USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the provincial period. 1692-1775 v. II > Part 16
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1 Minot, i. 162; Hildreth, ii. Frank- lin, Works, iv. 37, makes the value of the exports from England to the north- ern colonies, from 1744 to 1748, in- clusive, £3,486,261, or about $15,- 479,000 - an average of $3,000,000 per annum.
2 In 1741, there were upon the stocks in Boston, "at one and the
same time," 40 topsail vessels, amount- ing to about 7000 tons. Douglas, ii. 18. Oldmixon states that, at the same date, "near 600 sail of ships" were la- den in Boston " for Europe and the British plantations."
3 Franklin's Works, and the Writ- ings of John Adams, &c.
165
PROGRESS OF THE PROVINCE.
notwithstanding its re-cession, had some influence on the desti- CHAP. nies of America ; and " the same old drums " that beat at the VI. capture of the fortress "rallied the troops in their march to 1748. Bunker's Hill ; and the same Colonel Gridley who planned Pepperrell's batteries marked and laid out the one where Gen- eral Warren fell; and when Gage was erecting breastworks across Boston Neck, the provincial troops sneeringly remarked that his mud walls were nothing compared with the stone walls of old Louisburg."1 "By a way that ye know not I will lead ye," is ever God's course in his dealings with men. And it is well that our destinies are always in his hands ; for such is our ignorance, and such is our folly, that we often complain most of what eventually proves best for us, and have seldom the sagacity to perceive that temporary evils generally result in permanent good, and that the chastenings which we experience at his hands, while they are rebukes for our misconduct, are at the same time parts of the great scheme which accomplishes the advancement of the race - setting up one nation, and humbling another.
1 Parsons's Life of Pepperrell, 144; Everett's Orations, 366, 368.
CHAPTER VII.
THE FRENCH WAR. 1753-1756.
CHAP. VII. THE rivalry between England and France was destined to revolutionize the history of America. Both nations, for more than a century, had been struggling for the prize of supremacy on these shores ; but the superior energy of the English, and the habits of industry peculiar to the settlers of New England and the colonies to the south, had augmented their strength and increased their numbers far beyond those of the feeble set- tlements to the north. Hence, while the plantations on the seaboard contained upwards of a million of souls, the banks of the St. Lawrence and the valley of the Mississippi were peopled by less than a hundred thousand persons, who owned France as their native land, and who were jealous of the pros- perity and the advancement of their neighbors.1
1748.
Oct. 7.
The peace of Aix la Chapelle was a truce rather than a league ; and the very vagueness of its terms was fruitful in scattering the seeds of discord. France, on the one hand, was reluctant to relinquish a foot of the territory which had been trod by her missionaries and subjected to her flag ; England, on the other, dreading the presence of France and the influence of the Jesuits upon the warlike Indians, was anxious to restrict the bounds of her jurisdiction, and looked forward to the time when she should be able to expel the French from all North
1 Chalmers, Revolt, ii. 273, 274; Marshall's Washington, i. 373 ; Ban- croft, iv. 127, 128; Hildreth, ii. 447. Even Charlevoix could say, in 1721, " Il règne dans la Nouvelle Angle-
terre une opulence dont il semble qu'on ne sait point profiter, et dans la Nouvelle France une pauvreté cachée par un air d'aisance."
(166)
167
ENCROACHMENTS OF THE FRENCH.
America, supply the farthest wigwam from her workshops, and CHAP. assume absolute sway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. France, VII. without doubt, would have as readily driven the English from 1748. the continent, had it been in her power ; but such was her fee- bleness, and such was the paucity of her population in the new world, notwithstanding she had for as many years been mis- tress of parts of its territory, and claimed other parts by the right of discovery, it was hopeless to look for this result, and she could only exert herself to fortify the stations she already held, and prevent their being wrested from her by the prowess of her rival. Hence a chain of posts was proposed to be erected, connecting the St. Lawrence with the broad Missis- sippi. This policy she had long cherished ; this policy she now began seriously to enforce.1
Foreseeing the difficulties which must spring from this source, and the embarrassed position in which her own colo- hies would be placed, England, on her part, was equally zeal- bus to frustrate the plans of France ; and a company was formed, consisting chiefly of Virginians, and settlements were projected on the banks of the Ohio, for the security of the 1749. territory watered by that stream, and to resist the continued aggressions of her rival.2 Each nation was alive to the im- portance of accomplishing its purpose ; each was determined to exert itself to the utmost to fortify its possession of the 、
country and secure its jurisdiction.
