War declared against Spain.... Expedition against St.
Augustine.... Georgia invaded.... Spaniards land on an
island in the Alatamaha.... Appearance of a fleet from
Charleston.... Spanish army re-embarks.... Hostilities with
France.... Expedition against Louisbourg.... Louisbourg
surrenders.... Great plans of the belligerent powers....
Misfortunes of the armament under the duke D'Anville.... The
French fleet dispersed by a storm.... Expedition against
Nova Scotia.... Treaty of Aix la Chapelle.... Paper money of
Massachusetts redeemed.... Contests between the French and
English respecting boundaries.... Statement respecting the
discovery of the Mississippi.... Scheme for connecting
Louisiana with Canada.... Relative strength of the French
and English colonies.... Defeat at the Little Meadows....
Convention at Albany.... Plan of union.... Objected to both
in America and Great Britain.
{1739}
[Sidenote: War with Spain.]
The increasing complaints of the merchants, and the loud clamours of
the nation, at length forced the minister to abandon his pacific
system; and war was declared against Spain. A squadron commanded by
admiral Vernon was detached to the West Indies, with instructions to
act offensively; and general Oglethorpe was ordered to annoy the
settlements in Florida. He planned an expedition against St.
Augustine, and requested the assistance of South Carolina. That
colony, ardently desiring the expulsion of neighbours alike feared and
hated, entered zealously into the views of the general, and agreed to
furnish the men and money he requested. A regiment, commanded by
colonel Vanderdussen, was immediately raised in Virginia and the two
Carolinas. A body of Indians was also engaged, and captain Price, who
commanded the small fleet on that station, promised his co-operation.
These arrangements being made, and the mouth of St. John's river, on
the coast of Florida, being appointed as the place, of rendezvous
general Oglethorpe hastened to Georgia, to prepare his regiment for
the expedition.
{1740}
Those unexpected impediments, which always embarrass military
movements conducted by men without experience, having delayed the
arrival of his northern troops, Oglethorpe entered Florida at the head
of his own regiment, aided by a party of Indians; and invested Diego,
a small fort about twenty-five miles from St. Augustine, which
capitulated after a short resistance. He then returned to the place of
rendezvous, where he was joined by colonel Vanderdussen, and by a
company of Highlanders under the command of captain M'Intosh; a few
days after which, he marched with his whole force, consisting of about
two thousand men, to fort Moosa, in the neighbourhood of St.
Augustine, which was evacuated on his approach. The general now
perceived that the enterprise would be attended with more difficulty
than had been anticipated. In the time which intervened between his
entering Florida and appearing before the town, supplies of provisions
had been received from the country, and six Spanish half gallies
carrying long brass nine pounders, and two sloops laden with
provisions, had entered the harbour. Finding the place better
fortified than had been expected, he determined to invest it
completely, and to advance by regular approaches. In execution of this
plan, colonel Palmer, with ninety-five Highlanders, and forty-two
Indians, remained at fort Moosa, while the army took different
positions near the town, and began an ineffectual bombardment from the
island of Anastasia. The general was deliberating on a plan for
forcing the harbour and taking a nearer position, when colonel Palmer
was surprised, and his detachment cut to pieces. At the same time some
small vessels from the Havanna, with a reinforcement of men and supply
of provisions, entered the harbour through the narrow channel of the
Matanzas.
The army began to despair of success; and the provincials, enfeebled
by the heat, dispirited by sickness, and fatigued by fruitless
efforts, marched away in large bodies. The navy being ill supplied
with provisions, and the season for hurricanes approaching, captain
Price was unwilling to hazard his majesty's ships on that coast. The
general, labouring under a fever, finding his regiment, as well as
himself, worn out with fatigue, and rendered unfit for action by
disease; reluctantly abandoned the enterprise, and returned to
Frederica.
The colonists, disappointed and chagrined by the failure of the
expedition, attributed this misfortune entirely to the incapacity of
the general, who was not less dissatisfied with them. Whatever may
have been the true causes of the failure, it produced a mutual and
injurious distrust between the general and the colonists.[134]
[Footnote 134: In the same year Charleston was reduced to
ashes. A large portion of its inhabitants passed, in one
day, from prosperity to indigence. Under the pressure of
this misfortune, the legislature applied to parliament for
aid; and that body, with a liberality reflecting honour on
its members, voted twenty thousand pounds, to be distributed
among the sufferers.]
{1742}
The events of the war soon disclosed the dangers resulting from this
want of confidence in general Oglethorpe, and, still more, from the
want of power to produce a co-operation of the common force for the
common defence.
Spain had ever considered the settlement of Georgia as an encroachment
on her territory, and had cherished the intention to seize every
proper occasion to dislodge the English by force. With this view, an
armament consisting of two thousand men, commanded by Don Antonio di
Ridondo, embarked at the Havanna, under convoy of a strong squadron,
and arrived at St. Augustine in May. The fleet having been seen on its
passage, notice of its approach was given to general Oglethorpe, who
communicated the intelligence to governor Glenn of South Carolina, and
urged the necessity of sending the troops of that province to his
assistance.
