General Braddock arrives.... Convention of governors and
plan of the campaign.... French expelled from Nova Scotia,
and inhabitants transplanted.... Expedition against fort Du
Quêsne.... Battle of Monongahela.... Defeat and death of
general Braddock.... Expedition against Crown Point....
Dieskau defeated.... Expedition against Niagara....
Frontiers distressed by the Indians.... Meeting of the
governors at New York.... Plan for the campaign of 1756....
Lord Loudoun arrives.... Montcalm takes Oswego.... Lord
Loudoun abandons offensive operations.... Small-pox breaks
out in Albany.... Campaign of 1757 opened.... Admiral
Holbourne arrives at Halifax.... Is joined by the earl of
Loudoun.... Expedition against Louisbourg relinquished....
Lord Loudoun returns to New York.... Fort William Henry
taken.... Controversy between lord Loudoun and the assembly
of Massachusetts.
{1755}
[Sidenote: General Braddock.]
The establishment of the post on the Ohio, and the action at the
Little Meadows, being considered by the British government as the
commencement of war in America, the resolution to send a few regiments
to that country was immediately taken; and early in the year, general
Braddock embarked at Cork, at the head of a respectable body of troops
destined for the colonies.
An active offensive campaign being meditated, general Braddock
convened the governors of the several provinces, on the 14th of April,
in Virginia, who resolved to carry on three expeditions.
[Sidenote: Plan of the campaign.]
The first, and most important, was against fort Du Quêsne. This was to
be conducted by general Braddock in person at the head of the British
troops, with such aids as could be drawn from Maryland and Virginia.
The second, against Niagara and fort Frontignac, was to be conducted
by governor Shirley. The American regulars, consisting of Shirley and
Pepperel's regiments, constituted the principal force destined for the
reduction of these places.
The third was against Crown Point. This originated with Massachusetts;
and was to be prosecuted entirely with colonial troops, to be raised
by the provinces of New England, and by New York. It was to be
commanded by colonel William Johnson of the latter province.[149]
[Footnote 149: Minot.]
While preparations were making for these several enterprises, an
expedition, which had been previously concerted by the government of
Massachusetts, was carried on against the French in Nova Scotia.
It has been already stated that the limits of this province remained
unsettled. While the commissioners of the two crowns were supporting
the claims of their respective sovereigns in fruitless memorials, the
French occupied the country in contest, and established military posts
for its defence. Against these posts this enterprise was to be
conducted.
[Sidenote: French expelled from Nova Scotia.]
On the 20th of May, the troops of Massachusetts, together with
Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments, amounting in the whole to about
three thousand men, embarked, at Boston, under the command of
lieutenant colonel Winslow. The fleet anchored about five miles from
fort Lawrence, where a reinforcement was received of three hundred
British troops and a small train of artillery. The whole army,
commanded by lieutenant colonel Monckton, immediately after landing,
marched against Beau Sejour, the principal post held by the French in
that country. At the river Mussaquack, which the French considered as
the western boundary of Nova Scotia, some slight works had been thrown
up with the intention of disputing its passage. After a short
conflict, the river was passed with the loss of only one man; and, in
five days, Beau Sejour capitulated. Other small places fell in
succession, and, in the course of the month of June, with the loss of
only three men killed, the English acquired complete possession of the
whole province of Nova Scotia.
The recovery of this province was followed by one of those distressing
measures which involve individuals in indiscriminate ruin, and
aggravate the calamities of war.
Nova Scotia having been originally settled by France, its inhabitants
were, chiefly, of that nation. In the treaty of Utrecht, it was
stipulated for the colonists that they should be permitted to hold
their lands on condition of taking the oaths of allegiance to their
new sovereign. With this condition they refused to comply, unless
permitted to qualify it with a proviso that they should not be
required to bear arms in defence of the province. Though this
qualification, to which the commanding officer of the British forces
acceded, was afterwards disallowed by the crown, yet the French
inhabitants continued to consider themselves as neutrals. Their
devotion to France, however, would not permit them to conform their
conduct to the character they had assumed. In all the contests for the
possession of their country, they were influenced by their wishes
rather than their duty; and three hundred of them were captured with
the garrison of Beau Sejour.
[Sidenote: The inhabitants transported.]