By the terms of the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, the bounds Art.IX. of the two nations were to be as before the war. But for more than a quarter of a century these bounds had been in dispute. Hence their adjustment was a matter which required immediate attention ; and as Governor Shirley had returned 1749. Sept. to England to urge the necessity of erecting a fort near Crown
1 Letters to Two Great Men, 13; Franklin's Works, iv. 336; Marshall's Washington, i. 375; Bancroft, iv. 41, 42.
Burr's Discourse of Jan. 1, 1755, p. 17 ; Marshall's Washington, i. 375.
2 Archæol. Americana, ii. 535-541;
168
COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED.
CHAP. Point, which commanded Lake Champlain, and of settling and VII. fortifying a town in Nova Scotia, - leaving the government 1750. Sept. during his absence in the hands of Spencer Phips, - about a year after his arrival, in connection with William Mildmay, he was appointed commissioner by the court of St. James to meet at Paris with La Gallisonière and Silhouette for the adjustment of these bounds.1 The English commissioners, however, soon found that there was very little hope of arriving at a friendly arrangement, for the more they advanced in their offers the more the French claimed ; futile and frivolous objections were started ; and, as collisions had taken place within the disputed territory, after nearly two years had been spent in disputation, and papers had accumulated sufficient to fill two thick quarto volumes of protocols, the conference ended ; Mr. Shirley re- 1753. Aug. 6. turned to England, and soon after to America, bringing with him, at the age of sixty, a new wife, the daughter of his land- lord in Paris, with whose charms he had been smitten, and whom he had privately married.2
In the mean time, the British government, to guard the com- merce and fisheries of New England, and to offset the disad- vantages of the restoration of Louisburg, conceived a plan, 1749. Mar. approved by Cumberland, Pelham, and Fox, for the settlement of a town near the harbor of Chibucto, which was called Hal- ifax, in honor of the Earl of Halifax, the new president of the May. Board of Trade. Early in the spring, a fleet was sent under Edward Cornwallis, a brother of Lord Cornwallis, to com- June. mence this settlement; and at the opening of summer he arrived on the coast.3 The whole country was at that time an unbroken wilderness, and the soil was covered with a dense
1 Summary View of Facts, &c., p. 3; Pouchot's Introd. xxxvii; Letter to Two Great Men, 16; Bancroft, iv. 73.
2 Bollan's Letter of April 25, 1750, in MSS. Letters and Papers, 1721- 1760, fols. 191, 192, in Mass. Hist.
Soc. Coll. ; Mems. of the English and French Commissioners concerning the Limits of Nova Scotia, &c., ed. 1755; Hutchinson, iii. 15 ; Chalmers, Revolt, ii. 260; History of the War, 7.
3 History of the War, 6; Halibur- ton's N. S. i. 137 ; Bancroft, iv. 45.
169
SETTLEMENT OF HALIFAX.
growth of evergreens, - the spruce, the fir, and the murmuring CHAP. pine, - whose spiry tops pierced the clouds, and whose spread- VII. ing limbs, bearded with moss which hung in thick festoons from 1750. the pendulous branches, shaded the ground in every direction, giving to the scenery an aspect of gloom to which the emi- grants, removed from a cultivated district, where verdant lawns stretched far away, bordered with the graceful beech or the drooping elm, were wholly unaccustomed. Nature ap- peared to them in her wildest form ; and the sullen roar of the waves, as they dashed upon the rock-bound coast, was less sweet music to their ears than the chimes of the bells of their native village, or the cawing of the rooks that lodged in the groves.
Undaunted by the prospect before them, clearings were speedily made ; buildings were erected with materials brought from New England ; and before winter set in the people were comfortably settled ; a government was established ; and pro- visions were made for the employment of all, until the warmth of the spring permitted the renewal of their labors. Thus sprang into being the first town of English origin east of the Penobscot.1
The French were not idle while these movements were pro- gressing. Indeed, before the arrival of Cornwallis, they had taken possession of Chiegnecto, now Fort Lawrence, near Chi-' bucto, and erected a fort; and they claimed the River St. John, and all Acadia as far as Penobscot. Immediately the Acadians, who were of French descent, and who for forty years had acknowledged themselves subjects of England, declared 1710-50. their revolt, and their adherence to France ; upon which Corn- wallis wrote in pressing terms to Spencer Phips, to invoke aid 1749. Dec. 18. from Massachusetts ; but, though his honor recommended to the General Court the necessary measures to enable him to comply with this request, the court declined seconding his
1 Haliburton's N. S. i. 136-142 ; Bancroft, iv. 44-46; Hildreth, ii. 435.
170
CHARACTER OF SHIRLEY.
