July 26, 2025 • 44 mins
Dive into the remarkable life of George Washington, as depicted by his equally impressive biographer, Marshall. Influenced by the greatness of Washington himself, Marshall evolved into a figure of similar stature. Over a period of nearly 25 years, Marshall dedicated his deepest thoughts to capturing Washingtons life and accomplishments. Thanks to his intimate understanding of his subject, first-hand knowledge of events, and exceptional writing skills, Marshall has given us a true masterpiece.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter ten of the Life of Washington, Volume one by
John Marshall. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Chapter ten Warrior declared against Spain. Expedition against Saint Augustine,
Georgia invaded Spaniards land on An Island in the Alatta Maha.
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Appearance of our fleet from Charleston. Spanish army re embarks
hostilities with France. Expedition against Louisbourg. Louisburg surrenders great plans
of the belligerent powers, misfortunes of the armament under the
Duke of d'Anville. The French fleet dispersed by a storm
expedition against Nova Scotia. Treaty of Baks La Chappelle, paper
Money of Massachusetts redeemed contests between the French and English
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respecting boundaries. Statement respecting the discovery of the Mississippi Scheme
for connecting Louisiana with Canada. Relative strength of the French
and English colonies. Defeat at the Little Meadows Convention at Albany.
Plan of Union objected to both in America and Great Britain.
Seventeen thirty nine War with Spain, the increasing complaints of
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the merchants and the loud clambers of the nation at
length forced the Minister to abandon his pacific system, and
war was declared against Spain. A squadron commanded by Admiral
Vernon was detached to the West Indies with instructions to
act offensively, and General Oglethorpe was ordered to annoy the
settlements in Florida. He planned an expedition against Saint Augustine
and requested the assistance of South Carolina. That colony, ardently,
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desiring the expulsion of neighbours alike feared and hated, entered
zealously into the views of the General, and agreed to
furnish the men and money he requested. A regiment commanded
by Colonel Evander Duson, was immediately raised in Virginia and
the two Carolinas. A body of Indians was also engaged
in Captain Price, who commanded the small fleet on that station,
promised his cooperation. These arrangements being made in the mouth
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of the Saint John's River on the coast of Florida,
being appointed as the place of rendezvous. General Oglethorpe too
Georgia to prepare his regiment for the expedition. Seventeen forty
those unexpected impediments which always embarrassed military movements conducted by
men without experience. Having delayed the arrival of his northern troops,
Oglethorpe entered Florida at the head of his own regiment,
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aided by a party of Indians, and invested Diego, a
small fort about twenty five miles from Saint Augustine, which
capitulated after a short resistance. He then returned to the
place of rendezvous, where he was joined by Colonel vander
Duson and by a company of Highlanders under the command
of Captain McIntosh a few days after which he marched
with his whole force, consisting of about two thousand men,
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to Fort Musa, in the neighborhood of Saint Augustine, which
was evacuated on his approach. The general now perceived that
the enterprise would be attended with more difficulty than had
been anticipated in the time which intervened between his entering
Florida and appearing before the town. Supplies of provisions had
been received from the country, and six Spanish half galleys
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care ring long brass nine pounders and two sloops laden
with provisions had entered the harbor. Finding the place better
at forty five then had been expected, he determined to
invest it completely and advanced by regular approaches. In execution
of this plan, Colonel Palmer, with ninety five Highlanders and
forty two Indians, remained at Fort Musa, while the army
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took different positions near the town and began an ineffectual
bombardment from the island of Anastacia. The General was deliberating
on the plan for forcing the harbor and taking a
nearer position when Colonel Palmer was surprised and his detachment
cut to pieces. At the same time, some small vessels
from the Havana, with a reinforcement of men and supplied provisions,
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entered the harbor through the narrow channel of the Matanzas.
The army began to despair of success, and the provincials,
enfeebled by the heat, dispirited by sickness, and fatigued by
fruitless efforts, marked away in large bodies. The navy, being
ill supplied with provisions and the season for hurricanes approaching,
Captain Price was unwilling to have his Majesty's ships on
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that coast. The General, laboring under a fever, finding his
regiment as well as himself, worn out with fatigue and
rendered unfit for action by disease, reluctantly abandoned the enterprise
and returned to Frederica. The colonists, disappointed and chagrined by
the failure of the expedition, attributed this misfortune entirely to
the incapacity of the General, who was not less dissatisfied
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with them. Whatever may have been the true causes of
the failure, it produced a mutual and injurious distrust between
the General and the colonists seventeen forty two. The events
of the war soon disclosed the dangers resulting from this
want of confidence in General Oglethorpe, and still more from
the want of power to produce a cooperation of the
common force for the common defense. Spain had ever considered
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the settlement of Georgia as an encroachment on her territory,
and had cherished the intention to seize every proper occasion
to dislodge the English by force. With his view, an
armament consisting of two thousand men, commanded by don Antonia
d Rodondo, embarked at the Havana under convoy of a
strong squadron, and arrived at Saint Augustine in May. The
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fleet having been seen on its passage, notice of its
approach was given to General Oglethorpe, who communicated the intelligence
to Governor Glen of South Carolina and urged the necessity
of sending the troops of that province to his assistance.
Georgia being a barrier for South Carolina. The policy of
meeting an invading army on the frontiers of the former,
especially one containing several companies composed of Negroes who had
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fled from the latter, was too obvious not to be
perceived yet, either from prejudice against Oglethorpe or the disposition
inherent in separate governments to preserve their own force of
their own defense, Carolina refused to give that general any assistance.
Its attention was directed entirely to the defense of Charleston
and the inhabitants of its southern frontier. Instead of marching
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to the camp of Oglethorpe fled to that city for safety.
In the meantime, the General collected a few highlanders and
rangers of Georgia together as many Indian warriors as would
join him, and determined to defend Frederica. Georgia invaded. Late
in June, the Spanish fleet, consisting of thirty two sail
carying about three thousand men, crossed Simon's Bar into Jekylo's Sound,
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and passing Simon's fort, then occupied by General Oglethorpe, proceeded
up the Alatamaha out of the reach of his guns,
after which the troops landed on the island and erected
a battery of twenty eighteen pounders. Fort Simon's being indefensible,
Oglethorpe retreated to Frederica. His whole force, exclusive of Indians,
amounted to little more than seven hundred men, a force
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which could only enable him to act on the defensive
until the arrival of reinforcements, which he still expected from
South Carolina. The face of the country was peculiarly favorable
to this system of operations, as thick woods and deep
morasses opposed great obstacles to the events of an invading
enemy not well acquainted with the paths which passed through
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themthor or turned these advantages to the best account in
an attempt made by the Spanish general to pierce these
woods in order to reach Frederica. Several sharp wrong counters
took place in one of which he lost a captain
and two lieutenants killed, and above one hundred privates taken prisoners.
He then changed his plan of operations, and, abandoning his
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intention of forcing his way to Frederica by land, called
in his parties, kept his men under cover of his cannon,
and detached some vessels up the river with a body
of troops on board, to reconnoiter the fort and draw
the attention of the English to that quarter. About this time,
an English prisoner escaped from the Spaniards and informed General
Oglethorpe that a difference exists between the troops from Cuba
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and those from Saint Augustine, which have been carried so
far that they encamped in separate places. This intelligence suggested
the idea of attacking them while divided, and his perfect
knowledge of the woods favored the hope of surprising one
of their encampments. In execution of this design, he drew
out the flower of his army and marched in the night, unobserved,
within two miles of the Spanish camp. There his troops halted,
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and he advanced himself at the head of a select
corps to reconnoiter the situation of the enemy. While he
was using the utmost circumspection to obtain the necessary information
without being discovered, a French soldier of his party discharged
his musket and ran into the Spanish lines discovery. Defeating
every hope of success, the general retreated to Erherterica Ogothorpe,
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confident that the deserter would disclosed his weakness, devised an
expedient which turned the event to advantage. He wrote to
the deserter, as if in concert with him, directing him
to give the Spanish general such information as might induce
him to attack Frederica, hinting also at an attempt meditated
by Admiral Vernon on Saint Augustine, and at late advices
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from Carolina giving assurances of a reinforcement of two thousand men.
He then tampered with one of the Spanish prisoners, who,
for a small bride promised to deliver this letter to
the desert, after which he was permitted to escape. The prisoner,
as was foreseen, delivered the letter to his general, who
ordered the deserter to be put in irons, and was
in no small degree embarrassed to determine whether the letter
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ought to be considered as a stratagem to save Frederica
and induce the abandonment of the enterprise, or as real
instructions to direct the conduct of a spy. While hesitating
on the course to be pursued, his doubts were removed
by one of those incidents which have so much influence
on human affairs. The Assembly of South Carolina had voted
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a supply of money to General Oglethorpe, and the governor
had ordered some ships of force to his aid. These
appeared off the coast while the principal officers of the
Spanish army were yet deliberating on the letter. They deliberated
no longer. Spanish army re embarks in confusion. The whole
army was seized with a panic, and after setting fire
to the fort, embarked in great hurry and confusion, leaving
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behind several pieces of heavy artillery and a large quantity
of provisions and military store. Thus was Georgia delivered from
an invasion which threatened the total subjugation of the province.
The ill success of these reciprocal attempts at conquest seems
to have discouraged both parties and the Spanish and English
colonies in the neighborhood of each other, contented themselves for
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the residue of the war with guarding their own frontiers.
The connection between the branches of the House of Bourbon
was too intimate for the preservation of peace with France.