Their continuance in the country, during the obstinate conflict which
was commencing, would, it was feared, endanger the colony; and to
expel them from it, leaving them at liberty to choose their place of
residence, would be to reenforce the French in Canada. A council was
held by the executive of Nova Scotia aided by the admirals Boscawen
and Morty, for the purpose of deciding on the destiny of these
unfortunate people; and the severe policy was adopted of removing them
from their homes, and dispersing them through the other British
colonies. This harsh measure was immediately put in execution; and the
miserable inhabitants of Nova Scotia were, in one instant, reduced
from ease and contentment to a state of beggary. Their lands, and
moveables, with the exception of their money and household furniture,
were declared to be forfeited to the crown; and, to prevent their
return, the country was laid waste, and their houses reduced to
ashes.[150]
[Footnote 150: Minot.]
As soon as the convention of governors had separated, general Braddock
proceeded from Alexandria to a fort at Wills' creek, afterwards called
fort Cumberland, at that time the most western post in Virginia or
Maryland; from which place the army destined against fort Du Quêsne
was to commence its march. The difficulties of obtaining wagons, and
other necessary supplies for the expedition, and delays occasioned by
opening a road through an excessively rough country, excited
apprehensions that time would be afforded the enemy to collect in such
force at fort Du Quêsne, as to put the success of the enterprise into
some hazard.
Under the influence of this consideration, it was determined to select
twelve hundred men, who should be led by the general in person to the
point of destination. The residue of the army, under the command of
colonel Dunbar, was to follow, with the baggage, by slow and easy
marches.
This disposition being made, Braddock pressed forward to his object,
in the confidence that he could find no enemy capable of opposing him;
and reached the Monongahela on the eighth of July.
As the army approached fort Du Quêsne, the general was cautioned of
the danger to which the character of his enemy, and the face of the
country, exposed him; and was advised to advance the provincial
companies in his front, for the purpose of scouring the woods, and
discovering ambuscades. But he held both his enemy and the provincials
in too much contempt, to follow this salutary counsel. Three hundred
British troops comprehending the grenadiers and light infantry,
commanded by colonel Gage, composed his van; and he followed, at some
distance, with the artillery, and the main body of the army, divided
into small columns.
[Sidenote: Battle of Monongahela.]
Within seven miles of fort Du Quêsne, immediately after crossing the
Monongahela the second time, in an open wood, thick set with high
grass, as he was pressing forward without fear of danger, his front
received an unexpected fire from an invisible enemy. The van was
thrown into some confusion; but, the general having ordered up the
main body, and the commanding officer of the enemy having fallen, the
attack was suspended, and the assailants were supposed to be
dispersed. This delusion was soon dissipated. The attack was renewed
with increased fury; the van fell back on the main body; and the whole
army was thrown into utter confusion.
The general possessed personal courage in an eminent degree; but was
without experience in that species of war, in which he was engaged;
and seems not to have been endowed with that rare fertility of genius
which adapts itself to the existing state of things, and invents
expedients fitted to the emergency. In the impending crisis, he was
peculiarly unfortunate in his choice of measures. Neither advancing
nor retreating, he exerted his utmost powers to form his broken
troops, under an incessant and galling fire, on the very ground where
they had been attacked. In his fruitless efforts to restore order,
every officer on horseback except Mr. Washington, one of his
aides-de-camp, was killed or wounded. At length, after losing three
horses, the general himself received a mortal wound; upon which his
regulars fled in terror and confusion. Fortunately, the Indian enemy
was arrested by the plunder found on the field, and the pursuit was
soon given over. The provincials exhibited an unexpected degree of
courage, and were among the last to leave the field.
[Sidenote: Death of Braddock.]
The defeated troops fled precipitately to the camp of Dunbar, where
Braddock expired of his wounds. Their panic was communicated to the
residue of the army. As if affairs had become desperate, all the
stores, except those necessary for immediate use, were destroyed; and
the British troops were marched to Philadelphia, where they went into
quarters. The western parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia,
were left exposed to the incursions of the savages; the frontier
settlements were generally broken up; and the inhabitants were driven
into the interior. So excessive was the alarm, that even the people of
the interior entertained apprehensions for their safety, and many
supposed that the seaboard itself was insecure.