CHAP. proposals, and the English commander was left to depend on VII. his own resources.1
1750.
June 9.
The renown acquired by Governor Shirley in the capture of Louisburg awakened in his mind an earnest desire to gather fresh laurels on the same field of action ; and, as the failure of the commission for the adjustment of boundaries seemed ominous of a renewal of hostilities, he was by no means reluc- tant to hasten on a war which presented a prospect of for- warding his own interests. A gentleman of great political sagacity, and of indefatigable industry ; the eulogist of Cum- berland, of Bedford, and of Halifax ; ardent, intriguing, and of a boundless ambition ; possessing a singular capacity for framing, if not for executing, stupendous designs ; cautious in his movements ; regular in his habits ; and fond of the disci- pline of military life, - these qualities, joined to his power of imposing upon the credulity of others by an affectation of superior wisdom, gave him great influence both at home and abroad. Standing, also, foremost on the list of colonels in the army ; regarded with confidence by the English government as well as by his own ; and having paid great attention to the condition of all the colonies, he expected, in case of war, to be promoted at once to the charge of a regiment, if not to be made a general officer. Hence, in his despatches to England, he not only urged the necessity of opposing the designs of the French, and destroying their settlements at the eastward, but, in his speeches at home, he recommended to Massachusetts to extend her settlements into such parts of that territory as were obviously included in the provincial charter, to be beforehand with her rivals, and to frustrate their schemes.2
April. 1749.
The possessions of the French at the eastward were much more extensive than those of the English. In Acadia, they
1 Mass. Archives; History of the 2 Hutchinson, iii. 18; 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 69; Chalmers, Revolt, ii. 259.
War, p. 7; Hutchinson, iii. 12, 13; Haliburton's N. S. i .; Minot, i. 132,
133; Bancroft, iv. 67-72.
171
MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH.
had seized upon the isthmus near Bay Verte, and had built a CHAP. fort, which secured the passage to Quebec without going upon VII. the ocean. Some thirteen miles distant, towards Chiegnecto, 1749. they had a block house ; and three miles farther on they had a large and strong fort, mounting upwards of thirty guns, within half a mile of the basin of Chiegnecto, at the bottom of the Bay of Fundy. Upon the St. John's they had also built two forts before the peace of Utrecht, which were now repaired and strengthened; and there was a rumor, which obtained credit, though unfounded, that they had begun a settlement upon the Kennebec, which secured to them the carrying place from that river to the Chaudière. The garrisons at these sta- tions were not, indeed, large; nor were any of the forts of sufficient strength to withstand a long siege. But the indomi- table activity of the French, and their influence with the Indian tribes, whose passions they could easily inflame, and whose war chiefs they could readily induce to grasp again the tomahawk, made them a formidable foe ; and the facilities of communica- tion from one point to another enabled them to concentrate their forces wherever an attack was threatened with great expedition. For these reasons, the difficulties to be encoun- tered in dislodging them from the country were much greater than they would have been had the English been well fortified in the parts which they occupied, and had they paid equal . attention to the formation of a chain of posts, not distantly separated from each other, and easily accessible.1
Nor was it at the east alone that clouds were gathering. It was well known that, for years past, the French had been active at the west and at the south. Before the war of 1744, they had thrown up fortifications upon the back of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, as well as near the crest of the
1 MS. Report, s. d., in MS. Let- relating to Cape Breton, &c., by an impartial Frenchman, Lond. 1760, p. 294 ; Hutchinson, iii. 19.
ters and Papers, 1721-1760, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. ; Letters and Mems.
172
THE FRENCH COLONIES.
CHAP. Green Mountains, in Vermont ; and, stretching from these VII. points across the country by the way of Detroit to the banks
1749. of the Illinois, and down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mex- ico, they had sent out exploring parties, and established mili- tary posts and magazines of stores, so that the frontiers of the English were surrounded with their intrenchments, designed as a bulwark against British ambition.1
1754.