Georgia being a barrier for South Carolina, the policy of meeting an
invading army on the frontiers of the former, especially one
containing several companies composed of negroes who had fled from the
latter, was too obvious not to be perceived: yet either from prejudice
against Oglethorpe, or the disposition inherent in separate
governments to preserve their own force for their own defence,
Carolina refused to give that general any assistance. Its attention
was directed entirely to the defence of Charleston; and the
inhabitants of its southern frontier, instead of marching to the camp
of Oglethorpe, fled to that city for safety. In the mean time, the
general collected a few Highlanders, and rangers of Georgia, together
with as many Indian warriors as would join him, and determined to
defend Frederica.
[Sidenote: Georgia invaded.]
Late in June, the Spanish fleet, consisting of thirty-two sail,
carrying above three thousand men, crossed Simon's bar into Jekyl
sound, and passing Simon's fort, then occupied by general Oglethorpe,
proceeded up the Alatamaha, out of the reach of his guns; after which,
the troops landed on the island, and erected a battery of twenty
eighteen pounders.
Fort Simon's being indefensible, Oglethorpe retreated to Frederica.
His whole force, exclusive of Indians, amounted to little more than
seven hundred men, a force which could only enable him to act on the
defensive until the arrival of reinforcements which he still expected
from South Carolina. The face of the country was peculiarly favorable
to this system of operations. Its thick woods and deep morasses
opposed great obstacles to the advance of an invading enemy, not well
acquainted with the paths which passed through them. Oglethorpe turned
these advantages to the best account. In an attempt made by the
Spanish general to pierce these woods in order to reach Frederica,
several sharp rencounters took place; in one of which he lost a
captain and two lieutenants killed, and above one hundred privates
taken prisoners. He then changed his plan of operations; and,
abandoning his intention of forcing his way to Frederica by land,
called in his parties, kept his men under cover of his cannon, and
detached some vessels up the river, with a body of troops on board, to
reconnoitre the fort, and draw the attention of the English to that
quarter.
About this time, an English prisoner escaped from the Spaniards, and
informed general Oglethorpe that a difference existed between the
troops from Cuba, and those from St. Augustine, which had been carried
so far that they encamped in separate places. This intelligence
suggested the idea of attacking them while divided; and his perfect
knowledge of the woods favoured the hope of surprising one of their
encampments. In execution of this design, he drew out the flower of
his army, and marched in the night, unobserved, within two miles of
the Spanish camp. There, his troops halted, and he advanced, himself,
at the head of a select corps, to reconnoitre the situation of the
enemy. While he was using the utmost circumspection to obtain the
necessary information without being discovered, a French soldier of
his party discharged his musket, and ran into the Spanish lines.
Discovery defeating every hope of success, the general retreated to
Frederica.
Oglethorpe, confident that the deserter would disclose his weakness,
devised an expedient which turned the event to advantage. He wrote to
the deserter as if in concert with him, directing him to give the
Spanish general such information as might induce him to attack
Frederica; hinting also at an attempt meditated by admiral Vernon on
St. Augustine, and at late advices from Carolina, giving assurances of
a reinforcement of two thousand men. He then tampered with one of the
Spanish prisoners, who, for a small bribe, promised to deliver this
letter to the deserter, after which, he was permitted to escape. The
prisoner, as was foreseen delivered the letter to his general, who
ordered the deserter to be put in irons; and, was, in no small degree,
embarrassed to determine whether the letter ought to be considered as
a stratagem to save Frederica, and induce the abandonment of the
enterprise; or as real instructions to direct the conduct of a spy.
While hesitating on the course to be pursued, his doubts were removed
by one of those incidents, which have so much influence on human
affairs.
[Sidenote: Spanish army re-embarks in confusion.]
The assembly of South Carolina had voted a supply of money to general
Oglethorpe; and the governor had ordered some ships of force to his
aid. These appeared off the coast while the principal officers of the
Spanish army were yet deliberating on the letter. They deliberated no
longer. The whole army was seized with a panic; and, after setting
fire to the fort, embarked in great hurry and confusion, leaving
behind several pieces of heavy artillery, and a large quantity of
provisions and military stores.
Thus was Georgia delivered from an invasion which threatened the total
subjugation of the province.
The ill success of these reciprocal attempts at conquest, seems to
have discouraged both parties; and the Spanish and English colonies,
in the neighbourhood of each other, contented themselves, for the
residue of the war, with guarding their own frontiers.
The connexion between the branches of the house of Bourbon was too
intimate for the preservation of peace with France, during the
prosecution of war against Spain. Both nations expected and prepared
for hostilities. War had commenced in fact, though not in form, on the
continent of Europe; but as they carried on their military operations
as auxiliaries, in support of the contending claims of the elector of
Bavaria, and the queen of Hungary, to the imperial throne, they
preserved in America a suspicious and jealous suspension of hostility,
rather than a real peace.
{1744}
This state of things was interrupted by a sudden incursion of the
French into Nova Scotia.
[Sidenote: Hostilities with France.]
The governor of Cape Breton having received information that France
and Great Britain had become principals in the war, took possession of
de Canseau with a small military and naval force, and made the
garrison, and inhabitants prisoners of war. This enterprise was
followed by an attempt on Annapolis, which was defeated by the timely
arrival of a reinforcement from Massachusetts. These offensive
operations stimulated the English colonists to additional efforts to
expel such dangerous neighbors, and to unite the whole northern
continent bordering on the Atlantic, under one common sovereign.