The two northern expeditions, though not so disastrous as that against
fort Du Quêsne, were neither of them successful. That against Crown
Point was so retarded by those causes of delay to which military
operations conducted by distinct governments are always exposed, that
the army was not ready to move until the last of August. At length
general Johnson reached the south end of lake George, on his way to
Ticonderoga, of which he designed to take possession.
An armament fitted out in the port of Brest for Canada, had eluded a
British squadron which was stationed off the banks of Newfoundland to
intercept it; and, with the loss of two ships of war, had entered the
St. Lawrence. After arriving at Quebec the baron Dieskau, who
commanded the French forces, resolved, without loss of time, to
proceed against the English. At the head of about twelve hundred
regulars, and about six hundred Canadians and Indians, he marched
against Oswego. On hearing of this movement, general Johnson applied
for reinforcements; and eight hundred men were ordered by
Massachusetts to his assistance. An additional body of two thousand
men was directed to be raised for the same object, and the
neighbouring colonies also determined to furnish reinforcements.
Dieskau did not wait for their arrival. Perceiving that Johnson was
approaching lake George, and being informed that the provincials were
without artillery, he determined to postpone his designs upon Oswego,
and to attack them in their camp.
[Sidenote: Dieskau defeated.]
On being informed that Dieskau was approaching, Johnson detached
colonel Williams, with about one thousand men, to reconnoitre and
skirmish with him. This officer met the French about four miles from
the American camp, and immediately engaged them. He fell early in the
action; and his party was soon overpowered and put to flight. A second
detachment, sent in aid of the first, experienced the same fate; and
both were closely pursued to the main body, who were posted behind a
breast-work of fallen trees. At this critical moment, within about one
hundred and fifty yards of this work, the French halted for a short
time. This interval having given the Americans an opportunity to
recover from the first alarm, they determined on a resolute defence.
When the assailants advanced to the charge, they were received with
firmness. The militia and savages fled; and Dieskau was under the
necessity of ordering his regulars to retreat. A close and ardent
pursuit ensued; and the general himself, being mortally wounded and
left alone, was taken prisoner.
During the engagement, a scouting party from fort Edward, under
captains Folsom and McGennis, fell in with the baggage of the enemy
and routed the guard which had been placed over it. Soon afterwards,
the retreating army of Dieskau approached, and was gallantly attacked
by the Americans. This unexpected attack from an enemy whose numbers
were unknown, completed the confusion of the defeated army, which,
abandoning its baggage, fled towards the posts on the lake.[151]
[Footnote 151: Minot. Belknap. Entic.]
The repulse of Dieskau, magnified into a splendid victory, had some
tendency to remove the depression of spirits occasioned by the defeat
of Braddock, and to inspire the provincials with more confidence in
themselves. General Johnson, who was wounded in the engagement,
received very solid testimonials of the gratitude and liberality of
his country. Five thousand pounds sterling, and the title of baronet,
were the rewards of his service.
This success was not improved. The hopes and expectations of the
public were not gratified; and the residue of the campaign was spent
in fortifying the camp. Massachusetts pressed a winter campaign; but
when her commissioners met those of Connecticut and the lieutenant
governor and council of New York, it was unanimously agreed that the
army under general Johnson should be discharged, except six hundred
men to garrison fort Edward, on the great carrying place between the
Hudson and lake George, and fort William Henry on that lake.
The French took possession of Ticonderoga, and fortified it.
[Sidenote: Expedition against Niagara.]
The expedition against Niagara and fort Frontignac, was also defeated
by delays in making the preparations necessary for its prosecution.
Shirley did not reach Oswego till late in August. After ascertaining
the state of the garrison, he determined to abandon that part of the
enterprise which respected fort Frontignac, and to proceed against
Niagara. While employed in the embarkation of his troops on the lake,
the rains set in with such violence as to suspend his operations until
the season was so far advanced that the attempt against Niagara was
also relinquished, and Shirley returned to Albany.[152]
[Footnote 152: Minot. Belknap. Entic.]