During the prosecution of war against Spain, both nations expected
and prepared for hostilities or had commenced in fact, though
not informed on the continent of Europe. But as they
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carried on their military operations as auxiliaries in support of
the contending claims of the Elector of Bavaria and the
Queen of Hungary to the Imperial throne, they preserved in
America a suspicious and jealous suspension of hostility rather than
a real peace. Seventeen forty four, this state of things
was interrupted by a sudden incursion of the French into
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Nova Scotia hostilities with France. The governor of Cape Berton,
having received information that France and Great Britain had become
principles in the war, took possession of Des Canso with
a small military and naval force, and made the garrison
and inhabitants prisoners of war. This enterprise was followed by
an attempt on Annapolis, which was defeated by the time
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the arrival of a reinforcement from Massachusetts. These offensive operations
stimulated the English colonists to additional efforts to expel such
dangerous neighbours and to unite the whole northern continent bordering
on the Atlantic under one common sovereign. The island of
Cape Breton, so denominated from one of its capes, lies
between the forty fifth and forty seventh degree of north latitude,
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at the distance of fifteen leagues from Cape Ray, the
southwestern extremity of Newfoundland. Its position rendered the possession of
it very material to the commerce of France, and the
facility with which the fisheries might be annoyed from its
ports gave it an importance to which it could not
otherwise had been entitled. Thirty millions of lev and the
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labor of twenty five years had been employed on its fortifications.
From its strength, and still more from the numerous privateers
that issued from its ports, it had been termed the
Dunkirk of America. On this place, Governor Shirley meditated an
attack the prisoners taken at Canso and others who had
been captured at sea and carried to Louisbourg, were sent
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to Boston. The information they gave, if it did not
originally suggest this enterprise, contributed greatly to its adoption. They
said that du Vivier had gone to France to solicit
assistance for the conquest of Nova Scotia in the course
of the ensuing campaign, and that the storeships from France
for Cape Bretont, not having arrived on the coast until
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it was blocked up with ice, had retired to the
West Indies. In several letters addressed to Administration, Governor Shirley
represented the danger to which Nova Scotia was exposed and
pressed for naval assistance. These letters were sent by Captain Ryle,
an officer of the garret which had been taken at Canso,
whose knowledge of Louisbourg, of Caperton, and of Nova Scotia
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enabled him to make such representations to the Lords of
the Admiralty as were calculated to promote the views of
the northern colonies. The Governor was not disappointed. Orders were
dispatched to Commodore Warren, then in the West Indies, to
proceed towards the North early in the spring, and to
employ such a force as might be necessary to protect
the northern colonies in their trade and fisheries, as well
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as to distress the enemy. On these subjects. He was
instructed to consult with Shirley, to whom orders of the
same date were written, directing him to assist the King's
ships with transports, men and provisions. Such deep impression had
the design of taking Louisbourg made on the mind of Shirley,
that he did not wait for intelligence of the reception
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given to his application for naval assistance. He was induced
to decide on engaging in the enterprise even without such assistance.
By the representations of mister Vaughan, son of the Lieutenant
Governor of New I'm sure a man of sanguine and
ardent temper, who could think nothing impracticable which he wished
to achieve. Mister Vaughan had never been at Louisburg, but
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had learned something of the strength of the place from
fishermen and others, and the bold turn of his mind
suggested the idea of surprising it. There something infectious in
the enthusiasm, whatever be its object. In Bond soon communicated
his own convictions to Shirley seventeen forty five. The Governor
informed the General Court that he had a proposition of
great importance to communicate, and requested that the members would
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take an oath of secrecy previous to his laying it before. Then,
this novel request being complied with, he submitted his plan
for attacking Louisbourg. It was referred to a committee of
both houses. The arguments for and against the enterprise were
temperately considered, and the part suggested by prudence prevailed. The
expedition was thought too great, to hazardous, and too expensive.
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The report of the committee was approved by the House
of Representatives, and the expedition was supposed to be abandoned,
but notwithstand the precaution taken to secure secrecy. The subject
which had occupied the legislature was devolved, and the people
took a deep interest in it. Numerous petitions were presented
praying the General Court to reconsider its vote and to
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adopt the proposition of the Governor. Among the several arguments
urged in its favor, that which the petitioners pressed most
earnestly was the necessity of acquiring Louisbourg to save the
fisheries from ruin. The subject being reconsidered a resolution in
favor of the enterprise was carried by a single voice,
in the absence of several members known to be against it.
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Yet all parties manifested equal zeal for its success. A
general embargo was laid and messengers were dispatched through the
several governments as far as south as Pennsylvania, soliciting their aid.
The solicitations succeeded only in the northern provinces, there being
at that time no person and no England who had
acquired any military reputation. The chief command was conferred on
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Colonel Pepperrell Merchant, who was also a large landholder and
was highly respected throughout Massachusetts. All ranks of men combined
to facilitate the enterprise, and those circumstances which are beyond
human control also concurred to favor the general wish. The
governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, whose orders for their
assent to a further emission of bills of credit, departed
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from their instructions to promote this favorite project. The people
submitted to impressments of their property, and a mild winter
gave no interruption to their warlike preparations. The troops of Massachusetts,
New Hampshire and Connecticut, amounting to rather more than four
thousand men assembled at Canso about the middle of April,
soon after which, to the great joy of the colonial troops,
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Admiral Warren arrived with a considerable part of his fleet.
The army then embarked for Chapeau Rouge Bay, and the
fleet cruised off louis Bourg. After repulsing a small detachment
of French troops, the landing was effected, and in the
course of the night, a body of about four hundred
men led by Vaughan, marched on to the northeast part
of the harbor and set fire to a number of
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warehouses containing spirituous liquors and naval stores. The smoke, being
driven by the wind into the Grand Battery, caused such
darkness that the men placed in it were unable to
distinguish objects, and, being apprehensive of an attack from the
whole English army, abandoned the fort and fled into the town.
The next morning, as Vaughan was returning to camp with
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only thirteen men, he ascended the hill which overlooked the battery,
and observing that the chimneys and the barracks were without smoke,
and the staff without its flag, he hired an Indian
with a bottle of rum to crawl through an embrasure
and open the gate. Vaughn entered with his men and
defended the battery against their party, then landing to regain
possession until the arrival of a reinforcement. For fourteen nights successively,
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the troops were employed in dragging cannon from the landing
place to the encampment, a distance of near two miles
through a deep morass. The army, being totally unacquainted with
the art of conducting sieges, made its approaches irregularly and
sustained some loss on this account. While these approaches were
making by land, the ships of war, which continued to
cruise off the harbor, fell in with and captured the Vigilant,
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a French Man of war of sixty four guns, having
on board a reinforcement of five hundred and sixty men
and a large quantity of stores for the garrison. Soon
after this, an unsuccessful and perhaps a rash attempt was
made on the island battery by four hundred men, of
whom sixty were killed and one hundred and sixteen taken prisoners.
All these prisoners, as if by a previous concert exaggerated
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the numbers of the besieging army, a deception which was
favored by the unevenness of the ground and the dispersed
state of the troops, and which probably contributed to the
surrender of the place. The provincial army did indeed present
a formidable front, but in the rear all was frolic
and confusion. The Vigilant had been anxiously expected by the garrison,
and the information of her capture excited a considerable degree
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of perturbation. This event, with the erection of some works
on the high cliff at the lighthouse, by which the
island battery was much annoyed, and the preparations evidently making
for a general assault, determined due Chambond the Governor louis
Bourg to surrender, and in a few days he capitulated.
Louisbourg surrenders. Upon entering the fortress and doing its strength
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and its means of defense, all perceived how impracticable it
would have been to carry it by assault. The joy
excited in the British colonies by the success of the
expedition against Louisbourg was unbounded. Even those who had refused
to participate in its hazards and expense were sensible of
its advantages and of the luster it shed on the
American arms, although some disposition was manifested in England. To
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ascribe the whole merit of the conquest of the navy,
Colonel Pepperwell received with the title of Baronet the more
substantial award of a regiment in the British service to
be raised in America, and the same mark of royal
favor was bestowed on Governor Shirley. Reimbursements, too, were made
by Parliament for the expenses of the expedition. It was
the only decisive the advantage obtained by the English during the war.
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The capture of Louisbourg most probably preserved Nova Scotia. To Vivier,
who had embarked for France to solicit an armament for
the conquest of that province. Sailed in July seventeen forty
five with seven ships of war and a body of
land forces. He was ordered to stop at Louisbourg and
thence to proceed in the execution of his plan. Hearing
at sea of the fall of that place, and that
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a British squadron was stationed at it, he relinquished the
expedition against Nova Scotia and returned to Europe. The British
Empire on the American continent consisted originally of two feeble settlements,
unconnected with and almost unknown to each other. For a
long time. The southern colonies, separated from those of New
England by an immense wilderness, and the possessions of other
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European powers, had no intercourse with them, except what was
produced by the small trading vessels of the North, which
occasionally entered the rivers of the South. Neither participated in
the wars or pursuits of the other, nor were they
in any respect actuated by common views or united by
common interest. The conquest of the country between Connecticut and
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Maryland laid a foundation which the settlement of the Middle
colonies completed, for connecting these disjoint members and forming one
consolidated whole, capable of moving and acting in concert. This
gradual change, unobserved in its commencement, had now become too
perceptible to be longer overlooked, and henceforward the efforts of
the colonies were in a great measure combined and directed
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to a common object. France, as well as England had
extended her views with her settlements, and after the fall
of Louisbourg, the governments of both nations meditated important operations
for the ensuing campaign in America. Great plans of the belligerents.
