M. De La Barre now (1682) succeeded Frontenac as Viceroy. The new Governor was of a restless and overbearing disposition. He required, or supposed that he required, a strong government. He certainly needed an able one. The idea of drawing off the trade of the St. Lawrence had first occurred to the English colonists on the Hudson. The Iroquois preferred trading with the "down south" English to trading with the French. Their furs were chiefly carried down the Hudson, to the no small annoyance of the French exporter. De La Barre had no idea of tolerating such a mode of doing business. The furs of Canada were French furs. The Indians were merely hunters for the French, and had no right whatever to dispose of their goods in the dearest market, and buy their necessaries in the cheapest market. De La Barre, weakened though he was in the number of his troops, many men having converted their swords into ploughshares, and their guns into reaping hooks, resolved upon punishing the free-trading children of the woods. He obtained two hundred additional soldiers from France, and proceeded up the St. Lawrence on his labor of love. The Indians only laughed at him. They thought he was in a dream when he pompously required them not to war upon each other, or permit the English to come among them. His troops were sick and starving, and were at the mercy rather of the Indians than the Indians at their mercy. M. De La Barre was compelled to withdraw his troops. The blustering, pompous, mischief-loving De La Barre was recalled by his government, for incompetency, and in 1685 was succeeded by Denonville.
The Marquis Denonville was only more cunning than his predecessor, and perhaps more decided. No sooner had he set foot in the colony, than, with the assistance of the missionaries, he persuaded the Iroquois chiefs to meet him on the banks of Lake Ontario. Denonville and the Indians did meet, and no sooner had they met, than Denonville treacherously caused a number of them to be seized and put in irons, to be sent as prisoners to the King of France, for service in his gallies. Denonville erected a fort at Niagara, became more violent and overbearing to the Indians, treated the remonstrances of the English of New York, concerning the erection of Fort Niagara, with contempt, and at last brought upon himself, as the arrogant generally do, defeat and disgrace. This fort, to which the North West Fur Company of Quebec had offered to contribute 30,000 livres annually, in consideration of a monopoly of the fur trade, was destroyed by the Iroquois, who followed the now retreating French to Cataraqui, made themselves masters of the whole country west of Montreal, and, to crown all, appeared before that city with proposals of peace. Denonville was required to restore the chiefs who had been sent to France, and he was either in a position not to resist, or wished to gain time. He consented to negotiate. The Hurons, his allies, were not now so peaceably disposed. For the first time, they seem to have evinced a warlike spirit. They attacked the deputies, and insinuated to their prisoners that the French Governor had instigated them to do so. The prisoners were allowed to depart; a large party of the Five Nations heard their tale, descended upon Montreal, carried off two hundred of the inhabitants, and retired unmolested. The fort at Cataraqui was blown up, and for a time of course abandoned. Thus, in 1686, French Canada was again virtually reduced to Montreal, Three Rivers, Quebec, and Tadousac.
It was in 1689 that the Count de Frontenac returned to Canada a second time, as Viceroy, to succeed the incompetent Denonville. He took out the captured chiefs, and attempted to conciliate the Iroquois. But the Indians had been too frequently deceived by his immediate predecessors. They would have nothing to do with him, unless he restored, without stipulation, their captured chiefs. De Frontenac complied. He complied the more readily because he feared an alliance between the Ottawas and the Iroquois. The Ottawas were quite indifferent to French friendship, because the gain, in their estimation, was altogether in favor of the French, whose protectors the Ottawas considered themselves to be. So far from provocation being now given to the Indians, a policy extremely opposite was pursued. The English and Dutch of the New England settlements coveted the Indian trade in furs, and the Indians were more favorably disposed towards the English and Dutch traders than towards the French, because from the former a larger consideration was received. It was De Frontenac's policy to prevent such a union, which would, as he conceived, have injured the trade of the St. Lawrence, and have injured the revenue of the Fur Company. De Frontenac induced the Ottawas to assist him against the English of New England, whom he had resolved to attack, France and England being then at war. He fitted out three expeditions, one against New York, a second against New Hampshire, and a third against the Province of Maine. The party against New York fell upon Schenectady, in February, 1690. The weather was exceedingly cold, and the ground deeply covered with snow. It was never even suspected, that, at such a season, a campaign would be begun. Yet, at the dead of night, while the inhabitants of Schenectady were asleep, and not a sentinel was awake to announce the danger, the war-whoop was raised, every house in the village was simultaneously attacked, buildings were broken into and set on fire, men and women were dragged from their beds, and even mothers, with their sleeping infants at their breasts, were inhumanly murdered. Sixty persons were massacred; thirty were made prisoners, and such as escaped, almost naked, fled through the deep snow, many perishing with the extreme cold, and the most