Thus terminated the campaign of 1755. It opened with so decided a
superiority of force on the part of the English, as to promise the
most important advantages. But, if we except the expulsion of the
French from Nova Scotia, no single enterprise was crowned with
success. Great exertions were made by the northern colonies, but their
efforts were productive of no benefit. From the want of one general
superintending authority in their councils, which could contemplate
and control the different parts of the system, which could combine all
their operations, and direct them with effect towards the attainment
of the object pursued, every thing failed. Such delays and
deficiencies were experienced that, though a considerable force was in
motion, it could not be brought to the point against which it was to
act, until the season for action was over; nor execute the plans which
were concerted until the opportunity had passed away.
[Illustration: General Braddock's Grave
_Showing the monument recently erected_
_It is not generally appreciated that this British commander was
chosen to head the expedition to destroy the French power in America,
in 1754-5, because of his distinguished army record. In the Battle of
Fontency, for instance, he was colonel in command of the famous
Coldstream Guards, who covered themselves with glory; and shortly
before embarking for America he was made major-general of the line.
Braddock had won his promotion solely through gallantry and at a time
when a lieutenant-colonelcy in this crack British regiment sold for
£5000 Sterling._
_Despite his fatal mistake in not heeding the advice of his aide,
Washington, in conducting his expedition against Fort Duquesne
(Pittsburgh), Braddock regarded Washington and Franklin as the
greatest men in the colonies. Meeting the French and Indians on July
9, 1755, the British were routed and Braddock was fatally wounded,
after having four horses shot under him. Dying four days later at
Great Meadows, where he is buried, he bequeathed his favorite
surviving horse and body servant to Washington, then a colonel._]
The system adopted by the British cabinet, for conducting the war in
America, left to the colonial governments to determine, what number of
men each should bring into the field; but required them to support
their own troops, and to contribute to the support of those sent from
Great Britain to their assistance. But this system could not be
enforced. The requisitions of the minister were adopted, rejected, or
modified, at the discretion of the government on which they were made;
and, as no rule of apportionment had been adopted, each colony was
inclined to consider itself as having contributed more than its equal
share towards the general object, and as having received, less than
its just proportion, of the attention and protection of the mother
country. This temper produced a slow and reluctant compliance on the
part of some, which enfeebled and disconcerted enterprises, for the
execution of which the resources of several were to be combined.
[Sidenote: Distress of the frontiers.]
In the mean time the whole frontier, as far as North Carolina, was
exposed to the depredations of the savages, who were, almost
universally, under the influence of the French. Their bloody
incursions were made in all directions, and many settlements were
entirely broken up.
It is a curious and singular fact that, while hostilities were thus
carried on by France and England against each other in America, the
relations of peace and amity were preserved between them in Europe.
Each nation had, in consequence of the military operations in 1754,
determined to fit out a considerable armament to aid the efforts made
in its colonies; and, when it was understood that admiral Boscawen was
ordered to intercept that of France, the Duc de Mirepoix, the French
ambassador at London, complained of the proposed measure, and gave
formal notice that the King his master would consider the first gun
fired at sea, as a declaration of war. On receiving intelligence of
the capture of a part of the squadron by Boscawen, the French minister
at the court of St. James was recalled without asking an audience of
leave; upon which, letters of marque and reprisal were issued by the
British government. This prompt and vigorous measure had much
influence on the war, which was declared, in form, the following
spring.
General Shirley, on his return to Albany after the close of the
campaign in 1755, received a commission appointing him commander in
chief of the King's forces in North America. A meeting of all the
governors was immediately called at New York, for the purpose of
concerting a plan for the ensuing campaign. Operations equally
extensive with those proposed for the preceding campaign were again
contemplated. To ensure their success, it was determined to raise ten
thousand men, for the expedition against Crown Point; six thousand,
for that against Niagara; and three thousand, for that against fort Du
Quêsne. To favour the operations of this formidable force, it was
farther determined that two thousand men should advance up the
Kennebec, destroy the settlement on the Chaudière, and, descending to
the mouth of that river, keep all that part of Canada in alarm.
In the mean time, it was proposed to take advantage of the season when
the lake should be frozen, to seize Ticonderoga, in order to
facilitate the enterprise against Crown Point. This project was
defeated by the unusual mildness of the winter; and, about the middle
of January, general Shirley repaired to Boston in order to make the
necessary preparations for the ensuing campaign.