France contemplated not only the recovery of Cape Breton and
Nova Scotia, but the total devastation of the sea coast,
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if not the entire conquest of New England. Written on
her part, calculated on the reduction of Canada and the
entire expulsion of the French from the American continent. Shirley
repaired to Louisbourg after its surrender, where he held a
consultation with Warren and Pepperrell on the favorite subject of
future and more extensive operations against the neighboring possessions of
France seventeen forty six. From that place he wrote pressingly
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to administration for reinforcements of men and ships to enable
him to execute his plans. The capture of Louisbourg gave
such weight to his solicitations than in the following spring,
the Duke of Newcastle, then Secretary of State, addressed a
circular letter to the governors of the provinces as far
south as Virginia, requiring him to raise as many men
as they could spare, and hold them in readiness to
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act according to the orders that should be received. Before
this letter was written, an extensive plan of operations had
been digested in the British cabinet. It was proposed to
detach a military and naval armament, which should, early in
the season join the troops to be raised in New
England at Louisbourg, whence they were to proceed up to
Saint Lawrence to Quebec. The troops from New York and
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from the more southern provinces were to be collected at
Albany and to march against crownd Point and Montreal. This plan,
so far as it depended on the colonies, was executed
with promptness and alacrity. The men were raised and waited
with impatience for employment, but neither troops nor orders arrived
from England. The fleet destined for this service sailed seven
times from Spithead, and was compelled as often by contrary winds,
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to return late in the season. The military commanders in America,
despairing of the sucrus promised by England, determined to assemble
a body of provincials at Albany and make an attempt
on Crown Point. While preparing for the execution of this plan,
they received accounts stating that Annapolis was in danger from
a body of French and Indians assembled at Minus, upon
which orders were issued for the troops of Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
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and New Hampshire to embark for Nova Scotia. Before these
orders could be executed, intelligence was received which directed their
attention to their own defense. It was reported that a
large fleet in army under the command of the Duke
dol Ville, had arrived in Nova Scotia, and the views
of conquest which had been formed by the northern colonies
were converted into fears for their own safety. For six weeks,
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continual apprehensions of invasion were entertained, and the most vigorous
measures were taken to repel it. From this state of
anxious solicitude, they were at length relieved by the arrival
of some prisoners set at liberty by the French, who
communicated the extreme distress of the fleet. This formidable armament
consisted of near forty ships, seven of which were of
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the line, of two artillery ships, and of fifty six transports.
Laden with provisions and military stores, carrying three thousand, five
hundred land forces and forty thousand stand of small arms
for the use of the Canadians and Indians. The fleet
dispersed by a storm. The fleet sailed in June, but
was attacked by such furious and repeated storms that many
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of the ships were wrecked and others dispersed. In addition
to this disaster, the troops were infected with the disease,
which carried them off in great numbers. While lying in Gebuctou.
Under the circumstances of vessel, which had been dispatched by
Governor Shirley to Admiral Townsend at Louisbourg with a letter
stating his expectation that a British fleet would follow that
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of France to America, was intercepted by a cruiser and
brought in to the Admiral. These dispatches were opened in
a Council of War, which was considered divided respecting their
future conduct. This circumstance, added to the calamities already sustained,
so affected the commander in chief that he died Suddenly.
The Vice Admiral fell by his own hand, and the
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command devolved on Monsieur Le Jean Guierre, Governor of Canada,
who had been declared Chef de scata. After the fleet sailed,
the design of invading New England was relinquished, and it
was resolved to make an attempt on Annapolis. With his view.
The fleet sailed from Chebuctou, but was again overtaken by
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a violent tempest which scattered the vessels composing it. Those
which escaped shipwrecked returned singly to France. Never, says mister Bucknapp,
was the hand of divine providence more visible than on
this occasion. Never was a disappointment more severe on the
part of the enemy, nor a deliverance more complete without
human help in favor of this country. As soon as
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the fears excited by this armament were dissipated, the project
of dislodging the French and Indians who had invaded Nova
Scotia was resumed. Governor Shirley detached a part of the
troops of Massachusetts on this service, and pressed the governors
of Rhode Island and New Hampshire to cooperate with him.
The quote is furnished by these colonies were prevented by
several accidents from joining that of Massachusetts, which was inferior
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to the enemy in numbers. The French and Indians, under
cover of a snowstorm, surprised the English at Manus, who,
after an obstinate resistance in which they lost upwards of
one hundred men, were compelled to capitulate and to engage,
not to bear arms against his most Christian Majesty in
Nova Scotia for one year. De Ramsay, who commanded the French,
returned soon afterwards to Canada. No farther transactions of importance
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took place in America during the war, which was terminated
by the Treaty of Aix la Chappelle. By this treaty,
it was stipulated that all conquests made during the war
should be restored, and the colonists had the mortification to
see the French repossess themselves of Cape Rotong. The heavy
expenses which have been incurred by the New England colonies,
and especially by Massachusetts, had occasioned large emissions of paper
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money and an unavoidable depreciation. Instead of availing themselves a
peace to discharge the debts contracted during war, they eagerly
desired to satisfy every demand on the public treasury by
further emissions of bills of credit redeemable at future and
distant periods. Every inconvenience under which commerce was supposed to labor,
every difficulty encountered in the interior economy of the province
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was attributed to a scarcity of money, and this scarcity
was to be removed not by increased industry, but by
putting an additional sum in circulation. The rate of exchange
in the price of all commodities soon disclosed the political
truth that, however the quantity of the circulating medium may
be augmented, its aggregate value cannot be arbitrarily increased, that
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the effect of such a depreciating currency must necessarily be
to discourage the payment of debts by holding out the
hope of discharging contracts with less real value than that
for which they were made, and to substitute cunning and
speculation for honest and regular industry. Yet the majority had
persevered in this demoralizing system. The depreciation had reached eleven
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for one, and the evil was almost deemed incurable, when
the fortunate circumstance of a reimbursement in specie made by
Parliament for colonial expenditures on account of their expeditions against
louis Bourg and Canada, suggested to mister Hutchinson, Speaker of
the House of Representatives in Massachusetts, the idea of redeeming
the paper money in circulation at its then real value.
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This scheme, at first deemed utopian, was opposed by many
well meaning men, who feared that its effect would be
to give a shock through the trade and domestic industry
of the province, and who thought that as the depreciation
had been gradual, justice required that the appreciation should be gradual. Also,
paper money redeemed with great difficulty the measure was carried in.
The bills of credit in circulation were redeemed at fifty
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shillings the ounce. The evils which had been apprehended were
soon found to be imaginary. Specie immediately took the place
of trade, so far from sustaining a shock, nourished more
than before. This change in the domestic economy of the colony,
and the commerce of Massachusetts immediately received an impulse which
enabled it to surpass that of her neighbors, who retained
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their paper medium. Renewal of contests with the French colonies
respecting boundary, the Treaty of Aix lasch Chappelle did not
remove the previously existing controversies between the colonies of France
and England respecting boundary. These controversies, originating in the manner
in which their settlements had been made and at first
a small consequence, were now assuming a serious aspect, was
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becoming an object of greater attention, and as her importance increased,
the question concerning limits became important. Also seventeen forty nine,
in settling this continent, the powers of Europe estimating the
right of the natives that nothing adopted for their own government.
The principle that those who first discovered and took possession
of any particular territory became its rightful proprietors. But as
(30:21):
only a small portion of it could then be reduced
to actual occupation, the extent of country thus acquired was
not well ascertained. Contests respecting prior discovery and extent of
possession arose among all the first settlers. England terminated her
controversy with Sweden and with Holland by the early conquest
of their territories, but her conflicting claims with France and
(30:43):
with Spain remained unadjusted. On the South Spain had pretensions
to the whole province of Georgia. Wellington had granted the
country as far as the River Sant Matteu in Florida
on the north. The right of France to Canada was undisputed,
but the country between the Saint Lawrence and New England
had been claimed by both nations and granted by both.
(31:03):
The first settlement appears to have been made by the French,
but its principal town, call Port Royal or Annapolis, had
been repeatedly taken by the English. By the Treaty of Utrekt,
the whole province by the name of Nova Scotia or
Aca Die, according to its ancient limits, had been ceded
to them, but the boundaries of Nova Scotia or Accada
had never been ascertained. Though the Treaty of Utrecht had
(31:25):
provided that commissioners should be appointed by the two crowns
to adjust the limits of their respective colonies, the adjustment
had never been made. France claimed to that Kennebec and
insisted that only the peninsula which is formed by the
Bay of Fundi the Atlantic Oasce in the Gulf of
Saint Lawrence, was included in the Session of Nova Scotia
or Aca Die according to its ancient limits. England, on
(31:46):
the other hand, claimed all the country on the mainland
south of the River Saint Lawrence. Under the Treaty of
ex Laus Chappelle, Commissioners were again appointed to settle these differences,
who maintained the rights of their respective sovereigns with great
ability and laborious research. But their zeal produced a degree
of asperity unfavorable to accommodation. While this contest for the
cold and uninviting country of Nova Scotia was carried on
(32:09):
with equal acrimony and talents, a controversy arose for richer
and more extensive regions in the south and west discovery
of the Mississippi. So early as the year sixteen sixty,
information was received in Canada from the Indians that west
of that colony was a great river flowing neither to
the north nor to the east. The government, conjecturing that
(32:30):
it must empty itself either into the Gulf of Mexico
or the South Sea, committed the care of ascertaining the
fact to joliet, An inhabitant of Quebec, and to the
Jesuit Marquette. These men proceeded from Lake Michigan, up the
River of the Foxes almost to its source, whence they
traveled westward to the wiscon Seine, which they pursued to
its confluence with the Mississippi. They sailed down this river
(32:53):
to the thirty third degree of north latitude, and returned
by land through the country of the Illinois to Canada.