fortunate being terribly frost bitten. At Salmon Falls, the party sent by Frontenac against New Hampshire, killed thirty of the inhabitants, took fifty-four prisoners, and burned the village. At Casco, in Maine, the third party killed and captured one hundred persons. Such was the business of colonists in those days. In Canada the majority had no voice in popular affairs. Governors, Intendants, Seigniors, and Priests, controlled the colonists as they willed. However much the Governor may have despised the Intendant, the Intendant the Seignior, or the Priest all put together, the merchant, artisan, and peasant were of no account. Wealth without title was only a bait for extortion. The peasantry were serfs, and the nobles uneducated despots. Education was in the hands of the clergy, while power was solely vested in the Heads of Military Departments. But if ignorance was particularly characteristic of the Canadians, the New Englanders could lay little claim to superior enlightenment. Harvard's College, in Massachusetts, had apparently done no more for the New Englanders, in 1692, than the Seminary of Quebec, in the way of diffusing a knowledge of letters among the people, from which the desire for freedom invariably springs, had done for Canada. The people of Salem, Andover, Ipswich, Gloucester, and even Boston, were accusing each other of witchcraft. A "contagious" malady, which affected children of ten, twelve or fifteen years of age, it was, oddly enough, said by the learned physicians of the period, was the result of witchcraft. A respectable merchant of Salem, and his wife, were accused of bewitching children; the sons of Governor Bradstreet were implicated in the divinations; and the wife of Sir William Phipps was not above suspicion. One man, for refusing to put himself on trial by jury, was pressed to death. Nor was Giles Correy the only sufferer:—nineteen persons, "members of the Church", were executed, and one hundred and fifty persons were put in prison. It was sometime before the conviction began to spread, that even men of sense, education, and fervent piety could entertain the madness and infatuation of the weak, illiterate, and unprincipled. A disbeliever in witchcraft was an 'obdurate sadducee.' That conviction did at last possess men. The disease which affected the supposed bewitched children somewhat resembled St. Vitus' Dance. It was an involuntary motion of the muscles. The affected were sometimes deaf, sometimes dumb, sometimes blind. Oftentimes, they were at once deaf, dumb, and blind. Their tongues were drawn down their throats, and then pulled out upon their chins to a prodigious length. Their mouths were forced open to such a wideness, that their jaws went out of joint, only to clap again together, with a force like that of a spring lock. Shoulder-blades, elbows, wrists, and knees were similarly affected. Sometimes the sufferer was benumbed, or drawn violently together, and immediately afterwards stretched out and drawn back.
De Frontenac set earnestly to work to pacify his old enemies of the Five Nations. A new and more dreaded enemy had to be encountered. The Puritans of Massachusetts, provoked by De Frontenac's aggressions, resolved to attack Canada, in self-defence. Sir William Phipps, afterwards the first Captain General of Massachusetts, born on the River Kennebec, a man of extraordinary firmness and great energy, who had raised himself to eminence by honesty of purpose, a strong will, and good natural ability, was appointed to the command of an expedition, consisting of seven vessels and eight hundred men. The object of the expedition was the reduction of Port Royal, or Annapolis, in Nova Scotia, which Sir William speedily and easily accomplished. A second expedition, under Sir William, was resolved upon, for the reduction of Montreal and Quebec. Two thousand men were to penetrate into Canada by Lake Champlain, to attack Montreal, at the same time that the naval armament, consisting of between thirty and forty ships, should invest Quebec. The expedition failed. The Commissariat and Pontoon Departments of the land expedition, were sadly deficient, and the naval expedition did not reach Quebec until late in October. The weather became tempestuous, and scattered the fleet, while the land force to Montreal mutinied through hunger. Sir William, on the 22nd of October, re-embarked the soldiers which he had landed, and sailed, without carrying with him his field pieces or ammunition waggons. Humiliating as the repulse was to Massachusetts, it was highly creditable to De Frontenac, who now easily succeeded in winning over the Five Nation Indians. Indeed, matters had so very much changed, that these enemies of his most Christian Majesty solicited the Governor to rebuild the fort at Cataraqui, which was accordingly done. The Indians were not, however, unanimous in their desire for peace. There was a war and a peace party. To show his power, De Frontenac conceived the idea of a great expedition against the Indians. He collected regulars, militia, and all the friendly Indians to be procured, and, marching to Cataraqui, passed into the country of the Onondagos. On entering a lake, it was ascertained by the symbol of two bundles of rushes, that 1,434 fighting men were in readiness to receive them. De Frontenac threw up an earthwork, or log fort, to fall back upon, and proceeded. De Callières, Governor of Montreal, commanded the left wing; De Vaudreuil the right; and De Frontenac, now 76 years of age, was carried, like Menschikoff at Alma, in the centre, in an elbow chair. The Indians fell back, and as they did so, pursued the Russian policy of destroying their own forts by fire. The French never came up with the Onondagos or Oneidas, but contented themselves with destroying grain, and returned to Montreal.