Such was the solicitude to accomplish the objects in contemplation,
and so deep an interest did the colonists take in the war, that every
nerve was strained, to raise and equip the number of men required.
{1756}
[Sidenote: Command bestowed on Lord Loudoun.]
Having made in Massachusetts all the preparations for the next
campaign, so far as depended on the government, Shirley repaired to
Albany, where he was superseded[153] by major general Abercrombie;
who, soon afterwards, yielded the command to the earl of Loudoun.
Early in the year, that nobleman had been appointed to the command of
all his majesty's forces in North America; and extensive powers, civil
as well as military, had been conferred on him. But he did not arrive
at Albany until midsummer.
[Footnote 153: He was also recalled from his government.]
In the spring, the provincial troops destined for the expedition
against Crown Point, were assembled in the neighbourhood of lake
George. They were found not much to exceed seven thousand men; and
even this number was to be reduced in order to garrison posts in the
rear. This army being too weak to accomplish its object, major general
Winslow, who commanded it, declared himself unable to proceed on the
expedition without reinforcements. The arrival of a body of British
troops, with general Abercrombie, removed this difficulty; but another
occurred which still farther suspended the enterprise.
The regulations respecting rank had given great disgust in America;
and had rendered it disagreeable and difficult to carry on any
military operations which required a junction of British and
provincial troops. When consulted on this delicate subject, Winslow
assured general Abercrombie of his apprehensions that, if the result
of the junction should be to place the provincial troops under British
officers, it would produce general discontent, and perhaps desertion.
His officers concurred in this opinion; and it was finally agreed that
British troops should succeed the provincials in the posts then
occupied by them, so as to enable the whole colonial force to proceed
under Winslow, against Crown Point.
On the arrival of the earl of Loudoun, this subject was revived. The
question was seriously propounded, "whether the troops in the several
colonies of New England, armed with his majesty's arms, would, in
obedience to his commands signified to them, act in conjunction with
his European troops; and under the command of his commander in chief?"
The colonial officers answered this question in the affirmative; but
entreated it as a favour of his lordship, as the New England troops
had been raised on particular terms, that he would permit them, so far
as might consist with his majesty's service, to act separately. This
request was acceded to; but before the army could be put in motion,
the attention both of the Europeans and provincials, was directed to
their own defence.
[Sidenote: Montcalm takes Oswego.]
Monsieur de Montcalm, an able officer, who succeeded Dieskau in the
command of the French troops in Canada, sought to compensate by
superior activity, for the inferiority of his force. While the British
and Americans were adjusting their difficulties respecting rank, and
deliberating whether to attack Niagara or fort Du Quêsne, Montcalm
advanced at the head of about five thousand Europeans, Canadians, and
Indians, against Oswego. In three days he brought up his artillery,
and opened a battery which played on the fort with considerable
effect. Colonel Mercer, the commanding officer, was killed; and, in a
few hours, the place was declared by the engineers to be no longer
tenable. The garrison, consisting of the regiments of Shirley and
Pepperel, amounting to sixteen hundred men, supplied with provisions
for five months, capitulated, and became prisoners of war. A
respectable naval armament, then on the lake, was also captured.
The fort at Oswego had been erected in the country of the Five
Nations, and had been viewed by them with some degree of jealousy.
Montcalm, actuated by a wise policy, destroyed it in their presence;
declaring at the same time, that the French wished only to enable them
to preserve their neutrality, and would, therefore, make no other use
of the rights of conquest, than to demolish the fortresses which the
English had erected in their country to overawe them.
The British general, disconcerted at this untoward event, abandoned
all his plans of offensive operations. General Winslow was ordered to
relinquish his intended expedition, and to fortify his camp, and
endeavour to prevent the enemy from penetrating into the country by
the way of South bay, or Wood creek. Major general Webb, with fourteen
hundred men, was posted at the great carrying place; and, to secure
his rear, sir William Johnson, with one thousand militia, was
stationed at the German flats.