Such was the state of affairs at the opening of the year 1754. The progress of the English colonies had been so rapid, and their growth so unparalleled in the annals of history, that America was beginning to attract a degree of attention which had not been heretofore bestowed upon her territory ; and, as the importance of the settlements, in both a military and a commercial point of view, could not but be evident to every one who considered their position, the difficulties with France, which were upon the eve of convulsing the country to its centre, to the eye of the philosopher opened, in the future, a prospect of surpassing interest, and promised results whose importance was not circumscribed by the narrow limits of one generation, but which have reached onwards to our own day, and which will continue to be felt so long as free institutions shall be supported in this land.
The difference in the condition of the colonies of France and of England is worthy of notice. All the possessions of France in America were united under one governor, whose power was nearly as absolute as the power of the king. The genius of the people and of the government was military ; and the blighting influence of feudal organization extended over the whole country. The priest, the soldier, and the noble ruled in Canada ; the habitans were in a state of abject servi- tude. The hardy coureurs des bois, who roamed over the delightful regions extending from the great lakes to the banks
1 Letters and Mems. relating to 17; Hutchinson, iii. 19; Minot, i. Cape Breton, 295 ; Burr's Discourse, 181; N. Am. Rev. for July, 1839.
173
THE ENGLISH COLONIES.
of the Father of Waters, enjoyed, indeed, a degree of inde- CHAP. pendence during their wanderings ; but at home, in the winter VII. season, when confined to their wigwams, they were scarcely the 1754. same beings, but submitted with listlessness to the sway of the priesthood. The Indians were the natural allies of the French. Living with them on terms of familiar intercourse, speaking their language, adopted into their tribes, and cohabiting with their squaws, the lower order of the white population of Canada became deeply enamoured of the charms of a forest life ; and by this means a connecting link was formed between the races, of which the Jesuits availed themselves to strengthen the bonds of union, and to secure the cooperation of those whose modes of warfare, secret and cunning, rendered them dangerous as foes, but valuable as allies, and serviceable in forwarding their schemes of aggrandizement.1
The British colonies, on the other hand, were scattered over a wide extent of territory, and were divided into distinct and independent governments. Unaccustomed to act in concert, save where a mutual confederacy or a particular exigency joined together a few neighbors, each had its own ends to serve and its own interests to advance. They were more nearly agreed in their jealousy of English encroachment, though all acknowledged allegiance to the crown, and unitedly repudiated the charge of disloyalty. In different parts of the ' country dissimilar languages were spoken, indicative of the various origin of the emigrants. From Germany, from Swe- den, and from Holland, as well as from England, had come those who settled the regions bordering upon the Atlantic ; and they brought with them to these shores the manners and customs of the land of their birth, and the opinions and preju- dices to which they had been accustomed. They harmonized chiefly in one purpose- of possessing and subduing the fair fields before them, and of wresting from the soil by diligent
1 Minot, i. 177, 178.
174
COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES.
CHAP. labor, and from the ocean by an extended commerce, the means VII. of subsistence for themselves and their families. Their inter- 1754. course with the Indians was less cordial than that of the French. There were few points of affinity between them, and they had few interests in common. In rare cases they lived in proximity without collision ; but nearly every where their paths were different, and the red man had little sympathy with the pale face, who was driving him back from his accustomed haunts to a new home in the pathless forests of the distant west.1
A war between England and France seemed inevitable. 1752. Hostilities, indeed, had already commenced at the south ; and the English traders among the Twigtwees, near the Miami, whom Gist had recently visited, being accused of invading the territory of the French, they were seized as prisoners and taken to Presqu'Isle, where a strong fort was building.2 In the 1753. Oct. 30. following year, a letter was sent by Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, to St. Pierre, the commander of the French forces on the Ohio, requiring him to withdraw from the dominions of Dec. 15. England ; and upon his refusal to comply, instant complaint 1754. was made to the court of Great Britain, and a body of troops, Feb. three hundred in number,3 was ordered to be raised for the protection of the frontiers. In this expedition George Wash- ington, then just twenty-two, commenced his military career ; and the youthful Virginian, whose days had been spent in the peaceful pursuit of a surveyor of lands, promptly responded to the call of his country, and was appointed lieutenant colonel of the troops raised for the public defence. Little did he
1 Minot, i. 178, 179.
Olden Times, ii. 9, 10; Plain Facts, 42; Ramsay's Am. Rev. 36; Sparks's Franklin, iv. 71, 330; Sparks's Washington ; N. Am. Rev. for July, 1839 ; Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, 87.