De Frontenac's next expedition was to join Admiral, the Marquis Nesmond,—who had been despatched with ten ships of the line, a galliot, and two frigates,—with a force of 1,500 men at Penobscot, with the view of making a descent on Boston; to range the coast of Newfoundland; and to take New York, from whence the troops were to return overland to Canada, by the side of the River Hudson and Lake Champlain. The junction was not effected, and the expedition failed. A treaty of peace, on the 10th of December, 1697, concluded between France and England, at Ryswick, in Germany, put an end to colonial contention for a short time. By that peace, all the countries, forts, and colonies taken by each party during the war, were mutually given back. De Frontenac, an exceedingly courageous and skilful officer, now became involved with his government at home. The French government began to perceive that advanced posts for the purpose of trading with the Indians for furs, were of little, if, indeed, they were of any advantage, while they were a continued source of war. It was proposed to abolish these stations, so that the Indians might, to the great saving of transport, bring in their furs themselves, to Montreal. De Frontenac demurred. These forts were the sign of power, as they were a source of patronage. The fur trade was a monopoly, carried on by licenses granted to old officers and favorites, which were sold to the inland traders as timber limits are now disposed of. Profits of 400 per cent were made on successful fur adventures, under a license to trade to the extent of 10,000 crowns on the merchandize and 600 crowns to each of the canoemen. Beaver skins, at Montreal, were then worth 2s. 3d. sterling a pound weight. The first fishery was formed at Mount Louis, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, about half way between the mouth of the Gulf and Quebec, in 1697. A company formed by the Sieur de Reverin, was tolerably successful. Canada was even now beginning to look up, in a commercial point of view. De Frontenac died in November following, in the 78th year of his age, and the Governor of Montreal, De Callières, succeeded him. De Callières died suddenly, a few years after his elevation, (1703) when the people of Canada petitioned for the appointment of the Marquis De Vaudreuil to the Viceroyalty, and the king granted their prayer. The death of De Callières occurred one year after a new declaration of war between France and England. This war was the result of unsettled boundaries, by the peace of Ryswick. England declared war against both France and Spain. Again Canadians and New Englanders suffered severely. The French of Canada, especially, allowed their Indians to perpetrate the most horrible atrocities. Women prisoners were inhumanly butchered in cold blood, before the very eyes of their husbands, only because they were unable to keep pace with other prisoners, or their captors. Both the French and the English colonists were permitted by the parent states to fight almost unaided, to fight on imperial account, at colonial expense of blood and treasure. To Canada, nearly altogether a military colony, fighting was particularly agreeable, and yet the population had not reached 15,000, while Massachusetts contained 70,000 souls; Connecticut, 30,000: Rhode Island, 10,000; New Hampshire, 10,000; New York, 30,000; New Jersey, 15,000; Pennsylvania, 20,000; Maryland, 25,000; North Carolina, 5,000; South Carolina, 7,000, and in all 142,000 souls. The difficulty of land transport confined hostilities to the border States, and preserved a balance of power between the contending colonists. Indeed, the St. Lawrence afforded a comparatively easy means of communication for the French to that afforded by the mountain passes of Vermont to the New Englanders. The French could more easily pounce upon the outposts of Lake Champlain than the New Englanders could march to defend them. The English colonists resolved upon making a great effort. Massachusetts petitioned Queen Anne for assistance, who promised to send five regiments of regular troops, which, with 1,200 men, raised in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, were to sail from Boston for Quebec. The fleet, with the five regiments on board, never came to hand, having been sent to Portugal; but 1,800 colonists marched against Montreal, by way of Lake Champlain, and penetrated as far as Wood Creek, where the news of the altered destination of the fleet reached them and caused them to return. The French Governor acted on the defensive. He made extraordinary preparations for defence, which were needless, as the Iroquois Indians, having quarrelled with the English, on the ground that Iroquois safety consisted in the jealousies of the French and English, would not fight, and the invaders retreated. Another application being made to the Queen of England for protection, on the part of the New Englanders, Colonel Nicholson came over with five frigates and a bomb ketch, and having been joined by five regiments of troops from New England, he sailed with the frigates and about twenty transports, from Boston, on the 18th September, for Port Royal, which he captured and called, in honor of his Queen, Annapolis. Animated with his success, Nicholson sailed for England, to solicit another expedition to Canada. His request was granted. Orders were immediately sent to the colonies to prepare their quotas of men, and only sixteen days after the orders to that effect were received, a fleet of men of war and transports, under Sir Hovenden Walker, with seven regiments of the Duke of Marlborough's troops, and a battalion of marines, under Brigadier General Hill, arrived at Boston. The fleet had neither provisions nor pilots, but by the prompt exertions of the colonists, 15 men of war, 40 transports, and 6 storeships, with nearly 7,000 men, sailed from Boston for Canada, while Colonel, now General Nicholson, marched at the head of 4,000 provincialists, from Albany towards Canada. The fleet arrived in the St. Lawrence on the 14th of August, (1710) but in proceeding up the river the whole fleet was nearly destroyed. The pilots were ignorant of the channels, and the winds were contrary and strong. About midnight of the 22nd, a part of the fleet were driven among islands and rocks on the north shore, eight or nine transports were cast away, and nearly 1,000 soldiers were drowned. The attempt to take Quebec was again abandoned. The ships of war sailed directly for England, and the transports, having provincial troops on board, returned to Boston. General Nicholson remained at Fort George until he heard of the miscarriage of the St. Lawrence expedition, when he retraced his steps to Albany. The Canadians had made extensive preparations for defence. The greatest possible enthusiasm prevailed in Quebec. The merchants of Quebec, in 1712, raised a subscription and presented the Governor with 50,000 crowns, for the purpose of strengthening the fortifications of the town. The peace of Utrecht was, however, concluded, in 1713, and Canada was left to contend only with the Outagamis, a new Indian enemy, who, in conjunction with the Iroquois, had determined upon burning Detroit, the limit of civilisation to the north west. The French soon caused their Indian enemies to bury their hatchets.
