—both rushed with eagerness wherever the
battle raged most fiercely, and often by their personal prowess and
example changed the fortune of the moment;—both were repeatedly
wounded, but still fought with an enthusiasm which those only who have
mixed in the heady current of battle can conceive; in fine, both those
gallant commanders fell mortally wounded, while advancing on the last
deadly charge, at the head of their respective columns. Wolfe, faint
with the loss of blood, reeled, and leant against the shoulder of one of
his officers—the purple stream of life was ebbing—the eye that but a
few moments before beamed bright with glory, waxed dim, and he was
sinking to the earth, when the cry of “_They run!—they run!_” arrested
his fleeting spirit. “_Who run?_” exclaimed the dying hero. “_The
French_,” returned his supporter. “_Then I die contented!_” were the
last words of a Briton who expired in the arms of victory. The
chivalrous Montcalm also perished—rejoicing in his last moments that he
should not live to witness the surrender of Quebec—and both the
conquerors and the conquered joined in deploring their national loss.
The battle may be said to have decided the fate of the French dominion
in Canada; five days after, the citadel of Quebec was surrendered, and
occupied by General Murray with a force of 5,000 men, and the British
fleet sailed for England. The contemplated junction of the invading
British forces took place at Montreal in September 1760; and by the
treaty between France and England, in 1763, the former resigned all
further pretensions to Canada and Nova Scotia,—thus losing at one blow
every acre of her North American dominions.
The population of Canada, on its conquest by the British, was about
65,000, inhabiting a narrow strip of land on the banks of the St.
Lawrence, and chiefly employed in agriculture. No people ever had juster
cause of gratitude for the cession of the country to Great Britain than
the Canadians. Bigot, the Intendant, or King’s financier, and his
creatures, plundered the colonists in every direction; a paper currency,
termed card-money, founded on the responsibility of the King of France,
for the general support of the civil and military establishments of the
colony, and which, from having been faithfully redeemed during a period
of thirty years, enjoyed unlimited credit, enabled Bigot to conceal for
a long time his waste and peculations; and while the British were
capturing Canada by force of arms, the French monarch was destroying the
commerce and prospects of his subjects by dishonouring the bills of
exchange of the Intendant, to whom he had granted absolute power; thus
involving in ruin not only the holders of 12,000 livres (£500,000
sterling) but also those who possessed any paper currency, which at the
conquest amounted to £4,000,000 sterling, and the only compensation
received for which was four per cent. on the original value.
Civil and religious liberty was granted to the Canadians; and in the
words of the writer of the Political Annals of Canada, “previous history
affords no example of such forbearance and generosity on the part of the
conquerors towards the conquered—forming such a new era in civilized
warfare, that an admiring world admitted the claim of Great Britain to
the glory of conquering a people, less from views of ambition and the
security of her other colonies, than from the hope of improving their
situation, and endowing them with the privileges of freedom.”
After the more stirring and scientific discoveries of civilized
navigators and adventurers, it will not be uninteresting to present the
simple story of an Indian chief, who crossed the continent without
compass or chart, and with no resources but his courage and native
talent for expedient; and in this rude way, made discoveries which would
thrill the bosom of the most romantic navigator. The story was told by
the chief himself (through an interpreter), to the gentleman who
reported it, in the following words, to the Historical Society of
Quebec:—
“I had lost my wife, and all the children whom I had by her, when I
undertook my journey towards the sun-rising. I set out from my village,
contrary to the inclination of all my relations, and went first to the
Chicasaws, our friends and neighbours. I continued among them several
days, to inform myself whether they knew whence we all came,—they, who
were our elders; since from them came the language of the country. As
they could not inform me, I proceeded on my journey. I reached the
country of the Chasuanous, and afterwards went up the Wabash, or Ohio,
almost to its source, which is in the country of the Iroquois, or Five
Nations. I left them, however, towards the north; and during the winter,
which in that country is very severe, and very long, I lived in a
village of the Abenaquis, where I contracted an acquaintance with a man
somewhat older than myself, who promised to conduct me, the following
spring, to the Great Water. Accordingly, when the snows were melted, and
the weather was settled, we proceeded eastward; and, after several days’
journey, I at length saw the Great Water, which filled me with such joy
and admiration that I could not speak. Night drawing on, we took up our
lodging on a high bank above the water, which was sorely vexed by the
wind, and made so great a noise that I could not sleep. Next day, the
ebbing and flowing of the water filled me with great apprehension; but
my companion quieted my fears, by assuring me that the water observed
certain bounds, both in advancing and retiring. Having satisfied our
curiosity in viewing the Great Water, we turned to the village of the
Abenaquis, where I continued the following winter; and after the snows
were melted, my companion and I went and viewed the great fall of the
river St. Lawrence, at Niagara, which was distant from the village
several days’ journey. The view of this great fall at first made my hair
stand on end, and my heart almost leap out of its place; but afterwards,
before I left it, I had the courage to walk under it. Next day we took
the shortest road to the Ohio; and my companion and I cutting down a
tree on the banks of the river, we formed it into a pettiauger, which
served to conduct me down the Ohio and the Mississippi; after which,
with much difficulty, I went up our small river, and at length arrived
safe among my relations, who were rejoiced to see me in good health.