The island of Cape Breton, so denominated from one of its capes, lies
between the 45th and 47th degree of north latitude, at the distance of
fifteen leagues from Cape Ray, the south western extremity of
Newfoundland. Its position rendered the possession of it very material
to the commerce of France; and the facility with which the fisheries
might be annoyed from its ports, gave it an importance to which it
could not otherwise have been entitled. Thirty millions of
livres,[135] and the labour of twenty-five years, had been employed on
its fortifications. From its strength, and still more from the
numerous privateers that issued from its ports, it had been termed the
Dunkirk[136] of America. On this place, governor Shirley meditated an
attack.
[Footnote 135: About five and a half millions of dollars.]
[Footnote 136: Belknap.]
The prisoners taken at Canseau, and others who had been captured at
sea and carried to Louisbourg, were sent to Boston. The information
they gave, if it did not originally suggest this enterprise,
contributed greatly to its adoption. They said that Duvivier had gone
to France to solicit assistance for the conquest of Nova Scotia, in
the course of the ensuing campaign; and that the store ships from
France for Cape Breton, not having arrived on the coast until it was
blocked up with ice, had retired to the West Indies.
In several letters addressed to administration, governor Shirley
represented the danger to which Nova Scotia was exposed, and pressed
for naval assistance. These letters were sent by captain Ryal, an
officer of the garrison which had been taken at Canseau, whose
knowledge of Louisbourg, of Cape Breton, and of Nova Scotia, enabled
him to make such representations to the lords of the admiralty, as
were calculated to promote the views of the northern colonies.
The governor was not disappointed. Orders were dispatched to commodore
Warren, then in the West Indies, to proceed towards the north, early
in the spring; and to employ such a force as might be necessary to
protect the northern colonies in their trade and fisheries, as well as
to distress the enemy. On these subjects, he was instructed to consult
with Shirley, to whom orders of the same date were written, directing
him to assist the King's ships with transports, men, and provisions.
Such deep impression had the design of taking Louisbourg made on the
mind of Shirley, that he did not wait for intelligence of the
reception given to his application for naval assistance. He was
induced to decide on engaging in the enterprise, even without such
assistance, by the representations of Mr. Vaughan, son of the
lieutenant governor of New Hampshire, a man of a sanguine and ardent
temper, who could think nothing impracticable which he wished to
achieve. Mr. Vaughan had never been at Louisbourg, but had learned
something of the strength of the place, from fishermen and others; and
the bold turn of his mind suggested the idea of surprising it. There
is something infectious in enthusiasm, whatever be its object; and
Vaughan soon communicated his own convictions to Shirley.[137]
[Footnote 137: Belknap.]
{1745}
The governor informed the general court that he had a proposition of
great importance to communicate, and requested that the members would
take an oath of secrecy, previous to his laying it before them. This
novel request being complied with, he submitted his plan for attacking
Louisbourg. It was referred to a committee of both houses; the
arguments for and against the enterprise were temperately considered;
and the part suggested by prudence prevailed. The expedition was
thought too great, too hazardous, and too expensive.
The report of the committee was approved by the house of
representatives, and the expedition was supposed to be abandoned; but,
notwithstanding the precaution taken to secure secrecy, the subject
which had occupied the legislature was divulged,[138] and the people
took a deep interest in it. Numerous petitions were presented, praying
the general court to re-consider its vote, and to adopt the
proposition of the governor. Among the several arguments urged in its
favour, that which the petitioners pressed most earnestly, was the
necessity of acquiring Louisbourg, to save the fisheries from ruin.
[Footnote 138: It is said the secret was kept until a member
who performed family devotion at his lodgings, betrayed it
by praying for the divine blessing on the attempt.]
The subject being re-considered, a resolution in favour of the
enterprise was carried by a single voice, in the absence of several
members known to be against it. Yet all parties manifested equal zeal
for its success. A general embargo was laid, and messengers were
despatched to the several governments as far south as Pennsylvania,
soliciting their aid. These solicitations succeeded only in the
northern provinces. There being at that time no person in New England
who had acquired any military reputation, the chief command was
conferred on colonel Pepperel, a merchant, who was also a large land
holder, and was highly respected throughout Massachusetts.[139]
[Footnote 139: Hutchison.]
All ranks of men combined to facilitate the enterprise, and those
circumstances which are beyond human control, also concurred to favour
the general wish.
The governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, whose orders forbade
their assent to a farther emission of bills of credit, departed from
their instructions to promote this favourite project; the people
submitted to impressments of their property; and a mild winter gave no
interruption to their warlike preparations.
The troops of Massachusetts,[140] New Hampshire, and Connecticut,
amounting to rather more than four thousand men, assembled at Canseau
about the middle of April; soon after which, to the great joy of the
colonial troops, admiral Warren arrived, with a considerable part of
his fleet. The army then embarked for Chapeau-rouge bay, and the fleet
cruised off Louisbourg.
