The English loss in this siege and in the action was very slight, with the exception of that of their worthy general, Prideaux, and of Colonel Johnson, a provincial officer of courage and capacity. Sir William Johnson enhanced the merit of his success by his modest and honorable dispatch to General Amherst. "I have only to regret," he writes, "the loss of General Prideaux and Colonel Johnson. I endeavored to pursue the late general's vigorous measures, the good effects of which he deserved to enjoy."
Historians have dwelt with admiration upon the striking military merit displayed at this time by two untaught generals, Clive in the East, and Johnson in the West, "who, by a series of shining actions have demonstrated that uninstructed genius can, by its own internal light and efficacy, rival, if not eclipse, the acquired art of discipline and experience." Thus writes Smollett: the learned doctor's remark is capable of far more general application than to the cases here mentioned. Our military system always has trusted, and still trusts, to this "uninstructed genius" in our chiefs, and by its own provisions furnished no teaching to a Marlborough and a Wellington beyond the knowledge of drill in a field day, and of the forms of discipline in a barrack yard. While we rest with pride and pleasure on the undoubted predominance of success over all foes which has attended our arms, we may not deny that to the never failing chivalry of the officers and to the stubborn courage of the soldiery are these successes due. Many and sad are the records of combats where torrents of British blood have flowed to redeem the errors, or to make amends for the want of military science in a British chief. Our great captains, great in genius and skill as well as in success, have indeed been "lone stars," presenting, in comparison, to those not so gifted, very much the proportion which "uninstructed genius" usually displays among men in other pursuits of life.
It may be urged that the officers of our instructed corps, the artillery and engineers, have never supplied the general service with a chief of conspicuous ability; but it is a remarkable fact that, except in the brief Syrian campaign of 1840, no member of those corps has ever led an English army, or even a brigade. Through the unvarying rule of promotion by seniority, no officer of artillery or engineers arrives at a sufficient rank to command, until a time of life when the experience of the veteran can hardly be aided by the energy of the man. Rare indeed must be the instances of those who have passed nearly half a century of service, in which the hope of reward was too faint to stimulate industry, the dread of censure too slight to alarm indolence, and who still retain sufficient zeal and vigor for their country's need. They are probably equally rare with the instances of successful "genius" among their uninstructed brethren of the rest of the British army.
Many worthy and earnest, though mistaken men there are, who dread the instruction of the toiling millions of our countrymen; who believe in all sincerity that the penetrating light of awakened intellect would flash upon the squalid purlieus of Manchester and Liverpool only to render degradation more degraded, and misery more miserable, by a keener appreciation. There can hardly, however be found any one, beyond those grown gray under the existing system, who fears that professional education could perniciously influence the qualifications of our officers for their station in life, or damp their undoubted chivalry and spirit. To cast aside political or personal considerations, and select for command the man most conspicuous by merit and genius, has not been an unvarying rule with those in high authority. But a system requiring the qualifications of at least a careful education[173] from all to whom the lofty trust of England's military honor is confided, might to a great extent supply the deficiencies of chiefs unendowed with the gift of genius, and undistinguished by pre-eminent merit.
By the capture of Niagara, the French posts to the westward, on the lakes and rivers, were cut off from all aid; and by the destruction of D'Aubry's army, composed principally of their garrisons, they were rendered incapable of any effectual resistance. Colonel Bouquet, therefore, who, with a small force, had been detached by Brigadier-general Stanwix against the principal of these, Presque Isle, Venango, and Le Bœuf, had only to summon them to surrender and then to take possession, with no greater difficulties than those presented by the long and rugged route.
We must now, for a moment, return to Colonel Haldimand, who was, as before related, left in command at Oswego by General Prideaux. In the forenoon of the 5th of July, while superintending the works at the fort, he was startled by the well-known sound of the Indian war-whoop close at hand, but no enemy then appeared. The English colonel immediately sent out scouts upon the lake, who brought word that an armament of 100 boats was lying in a neighboring cove. About mid-day some Indians and Canadians appeared in the borders of the forest near the fort, and made a show of attacking two detached redoubts, but were speedily driven back among the trees; from thence, however, they kept up a dropping fire, which was only silenced by the approach of night. A deserter who had passed over under cover of the darkness, gave information that the attacking party consisted of 300 colony troops, 1300 Canadian militia, and 150 Indians, and that M. de la Corne was in command. The French had hoped to carry the fort by surprise: their zeal was stimulated by the vindictive fury of a Canadian priest, named Piquet, who marched at their head till the fire commenced, urged them on with the hope of plunder, and denounced all who might give quarter to the heretic enemy.
The night passed without any alarm. At first dawn, however, the dusky forms of the Indians were seen cautiously approaching the western angle of the intrenchments, and mustering for an attack. But two guns loaded with grape, and a sharp volley of musketry from the fort, at once drove them back yelling into the woods. After a time they gathered sufficient determination to make an attempt at burning the English boats in the harbor, which they again and again repeated, but always without success. M. de la Corne did not bring his French troops into action. Finding Colonel Haldimand well prepared for his reception, he abandoned the enterprise, having buried his dead, and carried off his wounded to the boats. The French chief acquired little honor by this impotent demonstration; not a prisoner rewarded his efforts, nor did he obtain a single scalp, although the deserters affirmed that he had offered 1000 livres for one such horrible trophy. The fierce priest, Piquet, gained a reputation for cruelty and ferocity which was not forgotten when Canada had passed from the sway of France.
Thus every where in the far West success attended the British arms. One small fort, indeed, at the remote extremity of Lake Erie, on the banks of the Detroit River, still remained in the possession of France, but distance and comparative insignificance were its sole protection: shut out from supplies or re-enforcements, and feebly garrisoned, it only awaited the summons to surrender. The English force on Lake Ontario rested upon their arms after their somewhat easy victory; Amherst's strength, as we have seen, lay paralyzed by the opposing winds on Lake Champlain; the plan of the campaign as yet had failed. Opposition had been overpowered, forts taken, guns, trophies, and stores captured, but still, at the vital point, at the great Canadian stronghold, from the lofty headland of Quebec, the wise and gallant Montcalm, with an outnumbering host, looked down in unshaken confidence upon the invader's force. There the real battle was to be fought; there alone the die was to be cast which should decide the fate of France's noblest colony. Time rolled on, spring had warmed into summer; summer now deepened into autumn; the broad sycamore leaf drooped upon the stem; the rich foliage of the maple betrayed in its chameleon tints the approaching fall; the mysterious northern lights reappeared in the chilly darkness, and illumined the unclouded sky. Still, while these symptoms of the coming winter crowded upon the eyes of the British generals on Champlain and Ontario, they gained no tidings of their colleague's fate, save such vague rumors as a wandering Indian or a false deserter might convey; and yet, with wonder be it said, they sat them down to rest, and inactively awaited the event of that all-important struggle.
FOOTNOTES:
[171] He was a captain in the regiment of Berri.