At the peace, Quebec had 7,000 inhabitants, and the population of all Canada amounted to 25,000, of whom 5,000 were capable of bearing arms. Already the banks of the St. Lawrence below Quebec were laid out in seigniories, and the farms were tolerably well cultivated. Some farmers were in easier circumstances than their seigneurs. The imported nobility had dwindled down to the condition of placemen or traders. The Baron Beçancour held the office of Inspector of Highways, and Count Blumhart made ginger beer. Three Rivers contained 800 inhabitants. A few farmers lived in the neighbourhood of the mouth of the St. Francis. Montreal was rising rapidly into importance, having obtained the fur trade of Three Rivers, in addition to its own, and the island having been carefully cultivated, through the well directed efforts of the Jesuits. Above Montreal there was nothing but forts—Fort Kingston or Cataraqui, Fort Niagara, Fort Detroit, and Fort Machillimakinac.
The Marquis de Vaudreuil having ruled Canada for twenty-one years, died on the 10th of April, 1725. He was succeeded by the Marquis de Beauharnois, under whose judicious management of affairs, the province became prosperous. Cultivation was extended. The Indians were so much conciliated, that intermarriages between the French and Indians were frequent. And there was nothing to excite alarm but the growing importance and grasping disposition of the New Englanders and New Anglo-Hollanders. The Governor of New York had erected a fort and trading post at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, with the view of monopolizing the trade of the Lakes. Beauharnois followed the English Governor's example, by building an opposition fort in the neighbourhood of Niagara. Another fort was erected by the Marquis, at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, and yet another at Ticonderoga. The English very soon had a more reasonable pretext than a monopoly of the fur traffic, for more active demonstrations against the French. War was again declared in 1745, between France and England, by George II.; and Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, without waiting for instructions from England, determined upon attacking Louisbourg, then considered to be the "Gibraltar of America." Louisbourg, on Cape Breton, was fortified by the French, after the peace of Utrecht, at an expense of $5,500,000. The fortifications consisted of a rampart of stone, nearly 36 feet in height, and a ditch eighty feet wide. There were six bastions, and three batteries, with embrasures for 148 cannon and 6 mortars. On an island at the entrance of the harbor was another battery of 30 cannon, carrying 28 pound shot, and at the bottom of the harbour, opposite the entrance, was situated the royal battery of twenty-eight forty-two pounders, and two eighteen pounders. The entrance of the town, on the land side, was at the west, over a draw-bridge, near which was a circular battery, mounting 16 guns of 24 pounds shot. And these works had been 25 years in building. Louisbourg was a place of much importance to the French. It was a convenient retreat to such privateers as always annoyed and sometimes captured the New England fishing vessels. And the manner of this attack upon it is exceedingly interesting. It was determined on in January, 1745. Massachusetts furnished 3,250 men; Connecticut, 510; Rhode Island and New Hampshire, each 300. The naval force consisted of twelve ships, and in two months the army was enlisted, victualled, and equipped for service. On the 23rd of March, an express boat, which had been sent to Commodore Warren, the Naval Commander in Chief in the West Indies, to invite his co-operation, returned to Boston with the information, that without orders from England he could take no share in a purely colonial expedition. Governor Shirley and General Pepperell nevertheless embarked the army, and the colonial fleet sailed the next morning. The expedition arrived at Canso on the 4th of April, where the troops from New Hampshire and Connecticut joined it. Here, Commodore Warren, with his fleet, very unexpectedly joined the expedition. Shortly after his refusal to join, instructions which had been sent off from the British Government, approving of the attack upon Louisbourg, as proposed by Governor Shirley, and which Pepperell had gone to attack, without waiting for Imperial approval, had reached Commodore Warren, and without loss of time he proceeded direct to Canso, whither it was reported the Colonial fleet had gone. His arrival was the cause of great joy among the colonists. After a short consultation with General Pepperell, the Commodore sailed to cruise before Louisbourg, and was soon followed by the colonial fleet and army, which, on the 30th April, arrived in Cap Rouge Bay. It was not until then that the French were aware that an attack upon them was meditated. Every attempt was made to oppose the landing. They sent detachments to the landing places. But General Pepperell deceived them. He made a feint of landing at one point, and actually landed at another. The story reminds us of Sebastopol. Next morning 400 of the English marched round behind the hills, to the north west of the harbour, setting fire to all the houses and stores, till they came within a mile of the Royal Battery. The conflagration of the stores, in which was a considerable quantity of tar, while it concealed the English troops, increased the alarm of the French so greatly, that they precipitately abandoned the Royal battery. Upon their flight, the English troops took possession of it, and by means of a well directed fire from it, seriously damaged the town. The main body of the army now commenced the siege. For fourteen nights they were occupied in drawing cannon towards the town, over a morass, in which oxen and horses could not be used. The toil was incredible, but men accustomed to draw the