THE ENGLISH COLONIES.—The English colonies south of Canada had become thirteen in number. In the southern part of what was called Carolina, Charleston was settled in 1680. More than a century before (1562), a band of Huguenots under Ribault had entered the harbor of Port Royal, and given this name to it, and had built a fort on the river May, which they called Charlesfort—the Carolina—in honor of King Charles IX. of France. In 1663 the territory thus called, south of Virginia, was granted to the Earl of Clarendon. In it were two distinct settlements in the northern part. The English philosopher John Locke drew up a constitution for Carolina, never accepted by the freemen. The rights of the proprietors were purchased by George II.; and the region was divided (1729) into two royal provinces, North and South Carolina, each province having a governor appointed by the king, and an assembly elected by the people. Besides the English, Huguenots and emigrants from the North of Ireland, as well as from Scotland, planted themselves in South Carolina. Georgia was settled by James Oglethorpe, who made his settlement at Savannah. He had a charter from George II., in whose honor the region was named (1732). Soon the "trustees" gave up their charter, and the government was shaped like that of the other colonies (1752). John Wesley, afterwards the founder of Methodism, sojourned for a time in Georgia. The settlement of New Jersey was first made by members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, sent over by William Penn, the son of an English admiral, and familiar at court. The Quakers gave up the government to the crown, and from 1702 to 1738 it formed one province with New York. Pennsylvania was granted to Penn himself, by the king, in discharge of a claim against the crown. Penn procured also a title to Delaware. He sent out emigrants in 1681, and the next year came himself. By him Philadelphia was founded. He dealt kindly with all the settlers, and made a treaty of peace and amity with the Indians. The government organized by Penn was just and liberal. In 1703 the inhabitants of Delaware began to have a governing assembly of their own.
THE FRENCH COLONIES.—Among the French explorers in America, La Salle is one of the most famous. Having traversed the region of the upper lakes, he reached the Mississippi, and floated in his boats down to its mouth (1682). The region of the great river and of its tributaries, he named Louisiana, in honor of his king, Louis XIV. This name was applied to the whole region from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains. On his return, La Salle built Fort St. Louis. Afterwards (1684) he took part in an expedition from France which had for its purpose the building of a fort at the mouth of the Mississippi, but which was so wrongly guided as to land on the coast of Texas. La Salle himself perished, while seeking to find his way to Canada. But a French settlement was made near the mouth of the river (1699), and a connection established by a series of forts with Canada.
On the principle that the country belonged to the explorer, Spain claimed all the southern part of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The French claim stretched from the coast of Nova Scotia westward to the Great Lakes, and embraced the valley of the Mississippi to its mouth. England claimed the country from Labrador as far south as Florida, and westward to the Pacific. This region included within it the claims of the Dutch, founded on the discoveries of Henry Hudson.
War between England and France, whenever it occurred, was attended with conflicts between the English and the French settlements in America. The Indians were most of them on the side of the French. But the fierce Iroquois in central New York, who wished to monopolize the fur-trade, were hostile to them. A massacre perpetrated by these at La Chine, near Montreal (1689), provoked a murderous attack of French and Indians upon the settlement at Schenectady, the most northern post of the English. This was an incident of King William's War (1689). In Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) Deerfield in Massachusetts was captured and destroyed by French and Indians (1704). By an expedition fitted out in Massachusetts, and commanded by Sir William Phipps, Port Royal in Nova Scotia was captured (1710). The colonies incurred great expense in fitting out expeditions (1709 and 1711) against Canada, which were abandoned. The contest between France and England for supremacy in America was further continued in a series of conflicts lasting from 1744 for nearly twenty years. An early event of much consequence in the contest known as King George's War,—a part of the war of the Austrian succession (p. 476),—was the capture of Louisburg, an important fortified place on Cape Breton, by an expedition from Boston (1745). The colonists, who were with reason proud of their achievement, had the mortification to see this place restored to the French in the treaty of peace (1748). In these contests the French had the help of their Indian allies, who fell upon defenseless villages. The English were sometimes aided by the Iroquois. The English founded Halifax (1749).