[Footnote 140: The day before the armament sailed from
Massachusetts, an express boat, which had been dispatched to
admiral Warren to solicit assistance, returned with the
unwelcome intelligence that he declined furnishing the aid
required. This information could not arrest the expedition.
Fortunately for its success, the orders from England soon
afterwards reached the admiral, who immediately detached a
part of his fleet; which he soon followed himself in the
Superb, of sixty guns.]
After repulsing a small detachment of French troops, the landing was
effected; and, in the course of the night, a body of about four
hundred men led by Vaughan, marched round to the north east part of
the harbour, and set fire to a number of warehouses containing
spirituous liquors and naval stores. The smoke being driven by the
wind into the grand battery, caused such darkness that the men placed
in it were unable to distinguish objects; and, being apprehensive of
an attack from the whole English army, abandoned the fort and fled
into the town.
The next morning, as Vaughan was returning to camp with only thirteen
men, he ascended the hill which overlooked the battery, and observing
that the chimneys in the barracks were without smoke, and the staff
without its flag, he hired an Indian, with a bottle of rum, to crawl
through an embrasure, and open the gate. Vaughan entered with his men
and defended the battery against a party then landing to regain
possession until the arrival of a reinforcement.
For fourteen nights successively, the troops were employed in dragging
cannon from the landing place to the encampment, a distance of near
two miles, through a deep morass. The army, being totally unacquainted
with the art of conducting sieges, made its approaches irregularly,
and sustained some loss on this account.
While these approaches were making by land, the ships of war which
continued to cruise off the harbour, fell in with and captured the
Vigilant, a French man of war of sixty-four guns, having on board a
reinforcement of five hundred and sixty men, and a large quantity of
stores for the garrison. Soon after this, an unsuccessful, and,
perhaps, a rash attempt was made on the island battery by four hundred
men; of whom sixty were killed, and one hundred and sixteen taken
prisoners. All these prisoners, as if by previous concert, exaggerated
the numbers of the besieging army, a deception which was favoured by
the unevenness of the ground, and the dispersed state of the troops;
and which probably contributed to the surrender of the place. The
provincial army did indeed present a formidable front, but, in the
rear, all was frolic and confusion.
The Vigilant had been anxiously expected by the garrison, and the
information of her capture excited a considerable degree of
perturbation. This event, with the erection of some works on the high
cliff at the light house, by which the island battery was much
annoyed, and the preparations evidently making for a general assault,
determined Duchambon, the governor of Louisbourg, to surrender; and,
in a few days, he capitulated.
[Sidenote: Louisbourg surrenders.]
Upon entering the fortress, and viewing its strength, and its means of
defence, all perceived how impracticable it would have been to carry
it by assault.[141]
[Footnote 141: Belknap. Hutchison.]
The joy excited in the British colonies by the success of the
expedition against Louisbourg was unbounded. Even those who had
refused to participate in its hazards and expense, were sensible of
its advantages, and of the lustre it shed on the American arms.
Although some disposition was manifested in England, to ascribe the
whole merit of the conquest to the navy, colonel Pepperel received,
with the title of baronet, the more substantial reward of a regiment
in the British service, to be raised in America; and the same mark of
royal favour was bestowed on governor Shirley. Reimbursements too were
made by parliament for the expenses of the expedition. It was the only
decisive advantage obtained by the English during the war.
The capture of Louisbourg, most probably, preserved Nova Scotia.
Duvivier, who had embarked for France to solicit an armament for the
conquest of that province, sailed, in July, 1745, with seven ships of
war, and a body of land forces. He was ordered to stop at Louisbourg,
and thence to proceed in the execution of his plan. Hearing, at sea,
of the fall of that place, and that a British squadron was stationed
at it, he relinquished the expedition against Nova Scotia, and
returned to Europe.
The British empire on the American continent consisted, originally, of
two feeble settlements unconnected with, and almost unknown to each
other. For a long time the southern colonies, separated from those of
New England by an immense wilderness, and by the possessions of other
European powers, had no intercourse with them, except what was
produced by the small trading vessels of the north, which occasionally
entered the rivers of the south. Neither participated in the wars or
pursuits of the other; nor were they, in any respect, actuated by
common views, or united by common interest. The conquest of the
country between Connecticut and Maryland, laid a foundation, which the
settlement of the middle colonies completed, for connecting these
disjoined members, and forming one consolidated whole, capable of
moving, and acting in concert. This gradual change, unobserved in its
commencement, had now become too perceptible to be longer overlooked;
and, henceforward, the efforts of the colonies, were in a great
measure combined, and directed to a common object.
France, as well as England, had extended her views with her
settlements; and, after the fall of Louisbourg, the governments of
both nations meditated important operations for the ensuing campaign
in America.
[Sidenote: Great plans of the belligerents.]
France contemplated, not only the recovery of Cape Breton and Nova
Scotia, but the total devastation of the sea coast, if not the entire
conquest of New England.
Britain, on her part, calculated on the reduction of Canada, and the
entire expulsion of the French from the American continent.