pines of the forests, for masts, could accomplish anything. By the 20th of May, several fascine batteries had been erected, one of which mounted five forty-pounders. These batteries, on being opened, did immense execution. While the siege was being proceeded with, Commodore Warren captured the French ship of war "Vigilant," of 74 guns, with her 560 men, and a great quantity of military stores. This capture was of very great consequence, as it not only increased the English force and added to their military supplies, but seriously lessened the strength of the enemy. Shortly after this important capture, the English fleet was considerably augmented by the arrival of several men of war. A combined attack by sea and land was now determined on, and fixed for the 18th of June. Already the inland battery had been silenced; the western gate of the town was beaten down, and a breach effected in the wall; the circular battery of sixteen guns was nearly ruined; and the western flank of the King's bastion was nearly demolished. The besieged were in no condition to resist a joint attack by sea and land. The preparations for such an attack altogether dispirited them. A cessation of hostilities was asked for, on the 15th, and obtained. On the 17th, after a siege of forty-nine days, Louisbourg and the Island of Cap Breton surrendered. Stores and prizes to the amount of nearly a million sterling fell into the hands of the conquerors. Nor was this the only advantage. Security was given to the colonies in their fisheries; Nova Scotia was preserved to England; and the trade and fisheries of France were nearly ruined. The successful General, a New Englander by birth, was created a baronet of Great Britain, in recognition of his important services to the State. Sir William Pepper(w)ell rose on the ruins of Louisbourg. On France the blow fell with great severity. The court, aroused to vengeance, sent the Duke D'Anville, a nobleman of great courage, in 1746, at the head of an armament of forty ships of war, fifty-six transports, with three thousand five hundred men, and forty thousand stand of arms for the use of the French and Indians in Canada, to recover possession of Cape Breton, and to attack the colonies. Four vessels of the line, forming the West India squadron, were to join the expedition, and Canada sent off 1,700 men with the same view. The greatest consternation possessed the English colonists, as part of this immense fleet neared the American coast. But there was, in reality, no cause for fear. The tempest had blasted the hopes of France. Only two or three of the ships, with a few transports, reached Chebucto Bay, in Nova Scotia. Many of the ships of this once formidable expedition were seriously damaged by storms, others were lost, and one was forced to return to Brest, on account of cholera among her crew. On arrival at Chebucto, where Halifax is now situated, the Admiral became so despondent that he poisoned himself, and the Vice Admiral, no more a Roman than his superior, ran himself through the body with his sword. So died both these gallant but unfortunate men, whose moral courage quailed before what they knew must be public opinion in France. Nor were the disasters of the Duke d'Anville's armament yet over. That part of the fleet which had arrived in America, sailed for the purpose of attacking Annapolis, only to be dispersed by a storm, in the Bay of Fundy, and to return to France crest-fallen. Another expedition was however, determined upon. Six men of war, of the largest class, six frigates, and four East Indiamen, with a convoy of thirty merchant vessels, set sail from France, with the Admiral de la Jonquiere appointed to succeed de Beauharnois as Governor of Canada. But a British fleet, under Admiral Anson and Rear Admiral Warren, dispatched to watch, and, if possible, intercept it, fell in with the French fleet on the 3rd of May, and before night all the battle ships had surrendered. The new Governor of Canada found himself a prisoner. The disagreeable intelligence of this second failure reached France on the somewhat sudden and unexpected return of a part of the convoy, which had escaped capture, as night fell, on the day of the surrender of the fleet. Another Governor for Canada was appointed, the Count de la Gallisonière, who arrived safely. De la Gallisonière took an intelligent view of the position of affairs. He saw the folly, in a military point of view, of keeping the frontier a wilderness, and recommended that a large number of settlers should be sent from France, who, by being located on the frontier, would act as a check upon the British. His advice was, however, unheeded, and de la Jonquière having been released from captivity and conveyed to Canada, the Count resigned his trust to the Admiral, and returned to France. De la Jonquière was exceedingly active and able. Shortly after, or about the time of his release from captivity, the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed, and all conquests—Louisbourg included—made during the war, were mutually restored. But de la Jonquière hated the English cordially, and by his hostile acts against the English fur traders, of the Ohio Company, he brought on that war between France and England, known as "The French and Indian War." Several English traders were seized and carried to a French port, on the south of Lake Erie, and fortifications, at convenient distances, were erected and occupied by French troops, between Fort Presqu'isle and the Ohio. War was ultimately declared, and Colonel George Washington, afterwards President of the United States, was sent, at the head of a regiment of Virginians, by the British Governor Dinwiddie, to put a stop to the fort building, which, although joined by nearly 400 men from New York and South Carolina, he failed to accomplish, having been compelled by De Villiers, at the head of a force of 1,500 French soldiers, to