These dispositions being made, the colonies were strenuously urged to
reinforce the army. It was represented to them that, should any
disaster befall Winslow, the enemy might be enabled to overrun the
country, unless opposed by a force much superior to that in the
field.[154]
[Footnote 154: The northern colonies had been enabled to
attend to these representations, and, in some degree to
comply with the requisitions made on them, by having
received from the British government, in the course of the
summer, a considerable sum of money as a reimbursement for
the extraordinary expenses of the preceding year. One
hundred and fifteen thousand pounds sterling had been
apportioned among them, and this sum gave new vigour and
energy to their councils.]
[Sidenote: Small-pox in Albany.]
During this state of apprehensive inactivity, the small-pox broke out
in Albany. This enemy was more dreaded by the provincials than
Montcalm himself. So great was the alarm, that it was found necessary
to garrison the posts in that quarter, entirely with British troops,
and to discharge all the provincials except a regiment raised in New
York.
Thus terminated for a second time, in defeat and utter disappointment,
the sanguine hopes which the colonists had formed of a brilliant and
successful campaign. After all their expensive and laborious
preparations, not an effort had been made to drive the invaders of the
country even from their out-post at Ticonderoga.
The expedition to lake Ontario had not been commenced; and no
preparations had been made for that against fort Du Quêsne. The
colonies of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, far from
contemplating offensive operations, had been unable to defend
themselves; and their frontiers were exposed to all the horrors of
Indian warfare.
The expedition up the Kennebec was also abandoned. Thus, no one
enterprise contemplated at the opening of the campaign, was carried
into execution.[155]
[Footnote 155: Minot. Belknap. Entic.]
{1757}
About the middle of January, the governors of the northern provinces
were convened in a military council at Boston. The earl of Loudoun
opened his propositions to them with a speech in which he attributed
all the disasters that had been sustained, to the colonies; and in
which he proposed that New England should raise four thousand men for
the ensuing campaign. Requisitions proportionably large were also made
on New York and New Jersey.
[Sidenote: Campaign of 1757.]
The ill success which had, thus far, attended the combined arms of
Great Britain and her colonies, did not discourage them. Their
exertions to bring a powerful force into the field were repeated; and
the winter was employed in preparations for the ensuing campaign. The
requisitions of lord Loudoun were complied with; and he found himself,
in the spring, at the head of a respectable army. Some important
enterprise against Canada, when the armament expected from Europe
should arrive, was eagerly anticipated; and the most sanguine hopes of
success were again entertained.
[Sidenote: Admiral Holbourne arrives.]
[Sidenote: Is joined by Lord Loudoun.]
In the beginning of July, Admiral Holbourne reached Halifax with a
powerful squadron, and reinforcement of five thousand British troops
commanded by George Viscount Howe, and, on the 6th of the same month,
the earl of Loudoun sailed from New York with six thousand regulars. A
junction of these formidable armaments was effected without
opposition, and the Loudoun colonists looked forward with confidence
for a decisive blow which would shake the power of France in America.
[Sidenote: The expedition against Louisbourg relinquished.]
The plan of this campaign varied from that which had been adopted in
the preceding years. The vast and complex movements heretofore
proposed, were no longer contemplated, and offensive operations were
to be confined to a single object. Leaving the posts on the lakes
strongly garrisoned, the British general determined to direct his
whole disposable force against Louisbourg; and fixed on Halifax as the
place of rendezvous for the fleet and army.
After assembling the land and naval forces at this place, information
was received that a fleet had lately arrived from France, and that
Louisbourg was so powerfully defended as to render any attempt upon it
hopeless. In consequence of this intelligence the enterprise was
deferred until the next year; the general and admiral returned to New
York in August; and the provincials were dismissed.
[Sidenote: Fort William Henry taken.]
The French general, feeling no apprehension for Louisbourg, determined
to avail himself of the absence of a large part of the British force,
and to obtain complete possession of lake George. With an army
collected chiefly from the garrisons of Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and
the adjacent forts; amounting, with the addition of Indians, and
Canadians, to nine thousand men, the marquis de Montcalm laid siege to
fort William Henry. That place was well fortified, and garrisoned by
three thousand men; and derived additional security from an army of
four thousand men at fort Edwards, under the command of major general
Webb. Notwithstanding the strength of the place and its means of
defence, Montcalm urged his approaches with so much vigour, that
articles of capitulation, surrendering the fort, artillery, and
stores, and stipulating that the garrison should not serve against his
Most Christian Majesty or his allies for the space of eighteen months,
were signed within six days after its investment.