{1746}
Shirley repaired to Louisbourg, after its surrender, where he held a
consultation with Warren and Pepperel on the favourite subject of
future and more extensive operations against the neighbouring
possessions of France. From that place he wrote pressingly to
administration, for reinforcements of men and ships to enable him to
execute his plans. The capture of Louisbourg gave such weight to his
solicitations that, in the following spring, the duke of New Castle,
then secretary of state, addressed a circular letter to the governors
of the provinces as far south as Virginia, requiring them to raise as
many men as they could spare, and hold them in readiness to act
according to the orders that should be received. Before this letter
was written, an extensive plan of operations had been digested in the
British cabinet. It was proposed to detach a military and naval
armament which should, early in the season, join the troops to be
raised in New England, at Louisbourg; whence they were to proceed up
the St. Lawrence to Quebec. The troops from New York, and from the
more southern provinces, were to be collected at Albany, and to march
against Crown Point, and Montreal.
This plan, so far as it depended on the colonies, was executed with
promptness and alacrity. The men were raised, and waited with
impatience for employment; but neither troops, nor orders, arrived
from England. The fleet destined for this service, sailed seven times
from Spithead; and was compelled as often, by contrary winds, to
return.
Late in the season, the military commanders in America, despairing of
the succours promised by England, determined to assemble a body of
provincials at Albany, and make an attempt on Crown Point. While
preparing for the execution of this plan, they received accounts
stating that Annapolis was in danger from a body of French and Indians
assembled at Minas; upon which, orders were issued for the troops of
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, to embark for Nova
Scotia. Before these orders could be executed, intelligence was
received which directed their attention to their own defence.
It was reported that a large fleet and army, under the command of the
duke D'Anville, had arrived in Nova Scotia, and the views of conquest,
which had been formed by the northern colonies, were converted into
fears for their own safety. For six weeks, continual apprehensions of
invasion were entertained; and the most vigorous measures were taken
to repel it. From this state of anxious solicitude, they were at
length relieved by the arrival of some prisoners set at liberty by the
French, who communicated the extreme distress of the fleet.
[Sidenote: The French fleet dispersed by a storm.]
This formidable armament consisted of near forty ships of war, seven
of which were of the line; of two artillery ships; and of fifty-six
transports laden with provisions and military stores, carrying three
thousand five hundred land forces, and forty thousand stand of small
arms, for the use of the Canadians and Indians. The fleet sailed in
June, but was attacked by such furious and repeated storms, that many
of the ships were wrecked, and others dispersed. In addition to this
disaster, the troops were infected with a disease which carried them
off in great numbers. While lying in Chebucto, under these
circumstances, a vessel which had been dispatched by governor Shirley
to admiral Townshend at Louisbourg, with a letter stating his
expectation that a British fleet would follow that of France to
America, was intercepted by a cruiser, and brought in to the admiral.
These dispatches were opened in a council of war, which was
considerably divided respecting their future conduct. This
circumstance, added to the calamities already sustained, so affected
the commander in chief, that he died suddenly. The vice-admiral fell
by his own hand; and the command devolved on Monsieur le Jonguiere,
governor of Canada, who had been declared _chef d'escadre_ after the
fleet sailed.
The design of invading New England was relinquished, and it was
resolved to make an attempt on Annapolis. With this view the fleet
sailed from Chebucto, but was again overtaken by a violent tempest
which scattered the vessels composing it. Those which escaped
shipwreck returned singly to France.[142]
[Footnote 142: Hutchison. Belknap.]
"Never," says Mr. Belknap, "was the hand of divine providence more
visible than on this occasion. Never was a disappointment more severe
on the part of the enemy, nor a deliverance more complete, without
human help, in favour of this country."
As soon as the fears excited by this armament were dissipated, the
project of dislodging the French and Indians, who had invaded Nova
Scotia, was resumed. Governor Shirley detached a part of the troops of
Massachusetts on this service; and pressed the governors of Rhode
Island and New Hampshire, to co-operate with him. The quotas furnished
by these colonies were prevented by several accidents from joining
that of Massachusetts, which was inferior to the enemy in numbers. The
French and Indians, under cover of a snow storm, surprised the English
at Minas; who, after an obstinate resistance, in which they lost
upwards of one hundred men, were compelled to capitulate, and to
engage not to bear arms against his Most Christian Majesty, in Nova
Scotia for one year. De Ramsay, who commanded the French, returned
soon afterwards to Canada.
No farther transactions of importance took place in America during the
war, which was terminated by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle. By this
treaty, it was stipulated that all conquests made during the war
should be restored; and the colonists had the mortification to see the
French re-possess themselves of Cape Breton.
The heavy expenses which had been incurred by the New England
colonies, and especially by Massachusetts, had occasioned large
emissions of paper money, and an unavoidable depreciation. Instead of
availing themselves of peace, to discharge the debts contracted during
war, they eagerly desired to satisfy every demand on the public
treasury, by farther emissions of bills of credit, redeemable at
future and distant periods. Every inconvenience under which commerce
was supposed to labour, every difficulty encountered in the interior
economy of the province, was attributed to a scarcity of money; and
this scarcity was to be removed, not by increased industry, but by
putting an additional sum in circulation. The rate of exchange, and
the price of all commodities, soon disclosed the political truth that,
however the quantity of the circulating medium may be augmented, its
aggregate value cannot be arbitrarily increased; and that the effect
of such a depreciating currency must necessarily be, to discourage the
payment of debts, by holding out the hope of discharging contracts
with less real value than that for which they were made; and to
substitute cunning and speculation, for honest and regular industry.