THE "OLD FRENCH WAR" (1756-1763).—The "Old French and Indian War" in America was a part of the Seven Years' War in Europe. A British officer, Gen. Braddock, led a force which departed from Fort Cumberland in Maryland, against Fort Du Quesne at the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany Rivers. Disregarding the advice of George Washington, who was on his staff, he allowed himself to be surprised by the Indians and the French, and was mortally wounded. The remains of his army were led by Washington, whose courage and presence of mind had been conspicuous, to Philadelphia (1755). Prior to the expedition, Washington had made a perilous journey as envoy, to demand of the French commander his reasons for invading the Ohio valley. The English held Nova Scotia, and expelled from their homes the French Acadians, seven thousand in number, in a way that involved severe hardships, including the separation of families (1755). They were carried off in ships, and scattered among the colonies along the Atlantic shore. The English also took the forts in Acadia. There were two battles near Lake George (1755), in the first of which the French were victors, but in the second they were routed. Montcalm, the French commander, captured the English fort near Oswego, from which an expedition was to have been sent against the French fort at Niagara (1756). In 1757 he took Fort William Henry on Lake George.
THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1758 AND 1759.—The English were dissatisfied at their want of success on the Continent and in America. But they had advantages for prosecuting the conflict. The French, who had been successful at the outset, had to bring their troops and supplies from Europe. They were, to be sure, disciplined troops; but the English had the substantial strength which was derived from the prosperous agriculture, and still more from the brave and self-respecting spirit, of their American colonies. The elder William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, again entered the cabinet, and began to manage the contest (1757). The French held posts at important points,—Fort Du Quesne, where Pittsburg now stands, for the defense of the West; Crown Point and Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, guarding the approach to Canada; Niagara, near the Great Lakes and the region of the fur-trade; and Louisburg, on the coast of Nova Scotia, which protected the fisheries, and was a menace to New England. To seize these posts, and to break down the French power in America, was now the aim of the English. In 1758 an expedition of Gen. Abercrombie, at the head of sixteen thousand men, against Crown Point and Ticonderoga, was repulsed; Lord Howe was killed, and the army retreated. Louisburg, to the joy of the colonies, was captured anew by Lord Amherst (1758). Fort Du Quesne was taken (1758), and named Fort Pitt; Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario was destroyed. The object of the campaign of 1759 was the conquest of Canada. Fort Niagara was captured by Sir William Johnston (1759). Ticonderoga and Crown Point were taken, and the French driven into Canada. Then came the great expedition under Major-Gen, Wolfe, a most worthy and high-spirited young officer, which left Louisburg for the capture of Quebec, "the Gibraltar of America." The attempt of Wolfe to storm the heights in front of the city, which were defended by the army of Montcalm, failed of success. From a point far up the river, he embarked a portion of his troops in the night, and, silently descending the stream, climbed the heights in the rear of the city, and intrenched himself on the "Plains of Abraham." In the battle which took place in the morning, both commanders, Wolfe and Montcalm, were mortally wounded. Wolfe lived just long enough to be assured of victory; Montcalm died the next day. Five days after the battle the town surrendered (1759).
An incident connected with Wolfe's approach by night to Quebec is thus given by Mr. Parkman: "For full two hours the procession of boats, borne on the current, steered silently down the St. Lawrence. The stars were visible, but the night was moonless and sufficiently dark. The general was in one of the foremost boats; and near him was a young midshipman, John Robison, afterwards professor of natural philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. He used to tell in his later life how Wolfe, with a low voice, repeated Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard to the officers about him. Among the rest, was the verse which his fate was soon to illustrate,—
'The paths of glory lead but to the grave.'
"'Gentlemen,' he said, as his recital ended, 'I would rather have written those lines than take Quebec.' None were there to tell him that the hero is greater than the poet." (Montcalm and Wolfe, p. 287.)
In the following year Montreal and all Canada were in the hands of the English. The English colonies were safe. It was decided that English, not French, should be spoken in aftertimes on the banks of the Ohio. In the Peace of Paris (1763), France kept Louisiana, but had already ceded it to Spain (1762).