capitulate, with the privilege of marching back to Virginia unmolested. In Canada, De la Jonquière was by no means a favorite. Terribly avaricious, while the Intendant sold licenses to trade, the Governor and his Secretary sold brandy to the Indians. De la Jonquière became enormously wealthy, but his grasping disposition so annoyed the people of Quebec and Montreal, that complaints against him were loudly made, and he was recalled. He died, however, at Quebec, before his successor, the Marquis du Quesne de Menneville, was appointed. The Anglo-Indian French War now raged furiously. The English colonists were recommended by the British Government to unite together in some scheme for their common defence. A convention of delegates from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, with the Lieut. Governor and Council of New York, was accordingly held at Albany, in 1754, and a plan of a federal union adopted. The plan was simply this:—a Grand Council, to be formed of members chosen by the provincial assemblies, and sent from all the colonies; which Grand Council, with a Governor General appointed by the Crown, having a negative voice, should be empowered to make general laws, to raise money in all the colonies, for their defence, to call forth troops, regulate trade, lay duties, &c. It met, however, neither with the approbation of the Provincial Assemblies nor the King's Council. The Assemblies rejected it because it gave too much power to the Crown, and the King's Council rejected it because it gave too much power to the people. Nevertheless, the Assemblies unreservedl declared, that, if it were adopted, they would undertake to defend themselves from the French, without any assistance from Great Britain. The mother country refused to sanction it. Another plan was proposed, which met with universal disapprobation. A convention was to be formed by the Governors, with one or more of their Council to concert measures for the general defence, to erect fortifications, to raise men, &c., with power to draw upon the British Treasury to defray all charges, which charges were to be reimbursed by taxes upon the colonies, imposed by Acts of Parliament. The English colonies, however, vigorously attempted to repel the encroachments of the French from Canada, and ultimately succeeded, notwithstanding the blundering incompetency of General Braddock and Colonel Dunbar, the afterwards celebrated Washington being Aid-de-Camp to the former on the Ohio. Braddock, in proceeding against Fort du Quesne,[3] with upwards of 2,200 men, one thousand of which were regulars, suffered himself to be surprised by only five hundred French and Indians, had five horses killed under him, was himself mortally wounded, and his troops were defeated. Nay, out of sixty-five officers, sixty-four were killed and wounded, and of the troops engaged, one half were made prisoners, through the ungovernable folly of a man, who advanced without caution, and attempted to form a line when surrounded in a thicket. It was at this time, when the English colonists, not only contemplated a federal union, but had determined upon expeditions—one against the French in Nova Scotia, which completely succeeded; a second against the French on the Ohio; a third against Crown Point; and a fourth against Niagara. The Marquis du Quesne organized the militia of Quebec and Montreal; minutely inspected and disciplined the militia of the seigneuries; and attached considerable bodies of regular artillery to every garrison. Tired of the continual fighting between Canada and the English colonies, the Marquis du Quesne solicited his recall. His request was conceded. His most Christian Majesty appointed the Marquis de Vaudreuil de Cavagnac, son of a former Governor to succeed him. De Vaudreuil de Cavagnac sailed for the seat of his government with Admiral La Mothe, who was in command of a fleet newly fitted out, at considerable cost, at Brest. The sailing was not unnoticed by the English Channel fleet. Admiral Boscawen gave chase. He had eleven ships of the line, and with these he came up with the French fleet off Newfoundland. A battle ensued, and two French vessels fell into the hands of the British, the remainder of the French ships escaping under cover of a fog. Quebec was reached without further molestation, and Governor De Vaudreuil de Cavagnac was installed. All Canada was, on his arrival, in arms. Every parish was a garrison, commanded by a captain, whose authority was not only acknowledged, but rigidly sustained. Agriculture was, consequently, entirely neglected. Provisions were scarce; the price of food was enormously high; and the fur trade was rapidly declining. Notwithstanding this, the Intendant, Bigot, shipped off large quantities of wheat to the West Indies, on his own account. The Marquis de Vaudreuil de Cavagnac sanctioned the avaricious exactions and dealings of Bigot. Practices the most dishonest and demoralizing were winked at or excused. The Governors positively enriched themselves on the miseries of the governed. A high standard value was given to grain in store. It was studiously reported that the farmers were hoarding up their stocks, and prejudice was so excited against them, that it was no difficult matter to confiscate their corn, on pretence that it was absolutely necessary for the city and the troops. De Cavagnac and Bigot bought cheaply and sold extravagantly dear. As the Russian officials cheat the Russian government, so did the French officials cheat both the people and the government of France. But it was little wonder. The Governor had only a salary of £272 sterling, out of which he was expected to clothe, maintain, and pay a guard for himself, consisting of two sergeants and twenty-five soldiers, furnishing them with firing in winter, and other necessary articles. A Governor was compelled to trade to be on a pecuniary level with the merchant.
