soldier, was sent in command of a large force of regular and colonial
troops into the valley of the Ohio to attack Fort Duquesne and drive
the French from that region, but chiefly through his want of caution
and his ignorance of Indian methods of warfare in the American
wilderness, he was surprised on the Monongahela by a small force of
Indians and French under the Canadian Beaujeu, who were concealed in
ravines, from which they were able in perfect security to prevent the
advance of the English, and literally riddle them with bullets until
they fled in dismay and confusion, leaving behind them a great store of
munitions and provisions besides a large sum of money in specie.
Braddock died from the wounds he received, and the remnant of his
beaten regiments retired precipitately beyond the Alleghanies. This
unhappy {231} disaster was followed by a succession of Indian raids
along hundreds of miles of frontier, and the _petite guerre_ of the
Abenakis and French in Acadia and New England, with all its horrors,
was repeated by the Indians of the West. The southern colonies were
paralysed for the moment, and the authorities of Pennsylvania gave
evidences of indifference, if not of cowardice, that are discreditable
features of its early history.
General Johnson, of the Mohawk country, at the head of a large colonial
force, defeated Baron Dieskau at the foot of Lake George, which then
received its present name in honour of the King of England, and the
French general himself was taken prisoner. It was for his services on
this occasion that Johnson was made a baronet, though he had not
succeeded in the original object of his expedition, the capture of
Crown Point. General Shirley, however, was not so fortunate as
Johnson, for he abandoned the project of attacking Fort Niagara when he
heard that it had received reinforcements.
The most memorable event of this time, which has been the subject of
warm controversy between French and English historians and the theme of
a most affecting poem, was the expulsion of the Acadian French from
Nova Scotia. When Halifax was founded it was decided, as a matter of
necessity, to bring the Acadians more entirely under the control of the
English authorities. They had probably increased since the Treaty of
Utrecht to at least twelve thousand souls, living for the most part in
the Annapolis valley, by the Gaspereaux and Avon rivers, {232} at Grand
Pré, at Mines, and at Chignecto. When they were asked to take the oath
of allegiance by Governor Lawrence, they refused to do so unless it was
qualified by the condition that they should not be obliged at any time
to take up arms. Many years before a considerable number, if not the
majority, of the same people had taken this qualified oath, although it
is also claimed that no one had legal authority to make such a
condition with them. Under the treaty of 1713 the Acadian French had a
year to choose between leaving the country or giving their submission
to the British Government and becoming its subjects. It was natural
that they should have hesitated to leave the humble though comfortable
homes which their own industry had made on the most fertile lands of
Nova Scotia, but it is also quite certain that every obstacle was
thrown in the way of their removal by the English governors. Had the
British authorities adopted from the very commencement a firm and
decided policy towards them, they might have given an unreserved
allegiance to the British Crown and eventually become peaceable and
contented inhabitants. As it was, the British Government
systematically neglected the country, and left the little garrison at
Annapolis for many years practically at the mercy of the Acadians, who
could have often half starved them, and even captured the only English
post of the least importance in the province, had they been led at any
time by a man of courage and determination. It was only the
watchfulness of the government of Massachusetts, who fully recognised
the {233} importance of Nova Scotia in relation to New England, that
retained the province in English hands during the time when English
statesmen like Newcastle were even ignorant of the existence or
situation of Annapolis. If French emissaries were often able to make
these credulous and ignorant people believe that France would soon
regain her dominion in Acadia, it was largely owing to the fact that
the English showed such weakness in all their relations with the
Acadians, and made no earnest or sustained effort to assert their
sovereignty. At last when England decided to settle and strengthen
Nova Scotia, a feeling of uneasiness was naturally created by the
presence of a large and increasing population who were naturally in
sympathy with the French, and had assumed an attitude quite
irreconcilable with the security of English interests on the Atlantic
coast of eastern America. It must be admitted that the position of the
Acadians was one deserving of sympathy, tossed about as they were for
many years between French and English. They were considered by the
French of Canada and Cape Breton as mere tools to carry out the designs
of French ambition. England, however, had at some time or other to
assert her sovereignty in Nova Scotia, and to assure its security,
seemingly threatened by the presence of people who would not formally
declare themselves British subjects. The position of Nova Scotia
between Cape Breton and Canada gave reason for constant alarm, and when
Halifax was founded some decisive step was felt to be necessary by
Cornwallis and his successors. {234} No doubt the feeling that had
been created against the Acadians, by their refusal to take an
unconditional oath of allegiance to Great Britain--the only oath that
could be possibly offered to them by a self-respecting and strong
government--was intensified by the notorious fact that a number of them
had been actually captured at Fort Beauséjour with arms in their hands,
though in this case they appear to have been really the mere tools of
Le Loutre and French emissaries who grossly misled them. The people of
New England were much prejudiced against them and asserted that they
could never enjoy any security while the Acadians continued to maintain
their attitude of neutrality. They had always supplied Louisbourg with
provisions and helped to build the French forts on the isthmus, and it
was difficult for Lawrence and his officers to obtain any assistance
from them in the same way. When the Indians harassed the English
settlers in Nova Scotia, the government of that province recalled the
raids of the Abenakis and French Canadians, and believed with some
reason there was to be the same condition of things in the peninsula.