When this important place was surrendered, the commander in chief had
not returned from Halifax. General Webb, alarmed for fort Edward,
applied for reinforcements; and the utmost exertions were made to
furnish the aids he required. The return of the army to New York on
the last of August, dispelled all fear of an invasion, and enabled the
general, who contemplated no farther active operations, to dismiss the
provincials.
Unsuccessful in all his attempts to gather laurels from the common
enemy, the earl of Loudoun engaged in a controversy with
Massachusetts; in the commencement of which, he displayed a degree of
vigour which had been kept in reserve for two campaigns. This
controversy is thus stated by Mr. Minot.
Upon information from the governor that a regiment of Highlanders was
expected in Boston, the general court provided barracks for the
accommodation of one thousand men at Castle Island. Soon afterwards,
several officers arrived from Nova Scotia to recruit their regiments.
Finding it impracticable to perform this service while in the barracks
at the castle, they applied to the justices of the peace to quarter
and billet them, as provided by act of parliament. The justices
refused to grant this request, on the principle that the act did not
extend to the colonies. When informed of this refusal, lord Loudoun
addressed a letter to the justices, insisting peremptorily on the
right, as the act did, in his opinion, extend to America, and to every
part of the King's dominions, where the necessities of the people
should oblige him to send his troops. He concluded a long dissertation
on the question in the following decisive terms, "that having used
gentleness and patience, and confuted their arguments, without effect,
they having returned to their first mistaken plan, their not complying
would lay him under the necessity of taking measures to prevent the
whole continent from being thrown into a state of confusion. As
nothing was wanting to set things right, but the justices doing their
duty (for no act of the assembly was necessary or wanting for it) he
had ordered the messenger to remain only forty-eight hours in Boston;
and if on his return he found things not settled, he would instantly
order into Boston the three battalions from New York, Long Island, and
Connecticut; and if more were wanting, he had two in the Jerseys at
hand, besides those in Pennsylvania. As public business obliged him to
take another route, he had no more time left to settle this material
affair, and must take the necessary steps before his departure, in
case they were not done by themselves."
The general court passed a law for the purpose of removing the
inconveniences of which the officers complained; but, this law not
equalling the expectations of lord Loudoun, he communicated his
dissatisfaction in a letter to the governor, which was laid before the
assembly, who answered by an address to his excellency in which the
spirit of their forefathers seemed to revive. They again asserted that
the act of parliament did not extend to the colonies; and that they
had for this reason enlarged the barracks at the castle, and passed a
law for the benefit of recruiting parties, as near the act of
parliament as the circumstances of the country would admit; that such
a law was necessary to give power to the magistrates, and they were
willing to make it, whenever his majesty's troops were necessary for
their defence. They asserted their natural rights as Englishmen; that
by the royal charter, the powers and privileges of civil government
were granted to them; that their enjoyment of these was their support
under all burdens, and would animate them to resist an invading enemy
to the last. If their adherence to their rights and privileges should,
in any measure, lessen the esteem which his lordship had conceived for
them, it would be their great misfortune; but that they would have the
satisfaction of reflecting that, both in their words and actions, they
had been governed by a sense of duty to his majesty, and faithfulness
to the trust committed to them.
This address being forwarded to lord Loudoun, he affected to rely on
their removing all difficulties in future, and not only countermanded
the march of the troops, but condescended to make some conciliatory
observations respecting the zeal of the province in his majesty's
service. For these the two houses made an ample return in a message to
the governor, in which they disavowed any intention of lessening their
dependence on parliament; and expressly acknowledged the authority of
all acts which concerned, and extended to, the colonies.
This explicit avowal of sentiments so different from those which
Massachusetts had long cherished respecting her connexion with the
mother country, would induce a belief that she had recently become
more colonial in her opinions. This was probably the fact; but Mr.
Minot, who may be presumed to have been personally acquainted with the
transaction, does not attribute to that cause entirely, the
conciliating temper manifested at the close of a contest, which had
commenced with such appearances of asperity. Massachusetts had made
large advances for the prosecution of the war, for which she expected
reimbursements from parliament; and was not willing, at such a
juncture, to make impressions unfavorable to the success of her
claims.