The mouth of the Mississippi was afterwards discovered by LaSalle,
an enterprising Norman, who, immediately after his return to Quebec,
embarked for France in the hope of inducing the Cabinet
of Versaies to patronize a scheme for proceeding by sea
to the mouth of that river and settling a colony
(33:14):
on its banks. Having succeeded in this application, he sailed
for the Gulf of Mexico with a few colonists, but
steering too far westward, he arrived at the Bay of
Saint Bernard, about one hundred leagues from the mouth of
the Mississippi. In consequence of a corps between him and
beau Leu, who commanded the fleet, the colonists were landed
at this place. Lassal was soon after was assassinated by
(33:36):
its own men, and his followers were murdered or dispersed
by the Spaniards and the Indians. Several other attempts were
made by the French to settle the country by some
unaccountable fatality. Instead of seating themselves on the fertile borders
of the Mississippi, they continually landed about the barren sands
of Biloxi and the Bay of Mobile. It was not
until the year seventeen twenty two that the miserable remnant
(33:59):
of those who had been carried thither at various times
was transplanted to New Orleans, nor until the year seventeen
thirty one that the colony began to flourish scheme for
connecting Louisiana with Canada. It had received the name of Louisiana,
and soon extended itself by detached settlements up the Mississippi
its waters towards the Great Lakes. As it advanced northward,
(34:20):
the vast and interesting plan was formed of connecting it
with Canada by a chain of forts. The fine climate
and fertile soil of Upper Louisiana, enabling it to produce
and maintain an immense population, rendered it an object which
promised complete gratification to the views of France, while the
extent given to it by that nation excited the most
serious alarm among the colonies of Britain. The chart is
(34:42):
granted by the Crown of England to the first adventurers.
Having extended from the Atlantic to the South Sea, their
settlements had regularly advanced westward in the belief that their
title to the country in that direction could not be controverted.
The settlements of the French, stretching from north to south,
necessarily interfered with those of the England. Their plan, if executed,
would completely environ the English, Canada and Louisiana united, as
(35:05):
has been aptly said, would form a bow of which
the English colonies would constitute the cord. While Great Britain
claimed indefinitely to the west as appertaining to her possession
of the sea coast, France insisted on confining her to
the eastern side of the Appalachian or Alleghany Mountains, and
claimed the whole country drained by the Mississippi, in virtue
of her right as the first discoverer of that river.
(35:27):
The delightful region which forms magnificent Vale of the Mississippi
was the object for which these two powerful nations contended,
and it soon became apparent that the sword must decide
the contest. The white population of the English colonies was
supposed to exceed one million of souls, while that of
the French was estimated at only fifty two thousand. This
disparity of numbers did not intimidate the governor of New France,
(35:49):
a title comprehending both Canada and Louisiana, nor deter him
from proceeding in the execution of his favorite plan. The
French possessed advantages, which he persuaded himself, were counterbalance the
superior numbers of the English. Their whole power was united
under one governor, who could give it such a direction
as his judgment should dictate. The genius of the people
and of the government was military, and the inhabitants could
(36:12):
readily be called into the field when their service should
be required. Great reliance, too, was placed on the Indians.
These savages, with the exception of the Five Nations, were
generally attached to France and were well trained to war.
To these advantages were added a perfect knowledge of the
country about to become the theater of action. The British colonies,
on the other hand, were divided into distinct governments unaccustomed
(36:34):
except those of New England to act in concert, were
jealous of the power of the Crown, and were spread
over a large extent of territory, the soil of which
in all the Middle Colonies was cultivated, but men unused
to arms. The governors of Canada, who were generate military men,
had for several preceding years judiciously selected and forty five
such situations as would give them most influence over the
(36:55):
Indians and facilitating incursions into the northern provinces. Command of
Lake Champlain had been acquired by the erection of a
strong fort at Crown Point, and a connected chain of
posts was maintained from Quebec up the Saint Lawrence and
along the Great Lakes. It was intended to unite these
posts with the Mississippi by taking positions which would favour
the design of circumscribing and annoying the frontier settlements of
(37:17):
the English Great Meadows in the site of fort necessity
on this battleground in the western Pennsylvania Wilderness, which marked
the beginning of the French and Indian War. July three,
seventeen fifty four, a force of four hundred men under
young Major Washington was defeated by nine hundred French and
Indian allies, and for the first and last time in
(37:38):
his military career, Washington surrendered. He stipulated, however, that he
and his troops were to have safe conduct back to
civilization and agreed not to build a fort west of
the Alleghany Mountains for a year. Washington was then twenty
two years old seventeen fifty. The execution of this plan
was probably accelerated by an act of the British government.
The year after the conclusion of the Wars, several individuals,
(38:01):
both in England and Virginia, who were associated under the
name of the Ohio Company, obtained from the Crown a
grant of six hundred thousand acres of land lying in
the country claimed by both nations. The objects of this
company being commercial as well as territorial. Measures were taken
to derive all the advantages expected from their grant in
both these respects, by establishing trading houses, by employing persons
(38:24):
to survey the country. The Governor of Canada, who obtained
early information of this intrusion, as he deemed it, into
the dominions of his most Christian Majesty wrote to the
governors of New York and Pennsylvania, informing them that the
English traders and encroached on the French territory by trading
with their Indians, and giving notice that if he did
not desist, he should be under the necessity of seizing
(38:45):
them wherever they should be found. At the same time,
the jealousy of the Indians was excited by impressing them
with fears that their English were about to deprive them
of their country. His threat having been disregarded, the Governor
of Canada put it in execution by seizing the British
traders Amie the Twite Tuise and carrying them prisoners to
presca Isle un Lake Erie, where he was erecting a
(39:07):
strong fort. About the same time, a communication was opened
from presca Isle down French Creek and the Allegheny River
to the Ohio This communication was kept up by detachments
of troops posted at proper distances from each other in
works capable of covering them from an attack made only
with small arms. Seventeen fifty three, this territory having been
(39:28):
granted as part of Virginia to the Ohio Company, who
complained loudly of these aggressions. Dinwitdy, the Lieutenant governor of
that province, laid the subject before the assembly and dispatched
Major Washington, the gentleman, who afterwards led his countrymen to independence,
with a letter to the commandant of the French forces
on the Ohio, requiring him to withdraw from the dominions
(39:48):
of his Britannic majesty. This letter was delivered at a
fort on the River lebeug the western branch of French Creek,
to Monsieur le Gaudieu de Pierre, the commanding officer on
the Ohio, who replied that he had taken possession of
the country by the direction of his general then in Canada,
to whom he would transmit the letter of the Lieutenant governor,
(40:10):
and whose orders he should implicitly obey. Seventeen fifty four.
Preparations were immediately made in Virginia to assert the rights
of the British Crown, and a regiment was raised for
the protection of the frontiers. Early in the spring, Major
Washington had advanced with a small detachment from this regiment
into the country to be contended for, where he fell
(40:30):
in with and defeated a party of French and Indians,
who were approaching him in a manner indicating hostile designs.
On being joined by the residue of his regiment, the
command of which had devolved on him, he made great
exertions to preoccupy the post at the confluence of the
Allegheny and mon Nongahela rivers, But on his march thither
(40:51):
was met by a much superior body of French and
Indians defeat at the Little Meadows, who attacked him in
a small stockade, hastily erect at the Little Meadows, and
compelled them, after a gallant defense to capitulate. The French
had already taken possession of the ground to which Washington
was proceeding, and having driven off some militia and workmen
sent thither by the Ohio Company, had erected their honor
(41:14):
strong fortification called Fort Duquaine. The Earl of Holderness, Secretary
of State, perceiving war to be inevitable, and aware of
the advantages of union and of securing the friendship of
the five Nations, had written to the governors of their
respective colonies recommending these essential objects, and at the same
time ordering them to repel force by force and to
take effectual measures to dislodge the French from their posts.
(41:37):
On the Ohio Convention at Albany, at the suggestion of
the commissioners for the Plantations, a convention of delegates from
the several colonies met at Albany to hold a conference
with the Five Nations on the subject of French encroachments
and to secure their friendship in the approaching war. Availing
himself of this circumstance, Governor Shirley had recommended to the
(41:57):
other governors to instruct their commissioners on the use subject
of union. Ample powers for this object were given to
the delegates of Massachusetts, and those of Maryland were instructed
to observe what others should propose respecting it, but no
direct authority for concerting any system to call out and
employ the strength of the colonies was given by any
other of the governments. The Congress, consisting of delegates from
(42:19):
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, with the
Lieutenant Governor and Council of New York, after endeavoring to
secure the friendship of the Five Nations by a large presence,
directed a committee consisting of one member of each colony
to draw and report a plan of union. Plan of union.
A plan was reported, which was approved on the fourth
of July. Its es central principles were that application be
(42:41):
made for an Act of Parliament authorizing the formation of
a Grand Council to consist of delegates from the several
legislatures and a President General, to be appointed by the
Crown and to be invested with a negative power. This
Council was to enact laws of general import to apportion
their quotas of men and money on the several colonies,
to determine on the building forts, to regulate their operations
(43:02):
of armies, and to concert to all measures for the
common protection and safety. The delegates of Connecticut alone dissented
from this plan, that cautious people feared that the powers
vested in the President General might prove dangerous to their welfare.
In England, the objections were of a different character. The
colonies had, in several instances manifested a temper less submissive
(43:23):
than was required, and it was apprehended that this union
might be the foundation of a concert of measures opposing
the pretensions of supremacy maintained by the mother country. This
confederation therefore notwithstanding the pressure of external danger did not prevail.
It was not supported in America because it was supposed
to place too much power in the hands of the king,
(43:44):
and it was rejected in England from the apprehension that
the colonial assemblies would be rendered still more formidable by
being accustomed to cooperate with each other. In Instead, the
Minister proposed that the governors, with one or two members
of the councils of their respective provinces, should assemble to
insult and resolve on measures necessary for the common defense,
and should draw on the British Treasury for the sums
(44:06):
to be expended, which sums should be afterwards raised by
a general tax to be imposed by Parliament on the colonies.
This proposition, being entirely subversive of all the opinions which
prevailed in America, was not pressed for the present, and
no satisfactory plan for calling out the strength of the
colonies being devised. It was determined to carry on the
war with British troops aided by such reinforcements as the
(44:28):
several provincial assemblies would voluntarily afford. End of Chapter ten.
Chapter ten of the Life of Washington, Volume one by
John Marshall. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Chapter ten Warrior declared against Spain. Expedition against Saint Augustine,
Georgia invaded Spaniards land on An Island in the Alatta Maha.