Yet the majority had persevered in this demoralising system. The
depreciation had reached eleven for one; and the evil was almost
deemed incurable, when the fortunate circumstance of a reimbursement
in specie, made by parliament for colonial expenditures on account of
the expeditions against Louisbourg and Canada, suggested to Mr.
Hutchinson, speaker of the house of representatives in Massachusetts,
the idea of redeeming the paper money in circulation, at its then real
value.
This scheme, at first deemed Utopian, was opposed by many well meaning
men who feared that its effect would be to give a shock to the trade
and domestic industry of the province; and who thought that, as the
depreciation had been gradual, justice required that the appreciation
should be gradual also.
[Sidenote: Paper money redeemed.]
With great difficulty, the measure was carried; and the bills of
credit in circulation, were redeemed at fifty shillings the ounce. The
evils which had been apprehended were soon found to be imaginary.
Specie immediately took the place of paper. Trade, so far from
sustaining a shock, nourished more than before this change in the
domestic economy of the colony; and the commerce of Massachusetts
immediately received an impulse, which enabled it to surpass that of
her neighbours who retained their paper medium.[143]
[Footnote 143: Hutchison.]
[Sidenote: Renewal of contests with the French colonies respecting
boundary.]
The treaty of Aix la Chapelle did not remove the previously existing
controversies between the colonies of France and England respecting
boundary. These controversies, originating in the manner in which
their settlements had been made, and at first of small consequence,
were now assuming a serious aspect. America was becoming an object of
greater attention; and, as her importance increased, the question
concerning limits became important also.
{1749}
In settling this continent, the powers of Europe, estimating the right
of the natives at nothing, adopted, for their own government, the
principle, that those who first discovered and took possession of any
particular territory, became its rightful proprietors. But as only a
small portion of it could then be reduced to actual occupation, the
extent of country thus acquired was not well ascertained. Contests
respecting prior discovery, and extent of possession, arose among all
the first settlers. England terminated her controversy with Sweden and
with Holland, by the early conquest of their territories; but her
conflicting claims with France and with Spain, remained unadjusted.
On the south, Spain had pretensions to the whole province of Georgia,
while England had granted the country as far as the river St. Matheo,
in Florida.
On the north, the right of France to Canada was undisputed; but the
country between the St. Lawrence and New England had been claimed by
both nations, and granted by both. The first settlement appears to
have been made by the French; but its principal town, called Port
Royal, or Annapolis, had been repeatedly taken by the English; and, by
the treaty of Utrecht, the whole province, by the name of Nova Scotia,
or Acadié, according to its ancient limits had been ceded to them.
But the boundaries of Nova Scotia, or Acadié, had never been
ascertained. Though the treaty of Utrecht had provided that
commissioners should be appointed by the two crowns, to adjust the
limits of their respective colonies, the adjustment had never been
made. France claimed to the Kennebec; and insisted "that only the
peninsula which is formed by the bay of Fundy, the Atlantic ocean, and
the gulf of St. Lawrence," was included in the cession of "Nova
Scotia, or Acadié, according to its ancient limits." England, on the
other hand, claimed all the country on the main land south of the
river St. Lawrence. Under the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, commissioners
were again appointed to settle these differences, who maintained the
rights of their respective sovereigns with great ability, and
laborious research; but their zeal produced a degree of asperity
unfavourable to accommodation.
While this contest for the cold and uninviting country of Nova Scotia
was carried on with equal acrimony and talents, a controversy arose
for richer and more extensive regions in the south and west.
[Sidenote: Discovery of the Mississippi.]
So early as the year 1660, information was received, in Canada, from
the Indians, that, west of that colony, was a great river, flowing
neither to the north, nor to the east. The government, conjecturing
that it must empty itself either into the gulf of Mexico or the south
sea, committed the care of ascertaining the fact to Joliet, an
inhabitant of Quebec, and to the Jesuit Marquette. These men proceeded
from lake Michigan up the river of the Foxes, almost to its source,
whence they travelled westward to the Ouisconsing, which they pursued
to its confluence with the Mississippi. They sailed down this river to
the 33d degree of north latitude, and returned by land, through the
country of the Illinois, to Canada.
The mouth of the Mississippi was afterwards discovered by la Salle, an
enterprising Norman, who, immediately after his return to Quebec,
embarked for France, in the hope of inducing the cabinet of Versailles
to patronise a scheme for proceeding by sea to the mouth of that river
and settling a colony on its banks.
Having succeeded in this application, he sailed for the gulf of
Mexico, with a few colonists; but, steering too far westward, he
arrived at the bay of St. Bernard, about one hundred leagues from the
mouth of the Mississippi. In consequence of a quarrel between him and
Beaulieu, who commanded the fleet, the colonists were landed at this
place. La Salle was, soon afterwards, assassinated by his own men; and
his followers were murdered or dispersed by the Spaniards and the
Indians.