[Illustration: _The Plains of Abraham, near Quebec._
(_The spot where General Wolfe fell._)]
“This journey, instead of satisfying, only served to excite my
curiosity. Our old men, for several years, had told me that the _ancient
speech_ informed them that the Red-men of the north came originally much
higher and much farther than the source of the river Missouri; and as I
had longed to see, with my own eyes, the land from whence our first
fathers came, I took my precautions for my journey westwards. Having
provided a small quantity of corn, I proceeded up along the eastern bank
of the river Mississippi, till I came to the Ohio. I went up along the
bank of this last river, about the fourth part of a day’s journey, that
I might be able to cross it without being carried into the Mississippi.
There I formed a _cayeux_, or raft of canes, by the assistance of which
I passed over the river; and next day meeting with a herd of buffaloes
in the meadows, I killed a fat one, and took from it the fillets, the
bunch, and the tongue. Soon after I arrived among the Tamaroos, a
village of the nation of the Illinois, where I rested several days, and
then proceeded northwards to the mouth of the Missouri, which, after it
enters the great river, runs for a considerable time without intermixing
its muddy waters with the clear stream of the other. Having crossed the
Mississippi, I went up the _Missouri_, along its northern bank; and
after several days journey, I arrived at the nation of the Missouris,
where I staid a long time, to learn the language that is spoken beyond
them. In going along the Missouri, I passed through meadows a whole
day’s journey in length, which were quite covered with buffaloes.
“When the cold was past, and the snows were melted, I continued my
journey up along the Missouri, till I came to the nation of the West, or
the _Canzas_. Afterwards, in consequence of directions from them, I
proceeded in the same course near thirty days; and at length I met with
some of the nation of the Otters, who were hunting in that
neighbourhood, and were surprised to see me alone. I continued with the
hunters two or three days, and then accompanied one of them, and his
wife, who was near her time of lying in, to their village, which lay far
off, betwixt the north and west. We continued our journey along the
Missouri for nine days, and then we marched directly northwards for five
days more, through the country of the Otters, who received me with as
much kindness as if I had been of their own nation. A few days after we
came to the Fine River, which runs westward in a direction contrary to
that of the Missouri. We proceeded down this river a whole day, and then
arrived at the village. A party of the Otters were going to carry a
calumet of peace to a nation beyond them, and we embarked in a
pettiauger, and went down the river for eighteen days, landing now and
then, to supply ourselves with provisions. When I arrived at the nation,
who were at peace with the Otters, I staid with them till the cold was
past, that I might learn their language, which was common to most of the
nations that lived beyond them.
“The cold was hardly gone, when I again embarked on the Fine River; and
in my course I met with several nations, with whom I generally staid but
one night, till I arrived at the nation that is but one day’s journey
from the Great Water on the West. This nation live in the woods, about
the distance of a league from the river, from their apprehension of
bearded men, who come upon their coasts in floating villages, and carry
off their children to make slaves of them. These men were described to
be white, with long black beards that came down to their breasts. They
were thick and short, had large heads, which were covered with
cloth;—they were always dressed, even in the greatest heats; their
clothes fell down to the middle of their legs, which with their feet
were covered with red or yellow stuff. Their arms made a great fire and
a great noise; and when they saw themselves outnumbered by Red-men, they
retired on board their large pettiauger—their number sometimes
amounting to thirty, but never more.
