The State of Maryland lies next in succession southward; to the east and south, the waters of the Atlantic and the Potomac River wash its fertile shores. About 40,000 white men here held 60,000 of their negro brethren in toilsome slavery, and enriched themselves by the fruits of this unholy labor. Tobacco, large in quantity and good in quality, was the staple produce of the country. The capital, Annapolis, was beautifully situated on the banks of the Patuxent River.
South of the River Potomac and west of Chesapeake Bay, the State of Virginia stretches inland to the Allegany Mountains. This rich province produced corn and every kind of fruit in abundance; the forests were of great extent and value, and supplied much good timber for exportation; flax, hemp, tar, and iron were also produced in some quantity, but, as in Maryland, the principal wealth of the country was in tobacco, cultivated by the labor of nearly 100,000 slaves. The white population numbered about 70,000. The magnificent Bay of Chesapeake extended through this territory for nearly 300 miles from south to north, and received many considerable streams at both sides. However, no commercial town of any great importance had grown up on the shores of these navigable waters.
The Carolinas, bounded to the north by Virginia, extend along the Atlantic coast for upward of 400 miles, and stretch westward 300 miles into the interior of the vast continent. They are divided into two provinces, the North and the South; the first the more populous, richer in production, more advanced in commerce and prosperity. Here, as the tropics are approached, the sultry climate favors the cultivation of rice, indigo, and tobacco: great numbers of slaves labored in the fertile swamps, and beautiful but unhealthy valleys of these states, enriching the ruling race by their lives of unrequited toil. We do not find any exact record of the population at the time of which we treat, but that of both the Carolinas was probably not less than 260,000; of these more than one half were whites.
Georgia, the most southern of the British settlements in America, skirts the Atlantic shore for about sixty miles, and includes the whole extent of the Western country to the Apalachian Mountains, nearly 300 miles away, widening gradually to 150 miles in breadth. To the south lay the Spanish limits, marked by the River Altamaha, and the deserted fort of San Augustin. At this time the province was thinly peopled, its resources little known, and its luxuriant savannas still wasted their exuberant fertility in rank vegetation and pestilential decay. The inhabitants, however, raised some quantities of rice and indigo, and had even made progress in the culture of silk. At Augusta, the second town in importance, situated 200 miles in the interior, a profitable fur trade was established with the Cherokees, and other comparatively civilized Indians.
It has been seen that the British North American colonies contained upward of 1,300,000 inhabitants at the commencement of the campaign which destroyed the power of France on the Western continent. Enormous as was this physical superiority over the rival colony of Canada, the wealth and resources of the British bore a vastly greater proportion to those of their enemies. Barnaby, an intelligent English traveler who at this time visited America, informs us that all the luxurious fruits of wealth were displayed in our transatlantic settlements; and that, in a journey of 1200 miles through the country, he was never once solicited for alms. At the same time, he observes that the people were already imbued with a strong spirit of independence,[161] and that a deep but vague impression existed that they were destined for some splendid future. But among these sturdy and ambitious men mutual jealousies rendered a permanent union of their councils apparently impossible; the mother country failed in her effort to bring the strength of her gigantic colonies to bear together[162] upon any imperial object, although she subsequently succeeded but too well in creating unanimity of feeling against herself.
By the fall of Louisburg, and the complete subjection of the Acadian peninsula, the high road of the St. Lawrence lay open to the British fleets; the capture of Fort du Quesne, and the occupation of the forks of the Ohio, had given to England the command of the vast chain of navigable communication which connected the Canadian lakes with the distant waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Thus the 60,000 French of North America were hopelessly isolated from their parent state, and left to the mercy of their exasperated and powerful foes. Already their Indian allies had wavered or seceded: no longer able to afford protection or supply their commerce, the Canadian governor sank rapidly in savage estimation; and even the "Great Father" beyond the seas ceased to be regarded with the superstitious reverence formerly felt toward him by his red children.
But the lofty spirit of France was still unbroken by these losses and dangers; even in this time of need she disdained to abandon or modify her pretensions to the dominion of those Western wilds of America, for the possession of which she had first drawn the sword, and she determined to risk the utter ruin of her transatlantic power rather than patiently submit to its diminution. Quebec and Canada might have been saved had she acquiesced in our just right and title to the ancient limits of Acadia, as marked out by former treaties, and had she refrained from the prosecution of that vast scheme of encroachment by which the British settlements would have been inclosed from Louisiana to the great lakes of the north.
At the same time, the British nation, inflamed by hopeful ambition, was stimulated to renewed exertion by the triumphs and advantages of the late campaign. Had the illustrious man who wielded England's strength ever doubted in his own far-seeing mind the policy of removing the Canadian incubus from the rising ambition of the colonies, the strong tide of public opinion would have doubtless swept him away. But he possessed neither the inclination nor the power to halt in the career of glory and success, when the magnificent dominions of France in America lay within his grasp: he firmly resolved to seize the prize, and devoted all the energies and abilities of his mind to the one great object.
The British Parliament addressed the throne in terms of the highest approbation of the minister; they applauded the conduct of the campaign, and pledged themselves zealously and cheerfully to furnish all necessary supplies. The king sent them a message representing the spirited efforts made by his American subjects in the prosecution of the war, and recommending compensation for the losses and expenses they had incurred in the maintenance of his rights and England's glory; the prompt answer was a vote of £200,000 for the required purpose. The people even surpassed their representatives in ardor; one universal spirit pervaded all ranks and classes—a confidence in British triumph and French humiliation. The conquest of Canada was now the first and darling object of the nation.
Mr. Pitt decided upon pursuing the same plan of operations which had been partially successful in the last campaign: he purposed to throw three separate expeditions at once against the three strongholds of Canadian power, Niagara, Montreal, and Quebec. The mainspring of this grand design was, that these attacks should be simultaneous, and thus distract the attention and divide the force of the defenders. A formidable armament was zealously and speedily equipped in the English ports to carry a force of from 7000 to 8000 men, by the River St. Lawrence to the walls of Quebec. The main army of America, 12,000 strong, was assembled on the woody shores of Lake George: it was destined to penetrate the heart of Canada by the Richelieu River and occupy Montreal, after having first overwhelmed the French detachments at Ticonderoga and Crown Point; thence the British troops were to descend the broad stream of the St. Lawrence till they joined their strength to that of the besiegers of Quebec. At the same time, another British corps, and a large body of Indians, was directed upon Niagara, with orders to take and garrison the fort, and then hasten down over Ontario, and the rapids of the Great River, to co-operate with the other expeditions. This scheme was as impracticable in its execution, as it was bold and comprehensive in design.