Several other attempts were made by the French to settle the country;
but, by some unaccountable fatality, instead of seating themselves on
the fertile borders of the Mississippi, they continually landed about
the barren sands of Biloxi, and the bay of Mobile. It was not until
the year 1722, that the miserable remnant of those who had been
carried thither at various times, was transplanted to New Orleans; nor
until the year 1731, that the colony began to flourish.
[Sidenote: Scheme for connecting Louisiana with Canada.]
It had received the name of Louisiana, and soon extended itself by
detached settlements, up the Mississippi and its waters, towards the
great lakes.[144] As it advanced northward, the vast and interesting
plan was formed of connecting it with Canada by a chain of forts.
[Footnote 144: Abbe Raynal.]
The fine climate and fertile soil of upper Louisiana enabling it to
produce and maintain an immense population, rendered it an object
which promised complete gratification to the views of France; while
the extent given to it by that nation, excited the most serious alarm
among the colonies of Britain.
The charters granted by the crown of England to the first adventurers,
having extended from the Atlantic to the South Sea, their settlements
had regularly advanced westward, in the belief that their title to the
country in that direction, could not be controverted. The settlements
of the French, stretching from north to south, necessarily interfered
with those of the English. Their plan, if executed, would completely
environ the English. Canada and Louisiana united, as has been aptly
said, would form a bow, of which the English colonies would constitute
the chord.
While Great Britain claimed, indefinitely, to the west, as
appertaining to her possession of the sea coast; France insisted on
confining her to the eastern side of the Apalachian, or Alleghany,
mountains; and claimed the whole country drained by the Mississippi,
in virtue of her right as the first discoverer of that river. The
delightful region which forms the magnificent vale of the Mississippi
was the object for which these two powerful nations contended; and it
soon became apparent that the sword must decide the contest.
The white population of the English colonies was supposed to exceed
one million of souls, while that of the French was estimated at only
fifty-two thousand.[145]
[Footnote 145: The following estimate is taken from "The
History of the British empire in North America," and is there
said to be an authentic account from the militia rolls, poll
taxes, bills of mortality, returns from governors, and other
authorities.
The colonies of Inhabitants.
Halifax and Lunenberg in Nova Scotia 5,000
New Hampshire 30,000
Massachusetts Bay 220,000
Rhode Island and Providence 35,000
Connecticut 100,000
New York 100,000
The Jerseys 60,000
Pennsylvania (then including Delaware) 250,000
Maryland 85,000
Virginia 85,000
North Carolina 45,000
South Carolina 30,000
Georgia 6,000
---------
Total 1,051,000
The white inhabitants of the French colonies were thus
estimated:
The colonies of Inhabitants.
Canada 45,000
Louisiana 7,000
------
Total 52,000]
This disparity of numbers did not intimidate the governor of New
France--a title comprehending both Canada and Louisiana; nor deter him
from proceeding in the execution of his favourite plan. The French
possessed advantages which, he persuaded himself, would counterbalance
the superior numbers of the English. Their whole power was united
under one governor, who could give it such a direction as his judgment
should dictate. The genius of the people and of the government was
military; and the inhabitants could readily be called into the field,
when their service should be required. Great reliance too was placed
on the Indians. These savages, with the exception of the Five Nations,
were generally attached to France, and were well trained to war. To
these advantages was added a perfect knowledge of the country about to
become the theatre of action.
The British colonies, on the other hand, were divided into distinct
governments, unaccustomed, except those of New England, to act in
concert; were jealous of the power of the crown; and were spread over
a large extent of territory, the soil of which, in all the middle
colonies, was cultivated by men unused to arms.
The governors of Canada, who were generally military men, had, for
several preceding years, judiciously selected and fortified such
situations as would give them most influence over the Indians, and
facilitate incursions into the northern provinces. The command of Lake
Champlain had been acquired by the erection of a strong fort at Crown
Point; and a connected chain of posts was maintained from Quebec, up
the St. Lawrence, and along the great lakes. It was intended to unite
these posts with the Mississippi by taking positions which would
favour the design of circumscribing and annoying the frontier
settlements of the English.
[Illustration: Great Meadows and the Site of Fort Necessity
_On this battleground in the western Pennsylvania wilderness, which
marked the beginning of the French and Indian War, July 3, 1754, a
force of 400 men under young Major Washington was defeated by 900
French and Indian allies, and for the first and last time in his
military career Washington surrendered. He stipulated, however, that
he and his troops were to have safe conduct back to civilization, and
agreed not to build a fort west of the Allegheny Mountains for a year.
Washington was then twenty-two years old._]
{1750}
The execution of this plan was, probably, accelerated by an act of the
British government. The year after the conclusion of the war, several
individuals both in England and Virginia who were associated under the
name of the Ohio company, obtained from the crown a grant of six
hundred thousand acres of land, lying in the country claimed by both
nations. The objects of this company being commercial as well as
territorial, measures were taken to derive all the advantages expected
from their grant, in both these respects, by establishing trading
houses, and by employing persons to survey the country.
The governor of Canada, who obtained early information of this
intrusion, as he deemed it, into the dominions of his most christian
majesty, wrote to the governors of New York and Pennsylvania,
informing them that the English traders had encroached on the French
territory by trading with their Indians; and giving notice that, if
they did not desist, he should be under the necessity of seizing them
wherever they should be found. At the same time the jealousy of the
Indians was excited by impressing them with fears that the English
were about to deprive them of their country.