“Those strangers came from the sun-setting, in search of a yellow
stinking wood, which dyes a fine yellow colour; but the people of this
nation, that they might not be tempted to visit them, had destroyed all
those kind of trees. Two other nations in their neighbourhood, however,
having no other wood, could not destroy the trees, and were still
visited by the strangers; and being greatly incommoded by them, had
invited their allies to assist them in making an attack upon them the
next time they should return. The following summer I accordingly joined
in this expedition; and after travelling five long days’ journey, we
came to the place where the bearded men usually landed, where we waited
seventeen days for their arrival. The Red-men, by my advice, placed
themselves in ambuscade to surprise the strangers; and accordingly, when
they landed to cut the wood, we were so successful as to kill eleven of
them, the rest immediately escaping on board two large pettiaugers, and
flying westward upon the Great Water.
“Upon examining those whom we had killed, we found them much smaller
than ourselves, and very white: they had a large head, and in the middle
of the crown the hair was very long. Their head was wrapped in a great
many folds of stuff, and their clothes seemed to be made neither of wool
nor silk: they were very soft, and of different colours. Two only, of
the eleven who were slain, had fire arms, with powder and ball. I tried
their pieces, and found that they were much heavier than ours, and did
not kill at so great a distance.
“After this expedition I thought of nothing but proceeding on my
journey, and with that design I let the Red-men return home, and joined
myself to those who inhabited more westward on the coast, with whom I
travelled along the shore of the Great Water, which bends directly
betwixt the north and the sun-setting. When I arrived at the villages of
my fellow-travellers, where I found the days very long, and the nights
very short, I was advised by the old men to give over all thoughts of
continuing my journey. They told me that the land extended still a long
way in a direction between the north and sun-setting, after which it ran
directly west, and at length was cut by the Great Water from north to
south. One of them added, that when he was young, he knew a very old man
who had seen that distant land before it was eat away by the Great
Water, and that when the Great Water was low, many rocks still appeared
in those parts. Finding it, therefore, impracticable to proceed much
further on account of the severity of the climate, and the want of game,
I returned by the same route by which I had set out; and reducing my
whole travels westward to day’s journeys, I compute that they would have
employed me thirty-six moons; but on account of my frequent delays, it
was five years before I returned to my relations among the Yazous.”
The remarkable difference between the Natches, including in that name
the nations whom they treat as brethren, and the other people of
Louisiana, made me extremely desirous to know whence both of them might
originally come. We had not then that full information which we have
since received from the voyages and discoveries of M. De Lisle, in the
eastern parts of the Russian empire. I therefore applied myself one day
to put the keeper of the temple in good humour; and having succeeded in
that without much difficulty, I then told him, that from the little
resemblance I observed between the Natches and the neighbouring nations,
I was inclined to believe that they were not originally from the same
country which they then inhabited; and if the ancient speech taught him
any thing on that subject, he would do me a great pleasure to inform me
of it. At these words he leaned his head on his two hands, with which he
covered his eyes; and having remained in that posture about a quarter of
an hour, as if to recollect himself, he answered to the following
effect:—
“Before we came into this land we lived yonder, under the sun, (pointing
with his finger nearly south-west, by which I understood he meant
Mexico); we lived in a fine country, where the earth is always pleasant;
there our sons had their abode, and our nation maintained itself for a
long time against the ancients of the country, who conquered some of our
villages in the plains, but never could force us from the mountains. Our
nation extended itself along the Great Water where this large river
loses itself; but as our enemies were become very numerous, and very
wicked, our Suns sent some of our subjects who live near this river, to
examine whether we could retire into the country through which it
flowed. The country on the east side of the river being found extremely
pleasant, the Great Sun, upon the return of those who had examined it,
ordered all his subjects who lived in the plains, and who still defended
themselves against the ancients of the country, to remove into this
land, here to build a temple, and to preserve the eternal fire.