On the 7th of August detachments were sent, under Major Dalling and Lord Rollo, to take possession of the other settlements in Cape Breton, and of the Isle de St. Jean, now Prince Edward's Island. This latter territory had long been an object of great importance to Canada; the fertility of the soil, the comparative mildness of the climate, and the situation commanding the navigation of the Great River, rendered it invaluable to the settlers of New France.
On the 15th the French prisoners were dispatched to Europe in transports. On the 28th, Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, with seven ships of the line and three frigates, conveying a force of some Artillery, and three battalions of Infantry, was sent round to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The object of this expedition was to destroy the French settlements at Miramichi, the Baye de Chaleurs, Gaspé, and as far up the banks of the Great River as the season might permit; then to disperse or carry away the inhabitants: by this it was hoped that the troublesome marauders on the English frontier might be chastised and kept in check, and that a portion of the enemy's strength might be diverted from Abercromby's front. The execution of this painful duty was committed to Brigadier-general Wolfe.
These stern orders were punctually obeyed, but as much humanity as was possible tempered the work of destruction. All the Acadian villages on the northeastern coast were laid in ruins: some hundreds of the inhabitants were borne away to captivity, and the rest driven from their blackened hearths and desolated farms to the grim refuge of the wilderness. Among the settlements devastated by this expedition was the flourishing fishing station of Mont Louis.[119] The intendant in charge of the place offered a ransom of 150,000 livres to save the stores and provisions his people's industry had created, but the relentless law of retribution took its course, and the hoarded magazines of corn, fish, and other supplies for their own use and for the market of Quebec, were totally destroyed. Colonel Monckton, with three other battalions, was sent on a similar errand to the Bay of Fundy and to the River St. John, and in like manner fulfilled his task.
It may, perhaps, be partial or unjust to single out one tale of woe from among the crowded records of this war's gigantic misery to hold up in the strong light of contrast with the glory of the recent victory. But we may not hear, without a blush of shame and sorrow, how the simple Acadian peasantry were made to pay the penalties of banishment and ruin for the love of France and for loyalty to their king, at a time when Pitt was the minister, Amherst the general, and Wolfe the lieutenant.
Having executed his orders, Wolfe repaired to Halifax and assumed the command of the troops in garrison. Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst came to a conclusion that for that season nothing more could be effected by them against the power of France. They therefore agreed, although their instructions did not extend to any part of the continent beyond Nova Scotia, that it would be advisable to detach a portion of the army to strengthen Abercromby, and assist him to repair his disaster, of which they were informed. Accordingly, Amherst sailed for Boston on the 30th of August with five battalions, arrived on the 13th of September, and the next day landed his troops. Despite the interested remonstrances of the local authorities, he soon pushed on through the difficult district of the Green Woods, by Kinderhook Mills, and through Albany to Lake George. Having there held counsel with the unfortunate Abercromby, and delivered over his seasonable re-enforcement, he returned to Boston, and finally to Halifax, where he had been instructed to await orders from the English government.
FOOTNOTES:
[108] "But though Pitt desired high office, he desired it only for high and generous ends. He did not seek it for patronage like Newcastle, or for lucre like Fox. Glory was the bright star that ever shone before his eyes, and ever guided him onward—his country's glory and his own. 'My lord!' he once exclaimed to the Duke of Devonshire, 'I am sure that I can save this country, and that no one else can.'"—Lord Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. iv., p. 77.
[109] At this period commenced the brilliant era justly called Mr. Pitt's Administration, in which he became the soul of the British councils, conciliated the good-will of the king, infused a new spirit into the British nation, and curbed the united efforts of the house of Bourbon.
The following picture of affairs at the moment when Pitt became secretary of state (29th of June, 1757) is contained in a letter from Lord Chesterfield to Mr. Dayrolles: "Whoever is in or whoever is out, I am sure we are undone both at home and abroad: at home, by our increasing debt and expenses; abroad, by our ill luck and incapacity.... The French are masters to do what they please in America. We are no longer a nation. I never yet saw so dreadful a prospect."—Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham, edited by William Stanhope Taylor, Esq., vol. i., note, p. 238.
[110] "What alarms me most, is the account Lady Hester brought, of some men-of-war, a few, very few, being got into Louisburg; because, upon the issue of that attempt I think the whole salvation of this country and Europe does essentially depend," (Letter of Earl Temple to Mr. Pitt, Stowe, July 3, 1758.)—Chatham Correspondence, vol. i., p. 325.