(00:22):
Appearance of our fleet from Charleston. Spanish army re embarks
hostilities with France. Expedition against Louisbourg. Louisburg surrenders great plans
of the belligerent powers, misfortunes of the armament under the
Duke of d'Anville. The French fleet dispersed by a storm
expedition against Nova Scotia. Treaty of Baks La Chappelle, paper
Money of Massachusetts redeemed contests between the French and English
(00:44):
respecting boundaries. Statement respecting the discovery of the Mississippi Scheme
for connecting Louisiana with Canada. Relative strength of the French
and English colonies. Defeat at the Little Meadows Convention at Albany.
Plan of Union objected to both in America and Great Britain.
Seventeen thirty nine War with Spain, the increasing complaints of
(01:05):
the merchants and the loud clambers of the nation at
length forced the Minister to abandon his pacific system, and
war was declared against Spain. A squadron commanded by Admiral
Vernon was detached to the West Indies with instructions to
act offensively, and General Oglethorpe was ordered to annoy the
settlements in Florida. He planned an expedition against Saint Augustine
and requested the assistance of South Carolina. That colony, ardently,
(01:29):
desiring the expulsion of neighbours alike feared and hated, entered
zealously into the views of the General, and agreed to
furnish the men and money he requested. A regiment commanded
by Colonel Evander Duson, was immediately raised in Virginia and
the two Carolinas. A body of Indians was also engaged
in Captain Price, who commanded the small fleet on that station,
promised his cooperation. These arrangements being made in the mouth
(01:53):
of the Saint John's River on the coast of Florida,
being appointed as the place of rendezvous. General Oglethorpe too
Georgia to prepare his regiment for the expedition. Seventeen forty
those unexpected impediments which always embarrassed military movements conducted by
men without experience. Having delayed the arrival of his northern troops,
Oglethorpe entered Florida at the head of his own regiment,
(02:16):
aided by a party of Indians, and invested Diego, a
small fort about twenty five miles from Saint Augustine, which
capitulated after a short resistance. He then returned to the
place of rendezvous, where he was joined by Colonel vander
Duson and by a company of Highlanders under the command
of Captain McIntosh a few days after which he marched
with his whole force, consisting of about two thousand men,
(02:39):
to Fort Musa, in the neighborhood of Saint Augustine, which
was evacuated on his approach. The general now perceived that
the enterprise would be attended with more difficulty than had
been anticipated in the time which intervened between his entering
Florida and appearing before the town. Supplies of provisions had
been received from the country, and six Spanish half galleys
(02:59):
care ring long brass nine pounders and two sloops laden
with provisions had entered the harbor. Finding the place better
at forty five then had been expected, he determined to
invest it completely and advanced by regular approaches. In execution
of this plan, Colonel Palmer, with ninety five Highlanders and
forty two Indians, remained at Fort Musa, while the army
(03:20):
took different positions near the town and began an ineffectual
bombardment from the island of Anastacia. The General was deliberating
on the plan for forcing the harbor and taking a
nearer position when Colonel Palmer was surprised and his detachment
cut to pieces. At the same time, some small vessels
from the Havana, with a reinforcement of men and supplied provisions,
(03:41):
entered the harbor through the narrow channel of the Matanzas.
The army began to despair of success, and the provincials,
enfeebled by the heat, dispirited by sickness, and fatigued by
fruitless efforts, marked away in large bodies. The navy, being
ill supplied with provisions and the season for hurricanes approaching,
Captain Price was unwilling to have his Majesty's ships on
(04:01):
that coast. The General, laboring under a fever, finding his
regiment as well as himself, worn out with fatigue and
rendered unfit for action by disease, reluctantly abandoned the enterprise
and returned to Frederica. The colonists, disappointed and chagrined by
the failure of the expedition, attributed this misfortune entirely to
the incapacity of the General, who was not less dissatisfied
(04:22):
with them. Whatever may have been the true causes of
the failure, it produced a mutual and injurious distrust between
the General and the colonists seventeen forty two. The events
of the war soon disclosed the dangers resulting from this
want of confidence in General Oglethorpe, and still more from
the want of power to produce a cooperation of the
common force for the common defense. Spain had ever considered
(04:46):
the settlement of Georgia as an encroachment on her territory,
and had cherished the intention to seize every proper occasion
to dislodge the English by force. With his view, an
armament consisting of two thousand men, commanded by don Antonia
d Rodondo, embarked at the Havana under convoy of a
strong squadron, and arrived at Saint Augustine in May. The
(05:07):
fleet having been seen on its passage, notice of its
approach was given to General Oglethorpe, who communicated the intelligence
to Governor Glen of South Carolina and urged the necessity
of sending the troops of that province to his assistance.
Georgia being a barrier for South Carolina. The policy of
meeting an invading army on the frontiers of the former,
especially one containing several companies composed of Negroes who had
(05:31):
fled from the latter, was too obvious not to be
perceived yet, either from prejudice against Oglethorpe or the disposition
inherent in separate governments to preserve their own force of
their own defense, Carolina refused to give that general any assistance.
Its attention was directed entirely to the defense of Charleston
and the inhabitants of its southern frontier. Instead of marching
(05:51):
to the camp of Oglethorpe fled to that city for safety.
In the meantime, the General collected a few highlanders and
rangers of Georgia together as many Indian warriors as would
join him, and determined to defend Frederica. Georgia invaded. Late
in June, the Spanish fleet, consisting of thirty two sail
carying about three thousand men, crossed Simon's Bar into Jekylo's Sound,
(06:15):
and passing Simon's fort, then occupied by General Oglethorpe, proceeded
up the Alatamaha out of the reach of his guns,
after which the troops landed on the island and erected
a battery of twenty eighteen pounders. Fort Simon's being indefensible,
Oglethorpe retreated to Frederica. His whole force, exclusive of Indians,
amounted to little more than seven hundred men, a force
(06:38):
which could only enable him to act on the defensive
until the arrival of reinforcements, which he still expected from
South Carolina. The face of the country was peculiarly favorable
to this system of operations, as thick woods and deep
morasses opposed great obstacles to the events of an invading
enemy not well acquainted with the paths which passed through
(06:58):
themthor or turned these advantages to the best account in
an attempt made by the Spanish general to pierce these
woods in order to reach Frederica. Several sharp wrong counters
took place in one of which he lost a captain
and two lieutenants killed, and above one hundred privates taken prisoners.
He then changed his plan of operations, and, abandoning his
(07:19):
intention of forcing his way to Frederica by land, called
in his parties, kept his men under cover of his cannon,
and detached some vessels up the river with a body
of troops on board, to reconnoiter the fort and draw
the attention of the English to that quarter. About this time,
an English prisoner escaped from the Spaniards and informed General
Oglethorpe that a difference exists between the troops from Cuba
(07:42):
and those from Saint Augustine, which have been carried so
far that they encamped in separate places. This intelligence suggested
the idea of attacking them while divided, and his perfect
knowledge of the woods favored the hope of surprising one
of their encampments. In execution of this design, he drew
out the flower of his army and marched in the night, unobserved,
within two miles of the Spanish camp. There his troops halted,
(08:05):
and he advanced himself at the head of a select
corps to reconnoiter the situation of the enemy. While he
was using the utmost circumspection to obtain the necessary information
without being discovered, a French soldier of his party discharged
his musket and ran into the Spanish lines discovery. Defeating
every hope of success, the general retreated to Erherterica Ogothorpe,
(08:28):
confident that the deserter would disclosed his weakness, devised an
expedient which turned the event to advantage. He wrote to
the deserter, as if in concert with him, directing him
to give the Spanish general such information as might induce
him to attack Frederica, hinting also at an attempt meditated
by Admiral Vernon on Saint Augustine, and at late advices
(08:50):
from Carolina giving assurances of a reinforcement of two thousand men.
He then tampered with one of the Spanish prisoners, who,
for a small bride promised to deliver this letter to
the desert, after which he was permitted to escape. The prisoner,
as was foreseen, delivered the letter to his general, who
ordered the deserter to be put in irons, and was
in no small degree embarrassed to determine whether the letter
(09:11):
ought to be considered as a stratagem to save Frederica
and induce the abandonment of the enterprise, or as real
instructions to direct the conduct of a spy. While hesitating
on the course to be pursued, his doubts were removed
by one of those incidents which have so much influence
on human affairs. The Assembly of South Carolina had voted
(09:31):
a supply of money to General Oglethorpe, and the governor
had ordered some ships of force to his aid. These
appeared off the coast while the principal officers of the
Spanish army were yet deliberating on the letter. They deliberated
no longer. Spanish army re embarks in confusion. The whole
army was seized with a panic, and after setting fire
to the fort, embarked in great hurry and confusion, leaving
(09:54):
behind several pieces of heavy artillery and a large quantity
of provisions and military store. Thus was Georgia delivered from
an invasion which threatened the total subjugation of the province.
The ill success of these reciprocal attempts at conquest seems
to have discouraged both parties and the Spanish and English
colonies in the neighborhood of each other, contented themselves for
(10:17):
the residue of the war with guarding their own frontiers.
The connection between the branches of the House of Bourbon
was too intimate for the preservation of peace with France.
During the prosecution of war against Spain, both nations expected
and prepared for hostilities or had commenced in fact, though
not informed on the continent of Europe. But as they
(10:37):
carried on their military operations as auxiliaries in support of
the contending claims of the Elector of Bavaria and the
Queen of Hungary to the Imperial throne, they preserved in
America a suspicious and jealous suspension of hostility rather than
a real peace. Seventeen forty four, this state of things
was interrupted by a sudden incursion of the French into
(10:58):
Nova Scotia hostilities with France. The governor of Cape Berton,
having received information that France and Great Britain had become
principles in the war, took possession of Des Canso with
a small military and naval force, and made the garrison
and inhabitants prisoners of war. This enterprise was followed by
an attempt on Annapolis, which was defeated by the time
(11:21):
the arrival of a reinforcement from Massachusetts. These offensive operations
stimulated the English colonists to additional efforts to expel such
dangerous neighbours and to unite the whole northern continent bordering
on the Atlantic under one common sovereign. The island of
Cape Breton, so denominated from one of its capes, lies
between the forty fifth and forty seventh degree of north latitude,
(11:44):
at the distance of fifteen leagues from Cape Ray, the
southwestern extremity of Newfoundland. Its position rendered the possession of
it very material to the commerce of France, and the
facility with which the fisheries might be annoyed from its
ports gave it an importance to which it could not
otherwise had been entitled. Thirty millions of lev and the
(12:04):
labor of twenty five years had been employed on its fortifications.