The hostilities between the colonists of English and French extraction for the two preceding years had been carried on, without any formal declaration of war. It was not until June, 1756, that war was declared by Great Britain against France, and operations were determined upon on a large scale. Lord Loudon was appointed Commander in Chief of the English forces in America, and General the Marquis de Montcalm was appointed Generalissimo in Canada, in room of Dieskau, who was disabled at Lake George. The English commander matured a plan of campaign, formed by his locum tenens, General Abercrombie, which embraced an attack upon Niagara and Crown Point, still in possession of the French, the former being the connecting link in the line of fortifications between Canada and Louisiana, and the latter commanding Lake Champlain, and guarding the only passage at that time to Canada. Loudon was as hesitating and shiftless, as Abercrombie had been an improvident commander. The expedition against Crown Point was unaccountably delayed. General Winslow, at the head of 700 men, was not permitted to advance. Montcalm, as energetic, able, and enterprising as his opponents were indecisive, with 8,000 regulars, Canadians, and Indians, made a rapid descent upon Oswego, at the south-east side of Lake Ontario, and captured it. Sixteen hundred men, one hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, fourteen mortars, two ships of war, and two hundred boats and batteaux, fell into the conqueror's hands. Lord Loudon, prone to inactivity, instead of vigorously pushing forward upon Crown Point, to retrieve this great disaster, made the disaster an excuse for relinquishing the enterprise. The failure of the campaign of '56 much annoyed the British Parliament and people, and great preparations were made in the following year to prosecute the war to a successful issue. It was in vain, while Lord Loudon was in command of the colonial army. A fleet of eleven ships of the line, and fifty transports, with more than six thousand troops, arrived at Halifax, for the reduction of Louisbourg, and Lord Loudon ordered a large body of troops, designed to march upon Ticonderoga and Crown Point, to co-operate. But so dilatory was his Lordship, that before the expedition from Halifax was ready to sail, a French fleet of 17 sail had arrived at Louisbourg, with reinforcements, making the garrison nine thousand strong—and this fine specimen of a hereditary commander deemed it inexpedient to proceed, and abandoned the expedition. Montcalm, again profitting by the weakness and indecision of his adversaries, made a descent on Fort William Henry, situated on the north shore of Lake George, with nine thousand men. The fort, garrisoned by three thousand men, was commanded by Colonel Munroe, who obstinately defended it. Nay, had it not been for the silly indifference of General Webb, who was in command of Fort Edward, which was within only fifteen miles of Fort William Henry, and was garrisoned by 4,000 men, the French General might have been unable to make any impression upon it. But Webb, although solicited by his second in command, Sir William Johnston, to suffer his troops to march to the rescue, first hesitated, next granted permission, and then drew back. In six days the garrison surrendered, Munroe and his troops being admitted to an honorable capitulation. Reverses such as these, involving great misery, inasmuch as the Indians too frequently butchered their prisoners in cold blood, could not fail to have an effect upon a ministry which had appointed such incapables to command. A change of ministry was loudly demanded, and most fortunately for the honor of the British arms, and for the salvation of the colonies, there was a change. The great Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, was the Palmerston of that day. Placed at the head of the administration, he breathed into the British Councils a new soul. He revived the energies of the colonies. He gave new life to dependencies, whose loyalty was weakened, and whose means were exhausted by a series of as ill-contrived and unfortunate expeditions as were ever attempted. He addressed circulars to the colonial Governors, assuring them of the determination of the ministry to send a large force to America, and called upon the colonies to raise as many troops as possible, and to act promptly and liberally in furnishing the requisite supplies. The colonies nobly responded. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New England unitedly raised 15,000 men, who were ready to take the field in May. An expedition to Louisbourg, a second to Ticonderoga, and a third against Fort du Quesne were determined upon. The tide of success was on the turn. Admiral Boscawen, with a fleet of twenty ships of the line, eighteen frigates, and an army of fourteen thousand men, under the command of General Amherst, his second in command being General Wolfe, sailed from Halifax, for Louisbourg, on the 28th of May. Louisbourg resisted vigorously, but on the 26th of July this important fortress was a second time in the possession of Great Britain. 