His threat having been disregarded, the governor of Canada put it in
execution by seizing the British traders among the Twightwees, and
carrying them prisoners to Presque-isle, on Lake Erie; where he was
erecting a strong fort. About the same time, a communication was
opened from Presque-isle, down French creek, and the Alleghany river,
to the Ohio. This communication was kept up by detachments of troops,
posted at proper distances from each other, in works capable of
covering them from an attack made only with small arms.[146]
[Footnote 146: Minot Gazette.]
{1753}
This territory having been granted as part of Virginia, to the Ohio
company, who complained loudly of these aggressions, Dinwiddie, the
lieutenant governor of that province, laid the subject before the
assembly, and dispatched MAJOR WASHINGTON, the gentleman who
afterwards led his countrymen to independence, with a letter to the
commandant of the French forces on the Ohio; requiring him to withdraw
from the dominions of his Britannic majesty.
This letter was delivered at a fort on the river Le Boeuf, the western
branch of French creek, to Monsieur le Guarduer de St. Pierre, the
commanding officer on the Ohio, who replied that he had taken
possession of the country by the directions of his general, then in
Canada, to whom he would transmit the letter of the lieutenant
governor, and whose orders he should implicitly obey.
{1754}
[Sidenote: Defeat at the Little Meadows.]
Preparations were immediately made, in Virginia, to assert the rights
of the British crown; and a regiment was raised for the protection of
the frontiers. Early in the spring, Major Washington had advanced with
a small detachment from this regiment into the country to be contended
for, where he fell in with and defeated a party of French and Indians
who were approaching him in a manner indicating hostile designs. On
being joined by the residue of his regiment, the command of which had
devolved on him, he made great exertions to pre-occupy the post at the
confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers; but, on his march
thither, was met by a much superior body of French and Indians, who
attacked him in a small stockade hastily erected at the Little
Meadows, and compelled him, after a gallant defence to capitulate. The
French had already taken possession of the ground to which Washington
was proceeding, and, having driven off some militia, and workmen sent
thither by the Ohio company, had erected thereon a strong
fortification called fort Du Quêsne.
The earl of Holderness, secretary of state, perceiving war to be
inevitable, and aware of the advantages of union, and of securing the
friendship of the Five Nations, had written to the governors of the
respective colonies recommending these essential objects; and, at the
same time, ordering them to repel force by force; and to take
effectual measures to dislodge the French from their posts on the
Ohio.
[Sidenote: Convention at Albany.]
At the suggestion of the commissioners for the plantations, a
convention of delegates from the several colonies met at Albany, to
hold a conference with the Five Nations on the subject of French
encroachments, and to secure their friendship in the approaching war.
Availing himself of this circumstance governor Shirley had recommended
to the other governors to instruct their commissioners on the subject
of union. Ample powers for this object were given to the delegates of
Massachusetts; and those of Maryland were instructed to observe what
others should propose respecting it. But no direct authority for
concerting any system to call out and employ the strength of the
colonies, was given by any other of the governments.
The congress, consisting of delegates from New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland,
with the lieutenant governor and council of New York, after
endeavouring to secure the friendship of the Five Nations by large
presents, directed a committee, consisting of one member for each
colony, to draw and report a plan of union.
[Sidenote: Plan of union.]
A plan[147] was reported which was approved on the 4th of July. Its
essential principles were, that application be made for an act of
parliament authorising the formation of a grand council to consist of
delegates from the several legislatures, and a president general, to
be appointed by the crown, and to be invested with a negative power.
This council was to enact laws of general import; to apportion their
quotas of men and money on the several colonies; to determine on the
building of forts; to regulate the operations of armies; and to
concert all measures for the common protection and safety.
[Footnote 147: See note No. II, at the end of the volume.]
The delegates of Connecticut alone dissented from this plan. That
cautious people feared that the powers vested in the president general
might prove dangerous to their welfare.
In England, the objections were of a different character. The colonies
had, in several instances, manifested a temper less submissive than
was required; and it was apprehended that this union might be the
foundation of a concert of measures opposing the pretensions of
supremacy maintained by the mother country.
This confederation, therefore, notwithstanding the pressure of
external danger, did not prevail. It was not supported in America,
because it was supposed to place too much power in the hands of the
King; and it was rejected in England from the apprehension that the
colonial assemblies would be rendered still more formidable by being
accustomed to co-operate with each other.
In its stead, the minister proposed that the governors, with one or
two members of the councils of the respective provinces, should
assemble to consult, and resolve on measures necessary for the common
defence, and should draw on the British treasury for the sums to be
expended, which sums should be afterwards raised by a general tax, to
be imposed by parliament on the colonies.
This proposition being entirely subversive of all the opinions which
prevailed in America, was not pressed for the present; and no
satisfactory plan for calling out the strength of the colonies being
devised, it was determined to carry on the war with British troops,
aided by such reinforcements as the several provincial assemblies
would voluntarily afford.[148]
[Footnote 148: Minot.]