The war between the French and English had never really ceased in
America, and it was well known that the hollow truce in Europe would be
broken at any moment; and in the presence of the great danger that
threatened the English colonies, they had some ground for fearing the
presence of a large body of people who claimed to be neutrals in a
country which was England's by conquest and treaty, and where they
could and did enjoy an {235} amount of political and religious liberty
which no Protestant enjoyed in Catholic Europe. Then came the defeat
of Braddock in the Ohio country, and the knowledge that France was
preparing for a determined effort to strengthen and even increase her
dominions in America.
It was under these circumstances that Governor Lawrence of Nova
Scotia--a determined and harsh military man--no doubt at the
instigation of Shirley and the authorities of New England, determined
to secure the peace and safety of the province by the most cruel of all
possible measures, the expulsion of the whole body of French Acadians.
It must be admitted, however, that all the circumstances, when reviewed
in these later times, do not seem sufficient to justify the stern
action of the men who took the leading part in this sad tragedy. The
responsibility must mainly rest on Governor Lawrence, and not on the
imperial government, who never formally authorised the expatriation.
Be that as it may, the Acadians were driven from their settlements, and
the noble qualities of Lawrence, Monckton, and Winslow, who carried out
the measures of expulsion, will be always obscured in the minds of that
great majority of people who think only of the deed and its
consequences, and are influenced by the dictates of the heart. It is a
matter for deep regret that the men who represented England in those
days had not run a risk on the side of humanity, rather than have
driven thousands of men, women, and children from their pleasant homes
by the sides of the beautiful bays and rivers {236} of Nova Scotia, and
scattered them far and wide among the English colonies, where their
treatment was rarely generous. Even those who reached Quebec were
coldly received and were grudgingly supplied with miserable food.
Poetry and sentiment have not exaggerated the sorrow and misery of
these hapless exiles, so ill-fitted to go out into the bitter world of
hardship and destitution.
{237}
XVII.
THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE GREAT VALLEYS
OF NORTH AMERICA: ENGLISH REVERSES AND FRENCH
VICTORIES--FALL OF LOUISBOURG AND FORT DUQUESNE.
(1756-1758.)
In 1756 England was fully engaged in that famous war with France which
was to end in driving her hereditary rival from the eastern and western
hemispheres, and in the establishment of the German Empire by the
military genius of Frederick the Great. For a while, however, the
conflict in America was chiefly remarkable for the incapacity of
English commanders on land and sea. Earl Loudoun, the sluggish
commander-in-chief, of whom it was said, "he is like St. George on the
signs; always on horseback, but never rides on," arranged a campaign
against the French on Lake Champlain and against Louisbourg which ended
only in disaster and humiliation for England. The forts at Oswego,
always regarded as a menace by the French who occupied {238} Fort
Frontenac on the opposite side of Lake Ontario, were successfully
attacked and destroyed by Montcalm,[1] who was sent to Canada in 1756
to make a supreme effort for France. The energetic French general then
proceeded a year later to storm Fort William Henry, and largely owing
to the incapacity or timidity of General Webb, who could have marched
to the assistance of the besieged from Fort Edward, the brave Scotch
officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Monro, then in command of this important
defence of the northeastern frontier, was obliged to surrender. After
the capitulation of this fort a large number of helpless men, women,
and children were barbarously murdered by the body of Indians that
accompanied the French--one of the saddest episodes in American
history, which must always dim the lustre of Montcalm's victory, though
it is now generally admitted that the French general himself was not
responsible for the treachery of his Indian allies, but used his most
earnest efforts--even at the risk of his own life--to save the English
when the savages were mad with lust for the blood of their enemies.