5,735 men, 120 cannon, 5 ships of the line, and 4 frigates were captured. Isle Royal and St. John's, with Cape Breton, fell, also, into the hands of the English. Against Ticonderoga the English were not so successful. This central expedition was conducted by General Abercrombie, who had succeeded Lord Loudon as Commander-in-Chief in America, that nobleman having returned home. He had with him 16,000 men and a formidable train of artillery. Ticonderoga was only garrisoned by 3,000 French. The passage of Abercrombie across Lake Champlain was only a little less splendid than that of the British and French armies over the Black Sea, from Varna to Eupatoria, in September, 1854. The morning was remarkably bright and beautiful, and the fleet moved with exact regularity, to the sound of fine martial music. The ensigns waved and glittered in the sunbeams, and the anticipation of future triumphs shone in every eye. Above, beneath, around, the scenery was that of enchantment. It was a complication of beauty and magnificence, on which the sun rarely shines. But General Abercrombie was unequal to the command of such an army. He left to incompetent Aides-de-Camp the task of reconnoitering the ground and entrenchments, and without a knowledge of the strength of the place, or of the points proper for attack, and without bringing up a single piece of artillery, he issued his orders to attempt the lines. The army advanced with the greatest intrepidity, and for upwards of four hours (the duration of the battle of the Alma) maintained the attack with incredible obstinacy. Nearly two thousand of the English were killed or wounded, and a retreat was ordered. On reaching Lake George, his former quarters, the defeated and mortified Abercrombie yielded to the solicitations of Colonel Bradstreet, who desired to be sent against Fort Frontenac, (now Kingston) on Lake Ontario. Three thousand provincials were detached on this expedition, and in two days the fortress had surrendered, and 9 armed vessels, 60 cannon, and sixteen mortars, and a vast quantity of ammunition were taken possession of. Fort du Quesne was evacuated on the approach of General Forbes, with 8,000 men, and was re-named Pittsburg, in honor of the Prime Minister of England, Mr. Pitt.
Elated by success, the entire conquest of Canada was now determined upon by the English. Three powerful armies were simultaneously to enter the French Province by three different routes—Ticonderoga and Crown Point, Niagara and Quebec were to be attacked as nearly as possible at the same time. On the 22nd of July, 1759, the successor of Abercrombie, General Amherst, attacked, first, Ticonderoga, and then Crown Point, both places being evacuated on his approach, the French retiring to Isle Aux Noix, where General Amherst could not follow them, for want of a naval armament. On the 6th of the same month, Fort Niagara was invested by Sir William Johnston, who succeeded to the command of the Niagara division of the army on the death of General Prideaux, an able and distinguished officer, unfortunately killed, four days previously, by the bursting of a cohorn. A general battle took place on the 24th, which decided the fate of Niagara, by placing it in the hands of the invaders.
The intended campaign of 1759, was early made known to General Montcalm: that on Quebec was made known to him on the 14th of May, by M. de Bougainville, appointed on the Marquis' staff, as Aid-de-Camp. In January, a census of those capable of bearing arms in Canada was taken, when 15,229 were reported as available for service. Montcalm went energetically to work to preserve the country to France. A council of war was held at Montreal, and it was decided that a body of troops, under Montcalm, the Marquis de Levi, and M. de Jennezergus, should be posted at Quebec; that M. de Bourlemaque should hasten to Ticonderoga, blow up the works at the approach of the English, retire by the Lake to Isle-aux-Noix, and there stubbornly resist. With 800 regulars and militia, the Chevalier de la Corne was directed to hold the rapids above Montreal, to entrench himself in a strong position, and hold out to the last. It is, therefore, obvious, that the evacuation of Ticonderoga was determined upon; and that the retention of Niagara was not much desired. The intended march upon Quebec, by a large force from England, caused the greatest uneasiness. Montcalm, hastening to Quebec, pushed on the defences of the city and its outposts vigorously. The buoys, and other marks for the safe navigation of the St. Lawrence were removed. Proclamations, calling upon the people to make a determined resistance, were issued. The people were reminded that they were about to contest with a powerful and ruthless enemy of their religion and their homes. The Church urged the faithful to resist the heretical invaders.