From its strength, and still more from the numerous privateers
that issued from its ports, it had been termed the
Dunkirk of America. On this place, Governor Shirley meditated an
attack the prisoners taken at Canso and others who had
been captured at sea and carried to Louisbourg, were sent
(12:24):
to Boston. The information they gave, if it did not
originally suggest this enterprise, contributed greatly to its adoption. They
said that du Vivier had gone to France to solicit
assistance for the conquest of Nova Scotia in the course
of the ensuing campaign, and that the storeships from France
for Cape Bretont, not having arrived on the coast until
(12:44):
it was blocked up with ice, had retired to the
West Indies. In several letters addressed to Administration, Governor Shirley
represented the danger to which Nova Scotia was exposed and
pressed for naval assistance. These letters were sent by Captain Ryle,
an officer of the garret which had been taken at Canso,
whose knowledge of Louisbourg, of Caperton, and of Nova Scotia
(13:05):
enabled him to make such representations to the Lords of
the Admiralty as were calculated to promote the views of
the northern colonies. The Governor was not disappointed. Orders were
dispatched to Commodore Warren, then in the West Indies, to
proceed towards the North early in the spring, and to
employ such a force as might be necessary to protect
the northern colonies in their trade and fisheries, as well
(13:28):
as to distress the enemy. On these subjects. He was
instructed to consult with Shirley, to whom orders of the
same date were written, directing him to assist the King's
ships with transports, men and provisions. Such deep impression had
the design of taking Louisbourg made on the mind of Shirley,
that he did not wait for intelligence of the reception
(13:48):
given to his application for naval assistance. He was induced
to decide on engaging in the enterprise even without such assistance.
By the representations of mister Vaughan, son of the Lieutenant
Governor of New I'm sure a man of sanguine and
ardent temper, who could think nothing impracticable which he wished
to achieve. Mister Vaughan had never been at Louisburg, but
(14:08):
had learned something of the strength of the place from
fishermen and others, and the bold turn of his mind
suggested the idea of surprising it. There something infectious in
the enthusiasm, whatever be its object. In Bond soon communicated
his own convictions to Shirley seventeen forty five. The Governor
informed the General Court that he had a proposition of
great importance to communicate, and requested that the members would
(14:31):
take an oath of secrecy previous to his laying it before. Then,
this novel request being complied with, he submitted his plan
for attacking Louisbourg. It was referred to a committee of
both houses. The arguments for and against the enterprise were
temperately considered, and the part suggested by prudence prevailed. The
expedition was thought too great, to hazardous, and too expensive.
(14:53):
The report of the committee was approved by the House
of Representatives, and the expedition was supposed to be abandoned,
but notwithstand the precaution taken to secure secrecy. The subject
which had occupied the legislature was devolved, and the people
took a deep interest in it. Numerous petitions were presented
praying the General Court to reconsider its vote and to
(15:13):
adopt the proposition of the Governor. Among the several arguments
urged in its favor, that which the petitioners pressed most
earnestly was the necessity of acquiring Louisbourg to save the
fisheries from ruin. The subject being reconsidered a resolution in
favor of the enterprise was carried by a single voice,
in the absence of several members known to be against it.
(15:37):
Yet all parties manifested equal zeal for its success. A
general embargo was laid and messengers were dispatched through the
several governments as far as south as Pennsylvania, soliciting their aid.
The solicitations succeeded only in the northern provinces, there being
at that time no person and no England who had
acquired any military reputation. The chief command was conferred on
(15:58):
Colonel Pepperrell Merchant, who was also a large landholder and
was highly respected throughout Massachusetts. All ranks of men combined
to facilitate the enterprise, and those circumstances which are beyond
human control also concurred to favor the general wish. The
governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, whose orders for their
assent to a further emission of bills of credit, departed
(16:21):
from their instructions to promote this favorite project. The people
submitted to impressments of their property, and a mild winter
gave no interruption to their warlike preparations. The troops of Massachusetts,
New Hampshire and Connecticut, amounting to rather more than four
thousand men assembled at Canso about the middle of April,
soon after which, to the great joy of the colonial troops,
(16:42):
Admiral Warren arrived with a considerable part of his fleet.
The army then embarked for Chapeau Rouge Bay, and the
fleet cruised off louis Bourg. After repulsing a small detachment
of French troops, the landing was effected, and in the
course of the night, a body of about four hundred
men led by Vaughan, marched on to the northeast part
of the harbor and set fire to a number of
(17:03):
warehouses containing spirituous liquors and naval stores. The smoke, being
driven by the wind into the Grand Battery, caused such
darkness that the men placed in it were unable to
distinguish objects, and, being apprehensive of an attack from the
whole English army, abandoned the fort and fled into the town.
The next morning, as Vaughan was returning to camp with
(17:23):
only thirteen men, he ascended the hill which overlooked the battery,
and observing that the chimneys and the barracks were without smoke,
and the staff without its flag, he hired an Indian
with a bottle of rum to crawl through an embrasure
and open the gate. Vaughn entered with his men and
defended the battery against their party, then landing to regain
possession until the arrival of a reinforcement. For fourteen nights successively,
(17:45):
the troops were employed in dragging cannon from the landing
place to the encampment, a distance of near two miles
through a deep morass. The army, being totally unacquainted with
the art of conducting sieges, made its approaches irregularly and
sustained some loss on this account. While these approaches were
making by land, the ships of war, which continued to
cruise off the harbor, fell in with and captured the Vigilant,
(18:07):
a French Man of war of sixty four guns, having
on board a reinforcement of five hundred and sixty men
and a large quantity of stores for the garrison. Soon
after this, an unsuccessful and perhaps a rash attempt was
made on the island battery by four hundred men, of
whom sixty were killed and one hundred and sixteen taken prisoners.
All these prisoners, as if by a previous concert exaggerated
(18:30):
the numbers of the besieging army, a deception which was
favored by the unevenness of the ground and the dispersed
state of the troops, and which probably contributed to the
surrender of the place. The provincial army did indeed present
a formidable front, but in the rear all was frolic
and confusion. The Vigilant had been anxiously expected by the garrison,
and the information of her capture excited a considerable degree
(18:53):
of perturbation. This event, with the erection of some works
on the high cliff at the lighthouse, by which the
island battery was much annoyed, and the preparations evidently making
for a general assault, determined due Chambond the Governor louis
Bourg to surrender, and in a few days he capitulated.
Louisbourg surrenders. Upon entering the fortress and doing its strength
(19:15):
and its means of defense, all perceived how impracticable it
would have been to carry it by assault. The joy
excited in the British colonies by the success of the
expedition against Louisbourg was unbounded. Even those who had refused
to participate in its hazards and expense were sensible of
its advantages and of the luster it shed on the
American arms, although some disposition was manifested in England. To
(19:40):
ascribe the whole merit of the conquest of the navy,
Colonel Pepperwell received with the title of Baronet the more
substantial award of a regiment in the British service to
be raised in America, and the same mark of royal
favor was bestowed on Governor Shirley. Reimbursements, too, were made
by Parliament for the expenses of the expedition. It was
the only decisive the advantage obtained by the English during the war.
(20:03):
The capture of Louisbourg most probably preserved Nova Scotia. To Vivier,
who had embarked for France to solicit an armament for
the conquest of that province. Sailed in July seventeen forty
five with seven ships of war and a body of
land forces. He was ordered to stop at Louisbourg and
thence to proceed in the execution of his plan. Hearing
at sea of the fall of that place, and that
(20:25):
a British squadron was stationed at it, he relinquished the
expedition against Nova Scotia and returned to Europe. The British
Empire on the American continent consisted originally of two feeble settlements,
unconnected with and almost unknown to each other. For a
long time. The southern colonies, separated from those of New
England by an immense wilderness, and the possessions of other
(20:47):
European powers, had no intercourse with them, except what was
produced by the small trading vessels of the North, which
occasionally entered the rivers of the South. Neither participated in
the wars or pursuits of the other, nor were they
in any respect actuated by common views or united by
common interest. The conquest of the country between Connecticut and
(21:07):
Maryland laid a foundation which the settlement of the Middle
colonies completed, for connecting these disjoint members and forming one
consolidated whole, capable of moving and acting in concert. This
gradual change, unobserved in its commencement, had now become too
perceptible to be longer overlooked, and henceforward the efforts of
the colonies were in a great measure combined and directed
(21:30):
to a common object. France, as well as England had
extended her views with her settlements, and after the fall
of Louisbourg, the governments of both nations meditated important operations
for the ensuing campaign in America. Great plans of the belligerents.