3 Two companies of 100 men each were first ordered to be raised, the one by Captain Trent and the other by
Major Washington, who was to com- mand the whole. Afterwards, 100 more were raised, and the command of the whole was given to Colonel Joshua Fry ; and Washington was ap- pointed lieutenant colonel, and made second in command. Sparks's Wash- ington, ii. 1-4, notes ; Sargent's Brad- dock's Expedition, 40.
175
WASHINGTON AT FORT NECESSITY.
foresee the consequences which were to result from this move- CHAP. ment ; little did his associates dream of the honors which VII. awaited him in the future. Then was the seed sown ; the har- 1754. vest was not far distant.1
It was late in the spring, when the wild flowers covered the May 1. sides of the Alleghanies and the birds were chanting their merriest songs, that the little army, led by the gallant officer who had already won golden opinions by his bravery and merit, took up its line of march towards the head quarters of the enemy. At the end of four weeks a skirmish occurred, in May 28. which ten of the French, under Jumonville, were killed, and twenty-one made prisoners.2 While waiting for reënforce- ments, the victors intrenched themselves at the Great Meadows, and gave to their stronghold the name of Fort Necessity. Soon an alarm was spread that several hundred French and July 1. Indians were advancing from the Ohio,3 and two days after an July 3. engagement ensued. The English were but a handful com- pared to their assailants; but when was ever true courage known to shrink from even a superior force ? The action lasted nine hours, during which nearly two hundred of the French and their allies were slain. The situation of Washing- ton was perilous ; and, hemmed in on every side, he found himself compelled to yield, and to submit to the terms which were harshly imposed and shamefully broken. Thus the banks, of the Ohio remained in the possession of the French ; forts were built to secure their advantage ; the Indians were con- firmed in their defection from the English ; and the frontiers were again exposed to their ravages.4
1 Plain Facts, 45, 46; Ramsay's Am. Rev. 37; Chalmers, Revolt, ii. 264-267; 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 70-75; Gordon's Am. Rev. i. 88; Sparks's Washington, ii. 1, 431, 446; Sparks's Franklin, iii. 251-263; N. Am. Rev. for July, 1839 ; Lord Mahon's Hist. Eng. i. 307, note.
2 On this affair, see Sparks's Wash- ington, ii. 26, &c.
3 Sargent, Hist. Braddock's Exped. 49, 50, says this intelligence was re- ceived June 29, while Washington was at Gist's plantation ; and July 1, his troops returned to the Great Meadows.
4 Pouchot's Mems. i. 14-17 ; Hist. of the War, 18, 19; 1 M. H. Coll. vi. 138-144, and vii. 73, 74; Chalmers, Revolt, ii. 268, 269; Minot, i. 184;
-
176
A PROVINCIAL CONGRESS CALLED.
1753. Aug. 28 and Sep. 19. 1754. Jun. 14.
CHAP. VII. Representations had by this time been made to the English government of the necessity of union in the colonies to resist the aggressions of the French ; 1 and, approving the plan, a " grand congress of commissaries," or delegates from the sev- eral provinces, was appointed to be held at Albany, as well to treat with the Six Nations, whose alliance it was important to secure,2 as to concert a scheme for a general union of the Brit- ish colonies. Already, by the statesmen of America,3 had sim- ilar proposals been made ; and Benjamin Franklin, the "Pro- metheus of modern times," 4 a native of Boston, but a resident of Philadelphia ; like Washington, distinguished for his per- sonal merit, and, like Washington, imbued with a glowing devotion to liberty ; ingenious, persevering, and profoundly sagacious ; whose attainments in natural science had attracted the attention of the philosophers of the old world, and whose brilliant speculations in political science were destined to be equally conspicuous ; inspired by the genius of advancing civ- ilization, had wrought out in his own mind problems of sublime interest for his country and the world, and was busied in sketching the outlines of a confederacy which should unite the whole American people upon the broad basis of common inter- ests and a mutual dependence. " A voluntary union," said he, " entered into by the colonies themselves, would be preferable to one imposed by Parliament ; for it would be, perhaps, not much more difficult to procure, and more easy to alter and
1753. March.
Sparks's Washington, ii. 474 et seq. ; Bancroft, iv. 116-121; Conspiracy of Pontiac, 88, 89; Warburton's Con- quest of Canada, ii. 7-10; Sargent's Braddock's Expedition, 49-55. "This skirmish," says Lord Mahon, " of small importance, perhaps, in itself, was yet among the principal causes of the war. It is no less memorable as the first appearance in the pages of history of one of their brightest orna- ments - of that great and good man, General Washington." Ilist. Eng- land, i. 294, Appleton's ed.
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