[Illustration: Montcalm]
At sea the results were equally discouraging for the English. Fifteen
ships-of-the-line and three frigates, under the orders of Admiral
Holbourne, and twelve thousand troops under the command of Earl Loudoun
himself, assembled in the harbour of Halifax in the July of 1757; but,
owing to the absence {240} of energy and celerity of movement from the
very day the project was decided upon in England until after the
arrival of the fleet in America, the French were able to get
reinforcements of ships and men into Louisbourg, and the English
admiral and general came to the resolve--so strange for Englishmen in
time of war--to run no risk in attacking the fortress. Loudoun
returned to New York, but too late to retrieve the injury he had done
to the northern colonies by withdrawing so large a force from the
frontier at a critical period, when Montcalm was marching on Fort
William Henry with such unfortunate results for English interests.
Holbourne sailed with his fleet for Louisbourg, and after a
half-hearted attempt to draw the French fleet, then safely moored under
the guns of the town, into an engagement, even the elements combined
against him, and when he had lost a number of his vessels on the rocky
Cape Breton coast, he returned to England to tell the story of his
failure.
It was at this critical period, when England so sadly needed a bold and
wise statesman at the head of her government in the place of weak and
incompetent men like Newcastle, that the great Pitt, better known as
Chatham at a later day, was called to office by the unanimous opinion
of the English people outside, perhaps, of a small selfish clique of
the aristocracy. It was his good fortune to be successful far beyond
the hopes of the majority of statesmen suddenly called upon to retrieve
national disaster. It was mainly through his inspiration--through the
confidence with which he inspired all {241} those who served the
country at this momentous epoch--that England became the centre of a
vast colonial empire such as the world never saw, even in the days when
Rome was mistress.
When Pitt was recalled to office in July, 1757, it was too late to
prevent the humiliation of England through the incompetency of
Holbourne, Loudoun, and Webb, and the year 1757 closed with Montcalm
triumphant in America. But while France neglected to give adequate
support to her brave sons in Canada, England rallied to the support of
Pitt, and the whole nation felt a confidence in the future which it had
never had during the administration of his predecessors. On the
continent of Europe, Pitt contented himself with giving the largest
possible subsidies of money to his great ally Frederick, and by
entrusting the command of the English and Hanoverian forces to the best
of his generals, Ferdinand, Prince of Brunswick, in place of the
incompetent Duke of Cumberland. The victories of Rossbach, Leuthen,
and Minden were the answers that Frederick gave to the English minister
for the confidence he reposed in his ability to cope with the four
great Powers then combined with Saxony to destroy Prussia and bring
England to the feet of France, by invading her territory and marching
into her very capital. Hanover was saved by the memorable victory on
the Weser, and England was spared the humiliation and perils of an
invasion by the destruction of a French fleet by Admiral Hawke in
Quiberon Bay.
While the military genius of Frederick and the {242} inspiring
statesmanship of Pitt were successfully thwarting the ambitious plans
of France and her allies in Europe, the English minister had decided on
a vigorous campaign in America. With that intuitive sagacity which he
possessed above most men for recognising ability in others for the
purpose in view, he chose General Amherst, Admiral Boscawen, and
Brigadier-General Wolfe, not because of their aristocratic or political
influence, but because of their military capacity, the want of which in
Loudoun and Holbourne had brought disaster upon the English arms.
Unhappily he was forced, for the time being, by strong influences
around him to retain General Abercromby at the head of one of the
expeditions in America, but he hoped that the co-operation of Lord Howe
would keep up the courage of the army, and prevent any blunders on the
part of the slow and obtuse soldier in command. The plan of the
campaign which opened in 1758 was to send three expeditions
simultaneously against the three all-important French positions held by
the French in the Ohio valley, on Lake Champlain, and at the entrance
of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. General Forbes, a resolute Scotch
veteran, was to march on Fort Duquesne, General Abercromby was to lay
siege to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and General Amherst, with Admiral
Boscawen, was to attack the fortress of Louisbourg, which was
acknowledged as the key of the St. Lawrence.