France contemplated not only the recovery of Cape Breton and
Nova Scotia, but the total devastation of the sea coast,
(21:53):
if not the entire conquest of New England. Written on
her part, calculated on the reduction of Canada and the
entire expulsion of the French from the American continent. Shirley
repaired to Louisbourg after its surrender, where he held a
consultation with Warren and Pepperrell on the favorite subject of
future and more extensive operations against the neighboring possessions of
France seventeen forty six. From that place he wrote pressingly
(22:18):
to administration for reinforcements of men and ships to enable
him to execute his plans. The capture of Louisbourg gave
such weight to his solicitations than in the following spring,
the Duke of Newcastle, then Secretary of State, addressed a
circular letter to the governors of the provinces as far
south as Virginia, requiring him to raise as many men
as they could spare, and hold them in readiness to
(22:39):
act according to the orders that should be received. Before
this letter was written, an extensive plan of operations had
been digested in the British cabinet. It was proposed to
detach a military and naval armament, which should, early in
the season join the troops to be raised in New
England at Louisbourg, whence they were to proceed up to
Saint Lawrence to Quebec. The troops from New York and
(23:01):
from the more southern provinces were to be collected at
Albany and to march against crownd Point and Montreal. This plan,
so far as it depended on the colonies, was executed
with promptness and alacrity. The men were raised and waited
with impatience for employment, but neither troops nor orders arrived
from England. The fleet destined for this service sailed seven
times from Spithead, and was compelled as often by contrary winds,
(23:25):
to return late in the season. The military commanders in America,
despairing of the sucrus promised by England, determined to assemble
a body of provincials at Albany and make an attempt
on Crown Point. While preparing for the execution of this plan,
they received accounts stating that Annapolis was in danger from
a body of French and Indians assembled at Minus, upon
which orders were issued for the troops of Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
(23:48):
and New Hampshire to embark for Nova Scotia. Before these
orders could be executed, intelligence was received which directed their
attention to their own defense. It was reported that a
large fleet in army under the command of the Duke
dol Ville, had arrived in Nova Scotia, and the views
of conquest which had been formed by the northern colonies
were converted into fears for their own safety. For six weeks,
(24:11):
continual apprehensions of invasion were entertained, and the most vigorous
measures were taken to repel it. From this state of
anxious solicitude, they were at length relieved by the arrival
of some prisoners set at liberty by the French, who
communicated the extreme distress of the fleet. This formidable armament
consisted of near forty ships, seven of which were of
(24:32):
the line, of two artillery ships, and of fifty six transports.
Laden with provisions and military stores, carrying three thousand, five
hundred land forces and forty thousand stand of small arms
for the use of the Canadians and Indians. The fleet
dispersed by a storm. The fleet sailed in June, but
was attacked by such furious and repeated storms that many
(24:53):
of the ships were wrecked and others dispersed. In addition
to this disaster, the troops were infected with the disease,
which carried them off in great numbers. While lying in Gebuctou.
Under the circumstances of vessel, which had been dispatched by
Governor Shirley to Admiral Townsend at Louisbourg with a letter
stating his expectation that a British fleet would follow that
(25:14):
of France to America, was intercepted by a cruiser and
brought in to the Admiral. These dispatches were opened in
a Council of War, which was considered divided respecting their
future conduct. This circumstance, added to the calamities already sustained,
so affected the commander in chief that he died Suddenly.
The Vice Admiral fell by his own hand, and the
(25:35):
command devolved on Monsieur Le Jean Guierre, Governor of Canada,
who had been declared Chef de scata. After the fleet sailed,
the design of invading New England was relinquished, and it
was resolved to make an attempt on Annapolis. With his view.
The fleet sailed from Chebuctou, but was again overtaken by
(25:55):
a violent tempest which scattered the vessels composing it. Those
which escaped shipwrecked returned singly to France. Never, says mister Bucknapp,
was the hand of divine providence more visible than on
this occasion. Never was a disappointment more severe on the
part of the enemy, nor a deliverance more complete without
human help in favor of this country. As soon as
(26:16):
the fears excited by this armament were dissipated, the project
of dislodging the French and Indians who had invaded Nova
Scotia was resumed. Governor Shirley detached a part of the
troops of Massachusetts on this service, and pressed the governors
of Rhode Island and New Hampshire to cooperate with him.
The quote is furnished by these colonies were prevented by
several accidents from joining that of Massachusetts, which was inferior
(26:39):
to the enemy in numbers. The French and Indians, under
cover of a snowstorm, surprised the English at Manus, who,
after an obstinate resistance in which they lost upwards of
one hundred men, were compelled to capitulate and to engage,
not to bear arms against his most Christian Majesty in
Nova Scotia for one year. De Ramsay, who commanded the French,
returned soon afterwards to Canada. No farther transactions of importance
(27:04):
took place in America during the war, which was terminated
by the Treaty of Aix la Chappelle. By this treaty,
it was stipulated that all conquests made during the war
should be restored, and the colonists had the mortification to
see the French repossess themselves of Cape Rotong. The heavy
expenses which have been incurred by the New England colonies,
and especially by Massachusetts, had occasioned large emissions of paper
(27:27):
money and an unavoidable depreciation. Instead of availing themselves a
peace to discharge the debts contracted during war, they eagerly
desired to satisfy every demand on the public treasury by
further emissions of bills of credit redeemable at future and
distant periods. Every inconvenience under which commerce was supposed to labor,
every difficulty encountered in the interior economy of the province
(27:50):
was attributed to a scarcity of money, and this scarcity
was to be removed not by increased industry, but by
putting an additional sum in circulation. The rate of exchange
in the price of all commodities soon disclosed the political
truth that, however the quantity of the circulating medium may
be augmented, its aggregate value cannot be arbitrarily increased, that
(28:10):
the effect of such a depreciating currency must necessarily be
to discourage the payment of debts by holding out the
hope of discharging contracts with less real value than that
for which they were made, and to substitute cunning and
speculation for honest and regular industry. Yet the majority had
persevered in this demoralizing system. The depreciation had reached eleven
(28:32):
for one, and the evil was almost deemed incurable, when
the fortunate circumstance of a reimbursement in specie made by
Parliament for colonial expenditures on account of their expeditions against
louis Bourg and Canada, suggested to mister Hutchinson, Speaker of
the House of Representatives in Massachusetts, the idea of redeeming
the paper money in circulation at its then real value.
(28:54):
This scheme, at first deemed utopian, was opposed by many
well meaning men, who feared that its effect would be
to give a shock through the trade and domestic industry
of the province, and who thought that as the depreciation
had been gradual, justice required that the appreciation should be gradual. Also,
paper money redeemed with great difficulty the measure was carried in.
The bills of credit in circulation were redeemed at fifty
(29:16):
shillings the ounce. The evils which had been apprehended were
soon found to be imaginary. Specie immediately took the place
of trade, so far from sustaining a shock, nourished more
than before. This change in the domestic economy of the colony,
and the commerce of Massachusetts immediately received an impulse which
enabled it to surpass that of her neighbors, who retained
(29:37):
their paper medium. Renewal of contests with the French colonies
respecting boundary, the Treaty of Aix lasch Chappelle did not
remove the previously existing controversies between the colonies of France
and England respecting boundary. These controversies, originating in the manner
in which their settlements had been made and at first
a small consequence, were now assuming a serious aspect, was
(30:00):
becoming an object of greater attention, and as her importance increased,
the question concerning limits became important. Also seventeen forty nine,
in settling this continent, the powers of Europe estimating the
right of the natives that nothing adopted for their own government.
The principle that those who first discovered and took possession
of any particular territory became its rightful proprietors. But as
(30:21):
only a small portion of it could then be reduced
to actual occupation, the extent of country thus acquired was
not well ascertained. Contests respecting prior discovery and extent of
possession arose among all the first settlers. England terminated her
controversy with Sweden and with Holland by the early conquest
of their territories, but her conflicting claims with France and
(30:43):
with Spain remained unadjusted. On the South Spain had pretensions
to the whole province of Georgia. Wellington had granted the
country as far as the River Sant Matteu in Florida
on the north. The right of France to Canada was undisputed,
but the country between the Saint Lawrence and New England
had been claimed by both nations and granted by both.
(31:03):
The first settlement appears to have been made by the French,
but its principal town, call Port Royal or Annapolis, had
been repeatedly taken by the English. By the Treaty of Utrekt,
the whole province by the name of Nova Scotia or
Aca Die, according to its ancient limits, had been ceded
to them, but the boundaries of Nova Scotia or Accada
had never been ascertained. Though the Treaty of Utrecht had
(31:25):
provided that commissioners should be appointed by the two crowns
to adjust the limits of their respective colonies, the adjustment
had never been made. France claimed to that Kennebec and
insisted that only the peninsula which is formed by the
Bay of Fundi the Atlantic Oasce in the Gulf of
Saint Lawrence, was included in the Session of Nova Scotia
or Aca Die according to its ancient limits. England, on
(31:46):
the other hand, claimed all the country on the mainland
south of the River Saint Lawrence. Under the Treaty of
ex Laus Chappelle, Commissioners were again appointed to settle these differences,
who maintained the rights of their respective sovereigns with great
ability and laborious research. But their zeal produced a degree
of asperity unfavorable to accommodation. While this contest for the
cold and uninviting country of Nova Scotia was carried on
(32:09):
with equal acrimony and talents, a controversy arose for richer
and more extensive regions in the south and west discovery
of the Mississippi. So early as the year sixteen sixty,
information was received in Canada from the Indians that west
of that colony was a great river flowing neither to
the north nor to the east. The government, conjecturing that
(32:30):
it must empty itself either into the Gulf of Mexico
or the South Sea, committed the care of ascertaining the
fact to joliet, An inhabitant of Quebec, and to the
Jesuit Marquette. These men proceeded from Lake Michigan, up the
River of the Foxes almost to its source, whence they
traveled westward to the wiscon Seine, which they pursued to
its confluence with the Mississippi. They sailed down this river
(32:53):
to the thirty third degree of north latitude, and returned
by land through the country of the Illinois to Canada.