The English fleet anchored in Gabarus Bay, to the southward of
Louisbourg, on the 2nd of June, 1758. It was composed of over fifty
ships, {243} twenty-two of which were "liners," and carried eighteen
hundred guns altogether. The army comprised between eleven and twelve
thousand men, including a small force of provincial rangers. The
fortress, which had been considerably strengthened since 1745, was
defended by over three thousand regular troops, and a small number of
Indians and inhabitants. A fleet of fourteen men-of-war, with a crew
of nearly three thousand men, and five hundred and sixty-two guns, were
in the harbour. Chevalier Drucour was governor of the island, and
conducted the defences with skill and resolution, and had Admiral
Desgouttes been as brave and capable as the former, Louisbourg would
hardly have fallen so easily. On the morning of the 27th July, the
English took possession of the West gate, and the cross of St. George
was hoisted on the citadel of a fortress which was destined from that
time to disappear from the pages of the world's history. In 1763 the
fortress was levelled to the ground, and now a few mounds of turf alone
represent the ambitions of France a century and a half ago. Nature has
resumed dominion over the site of the once famous fortress, and the
restless ocean, which stretches away beyond to the eastward without a
break to Europe, brings no message of the fleets that came once, richly
freighted, to this historic fort. Louisbourg is now only a place of
memories--of associations which connect Cape Breton with most glorious
episodes of England's history, with times when the genius of Pitt
triumphed over France.
After the taking of Louisbourg, the English {244} occupied the island
of St. John, now Prince Edward, where there were several prosperous
settlements at Port La Joye (Charlottetown), St. Pierre, and other
places on the bays of the low-lying coast. The population was composed
chiefly of Acadians, who had commenced to cross from Nova Scotia after
the Treaty of Utrecht, and probably numbered in 1758 four thousand
souls, engaged in fishing and farming. These people were able to
supply Louisbourg with provisions, as no agricultural operations of
importance were carried on in Cape Breton.
[Illustration: Louisbourg medals of 1758.]
Wolfe destroyed the French settlements around the bays of Gaspé,
Miramichi, and Chaleurs, while Colonel Monckton performed the same
painful duty in the valley of the St. John River. Acadia, according to
its "ancient limits," was at last completely in the possession of
England.
The news of the capture of Louisbourg was received in America and
Europe with many rejoicings, and the eleven stands of colours won at
this gateway of Canada were deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral {245}
amid the roar of cannon. This victory came at an opportune moment,
since Abercromby had suffered a humiliating repulse on the banks of
Lake Champlain. With a splendid force of regular and provincial
troops, from fourteen to fifteen thousand altogether, but entirely
destitute of artillery,--an evidence of extraordinary incapacity, or of
culpable negligence,--he had thrown himself upon most formidable
entrenchments of fallen trees, with their sharp ends pointing outwards,
that the French had ingeniously constructed in front of Carillon, which
was still incomplete, and defended by less than three thousand men
under Montcalm and Lévis. The most unhappy incident of this disaster
was the death of Lord Howe, described by Wolfe, who knew him well, "as
the noblest Englishman that has appeared in my time, and the best
soldier in the British army." Abercromby hurriedly retired to the head
of Lake George, and was soon afterwards superseded by the cautious
Amherst. Montcalm was greatly encouraged by the spirit of his soldiers
throughout the attack, and erected a cross on the battle ground with
the following inscriptions of his own--the latter his paraphrase of the
first:
Quid dux? Quid miles? Quid strata ingentia ligna?
En signum! en victor! Deus hîc, Deus ipse triumphat.
"Chrétien! ce ne fut point Montcalm et la prudence,
Ces arbres renversés, ces héros, ces exploits,
Qui des Anglais confus ont brisé l'espérance,
C'est le bras de ton Dieu, vainqueur sur cette croix." [2]
{246}
An important event of the year was the taking of Fort Frontenac by
Colonel Bradstreet, who had assisted in the first siege of Louisbourg.
The capture of this fort was regarded with every reason by the French
as "of greater injury to the colony than the loss of a battle." Fort
Duquesne, which was the key to the Ohio country, was abandoned by
Ligneris on the approach of Brigadier Forbes, a very capable Scotch
officer, but not until the French had beaten with considerable loss an
advance of the main forces commanded by Major Grant. Ligneris withdrew
his troops to Fort Machault (Venango), where he remained until the
following year. Fort Duquesne was renamed in honour of Pitt, and a
great manufacturing city has grown up on its site in the beautiful
valley which, in 1758, passed away forever from the French who had only
held possession of it for six short years.
[1] His full name was Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de
Saint-Véran, whose family seat was Candiac, near Nismes, in the south
of France.
[2] Parkman gives the following paraphrase of the Latin inscription;
"Soldier and chief and ramparts' strength are nought;
Behold the conquering cross! 'T is God the triumph wrought."
{247}
XVIII.
THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE VALLEY OF
THE ST. LAWRENCE--CANADA IS WON BY
WOLFE ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM.
(1759-1763.)