The mouth of the Mississippi was afterwards discovered by LaSalle,
an enterprising Norman, who, immediately after his return to Quebec,
embarked for France in the hope of inducing the Cabinet
of Versaies to patronize a scheme for proceeding by sea
to the mouth of that river and settling a colony
(33:14):
on its banks. Having succeeded in this application, he sailed
for the Gulf of Mexico with a few colonists, but
steering too far westward, he arrived at the Bay of
Saint Bernard, about one hundred leagues from the mouth of
the Mississippi. In consequence of a corps between him and
beau Leu, who commanded the fleet, the colonists were landed
at this place. Lassal was soon after was assassinated by
(33:36):
its own men, and his followers were murdered or dispersed
by the Spaniards and the Indians. Several other attempts were
made by the French to settle the country by some
unaccountable fatality. Instead of seating themselves on the fertile borders
of the Mississippi, they continually landed about the barren sands
of Biloxi and the Bay of Mobile. It was not
until the year seventeen twenty two that the miserable remnant
(33:59):
of those who had been carried thither at various times
was transplanted to New Orleans, nor until the year seventeen
thirty one that the colony began to flourish scheme for
connecting Louisiana with Canada. It had received the name of Louisiana,
and soon extended itself by detached settlements up the Mississippi
its waters towards the Great Lakes. As it advanced northward,
(34:20):
the vast and interesting plan was formed of connecting it
with Canada by a chain of forts. The fine climate
and fertile soil of Upper Louisiana, enabling it to produce
and maintain an immense population, rendered it an object which
promised complete gratification to the views of France, while the
extent given to it by that nation excited the most
serious alarm among the colonies of Britain. The chart is
(34:42):
granted by the Crown of England to the first adventurers.
Having extended from the Atlantic to the South Sea, their
settlements had regularly advanced westward in the belief that their
title to the country in that direction could not be controverted.
The settlements of the French, stretching from north to south,
necessarily interfered with those of the England. Their plan, if executed,
would completely environ the English, Canada and Louisiana united, as
(35:05):
has been aptly said, would form a bow of which
the English colonies would constitute the cord. While Great Britain
claimed indefinitely to the west as appertaining to her possession
of the sea coast, France insisted on confining her to
the eastern side of the Appalachian or Alleghany Mountains, and
claimed the whole country drained by the Mississippi, in virtue
of her right as the first discoverer of that river.
(35:27):
The delightful region which forms magnificent Vale of the Mississippi
was the object for which these two powerful nations contended,
and it soon became apparent that the sword must decide
the contest. The white population of the English colonies was
supposed to exceed one million of souls, while that of
the French was estimated at only fifty two thousand. This
disparity of numbers did not intimidate the governor of New France,
(35:49):
a title comprehending both Canada and Louisiana, nor deter him
from proceeding in the execution of his favorite plan. The
French possessed advantages, which he persuaded himself, were counterbalance the
superior numbers of the English. Their whole power was united
under one governor, who could give it such a direction
as his judgment should dictate. The genius of the people
and of the government was military, and the inhabitants could
(36:12):
readily be called into the field when their service should
be required. Great reliance, too, was placed on the Indians.
These savages, with the exception of the Five Nations, were
generally attached to France and were well trained to war.
To these advantages were added a perfect knowledge of the
country about to become the theater of action. The British colonies,
on the other hand, were divided into distinct governments unaccustomed
(36:34):
except those of New England to act in concert, were
jealous of the power of the Crown, and were spread
over a large extent of territory, the soil of which
in all the Middle Colonies was cultivated, but men unused
to arms. The governors of Canada, who were generate military men,
had for several preceding years judiciously selected and forty five
such situations as would give them most influence over the
(36:55):
Indians and facilitating incursions into the northern provinces. Command of
Lake Champlain had been acquired by the erection of a
strong fort at Crown Point, and a connected chain of
posts was maintained from Quebec up the Saint Lawrence and
along the Great Lakes. It was intended to unite these
posts with the Mississippi by taking positions which would favour
the design of circumscribing and annoying the frontier settlements of
(37:17):
the English Great Meadows in the site of fort necessity
on this battleground in the western Pennsylvania Wilderness, which marked
the beginning of the French and Indian War. July three,
seventeen fifty four, a force of four hundred men under
young Major Washington was defeated by nine hundred French and
Indian allies, and for the first and last time in
(37:38):
his military career, Washington surrendered. He stipulated, however, that he
and his troops were to have safe conduct back to
civilization and agreed not to build a fort west of
the Alleghany Mountains for a year. Washington was then twenty
two years old seventeen fifty. The execution of this plan
was probably accelerated by an act of the British government.
The year after the conclusion of the Wars, several individuals,
(38:01):
both in England and Virginia, who were associated under the
name of the Ohio Company, obtained from the Crown a
grant of six hundred thousand acres of land lying in
the country claimed by both nations. The objects of this
company being commercial as well as territorial. Measures were taken
to derive all the advantages expected from their grant in
both these respects, by establishing trading houses, by employing persons
(38:24):
to survey the country. The Governor of Canada, who obtained
early information of this intrusion, as he deemed it, into
the dominions of his most Christian Majesty wrote to the
governors of New York and Pennsylvania, informing them that the
English traders and encroached on the French territory by trading
with their Indians, and giving notice that if he did
not desist, he should be under the necessity of seizing
(38:45):
them wherever they should be found. At the same time,
the jealousy of the Indians was excited by impressing them
with fears that their English were about to deprive them
of their country. His threat having been disregarded, the Governor
of Canada put it in execution by seizing the British
traders Amie the Twite Tuise and carrying them prisoners to
presca Isle un Lake Erie, where he was erecting a
(39:07):
strong fort. About the same time, a communication was opened
from presca Isle down French Creek and the Allegheny River
to the Ohio This communication was kept up by detachments
of troops posted at proper distances from each other in
works capable of covering them from an attack made only
with small arms. Seventeen fifty three, this territory having been
(39:28):
granted as part of Virginia to the Ohio Company, who
complained loudly of these aggressions. Dinwitdy, the Lieutenant governor of
that province, laid the subject before the assembly and dispatched
Major Washington, the gentleman, who afterwards led his countrymen to independence,
with a letter to the commandant of the French forces
on the Ohio, requiring him to withdraw from the dominions
(39:48):
of his Britannic majesty. This letter was delivered at a
fort on the River lebeug the western branch of French Creek,
to Monsieur le Gaudieu de Pierre, the commanding officer on
the Ohio, who replied that he had taken possession of
the country by the direction of his general then in Canada,
to whom he would transmit the letter of the Lieutenant governor,
(40:10):
and whose orders he should implicitly obey. Seventeen fifty four.
Preparations were immediately made in Virginia to assert the rights
of the British Crown, and a regiment was raised for
the protection of the frontiers. Early in the spring, Major
Washington had advanced with a small detachment from this regiment
into the country to be contended for, where he fell
(40:30):
in with and defeated a party of French and Indians,
who were approaching him in a manner indicating hostile designs.
On being joined by the residue of his regiment, the
command of which had devolved on him, he made great
exertions to preoccupy the post at the confluence of the
Allegheny and mon Nongahela rivers, But on his march thither
(40:51):
was met by a much superior body of French and
Indians defeat at the Little Meadows, who attacked him in
a small stockade, hastily erect at the Little Meadows, and
compelled them, after a gallant defense to capitulate. The French
had already taken possession of the ground to which Washington
was proceeding, and having driven off some militia and workmen
sent thither by the Ohio Company, had erected their honor
(41:14):
strong fortification called Fort Duquaine. The Earl of Holderness, Secretary
of State, perceiving war to be inevitable, and aware of
the advantages of union and of securing the friendship of
the five Nations, had written to the governors of their
respective colonies recommending these essential objects, and at the same
time ordering them to repel force by force and to
take effectual measures to dislodge the French from their posts.
(41:37):
On the Ohio Convention at Albany, at the suggestion of
the commissioners for the Plantations, a convention of delegates from
the several colonies met at Albany to hold a conference
with the Five Nations on the subject of French encroachments
and to secure their friendship in the approaching war. Availing
himself of this circumstance, Governor Shirley had recommended to the
(41:57):
other governors to instruct their commissioners on the use subject
of union. Ample powers for this object were given to
the delegates of Massachusetts, and those of Maryland were instructed
to observe what others should propose respecting it, but no
direct authority for concerting any system to call out and
employ the strength of the colonies was given by any
other of the governments. The Congress, consisting of delegates from
(42:19):
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, with the
Lieutenant Governor and Council of New York, after endeavoring to
secure the friendship of the Five Nations by a large presence,
directed a committee consisting of one member of each colony
to draw and report a plan of union. Plan of union.
A plan was reported, which was approved on the fourth
of July. Its es central principles were that application be
(42:41):
made for an Act of Parliament authorizing the formation of
a Grand Council to consist of delegates from the several
legislatures and a President General, to be appointed by the
Crown and to be invested with a negative power. This
Council was to enact laws of general import to apportion
their quotas of men and money on the several colonies,
to determine on the building forts, to regulate their operations
(43:02):
of armies, and to concert to all measures for the
common protection and safety. The delegates of Connecticut alone dissented
from this plan, that cautious people feared that the powers
vested in the President General might prove dangerous to their welfare.
In England, the objections were of a different character. The
colonies had, in several instances manifested a temper less submissive
(43:23):
than was required, and it was apprehended that this union
might be the foundation of a concert of measures opposing
the pretensions of supremacy maintained by the mother country. This
confederation therefore notwithstanding the pressure of external danger did not prevail.
It was not supported in America because it was supposed
to place too much power in the hands of the king,
(43:44):
and it was rejected in England from the apprehension that
the colonial assemblies would be rendered still more formidable by
being accustomed to cooperate with each other. In Instead, the
Minister proposed that the governors, with one or two members
of the councils of their respective provinces, should assemble to
insult and resolve on measures necessary for the common defense,
and should draw on the British Treasury for the sums
(44:06):
to be expended, which sums should be afterwards raised by
a general tax to be imposed by Parliament on the colonies.
This proposition, being entirely subversive of all the opinions which
prevailed in America, was not pressed for the present, and
no satisfactory plan for calling out the strength of the
colonies being devised. It was determined to carry on the
war with British troops aided by such reinforcements as the
(44:28):
several provincial assemblies would voluntarily afford. End of Chapter ten.
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