USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the provincial period. 1692-1775 v. II > Part 22
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1 Mortimer, Hist. Eng. iii. 605, says Abercrombie's army consisted of 7000 regulars and 10,000 provin- cials.
2 Grenville Corresp. i. 261, 262; Review of Pitt's Administration, 50 ;
Bute to Pitt, Aug. 20, 1758, in Chat- ham Corresp. i. 335; Mass. Rec's ; Hutchinson, iii. 71; Minot, ii. 39. This monument was placed in West- minster Abbey, the resting-place of the worthies of England.
232
ITS FAILURE.
CHAP. VIII. The next morning, Abercrombie, a victim to "the extremest fright and consternation," drew back to the landing-place ; but 1758. July 7. the gallant Bradstreet, ever active, pushed forward with a strong detachment, the British general reluctantly followed, and that night the army encamped a mile and a half from the July 8. enemy. On the following day, at an early hour, Clark, the chief engineer, was sent to reconnoitre ; his report was favor- able, and it was resolved to proceed. Stark, of New Hamp- shire, and Rogers, the ranger, saw finished works where their comrades saw only an incomplete breastwork ; but the orders were given, and the attack began. The result was fatal. Montcalm, at first irresolute, saw the mistake of his assailants, and was prepared to meet them. As the English drew near, pushing forward in hot haste to open the action, a murderous fire poured in upon them, which mowed down officers and men by hundreds. Abercrombie, intimidated, withdrew to a place of safety. In vain did the intrepid Highlanders charge for three hours, without confusion or faltering, hewing with their broadswords a passage among the branches, and striving to retrieve the fortunes of the day. Two thousand were killed or wounded in the battle ; the survivors were panic-struck, and rushed hastily to the boats ; nor did they pause in their retreat until again far out on the bosom of Lake George.1 The reduc- July 25 tion of Fort Frontenac by Bradstreet, which shortly followed, to 28. was but a partial atonement for the failure of Abercrombie. His expedition was abortive; the situation of the troops was embarrassing in the extreme ; and well might the government gloomily ask, What will the next year bring forth ? 2
Three expeditions were planned for that year, centring upon Quebec, the "palladium of Canada," itself the citadel of the French dominions. The first was to proceed through the River
1 Letter of Oliver Partridge, of July 12, 1758, in Williams's MSS. ii. 77; Pouchot's Mems. i. 134-159; Rogers's Journal, 111-120; Hutchin- son, iii. 70-74 ; Smith's N. Y. ii. 265,
266; Warburton's Conquest of Cana- da, ii. 84-97.
2 Letter of William Williams, of Sept. 8, in Williams's MSS. ii. 85.
233
PLANS FOR THE ENSUING CAMPAIGN.
St. Lawrence ; the second was to cross Lake Champlain ; the CHAP. third was to attempt the reduction of Niagara, cross Lake VIII. Ontario, embark on the St. Lawrence, and proceed to Montreal. 1759. In the arrangements for this campaign, not esteeming, like many ministers, the " Army List " as an unerring guide, Pitt disregarded seniority of rank, and conferred appointments upon the ablest men.1 Stanwix, after whom Fort Stanwix was named, a daring, intrepid, and resolute officer, was to occupy the posts from Pittsburg to Lake Erie ; "Prideaux, whose name is preserved in Prideaux's Landing, was to reduce Fort Niag- ara, in conjunction with Johnson ; Amherst, now commander- in-chief, at the head of twelve thousand men, was to advance to Lake Champlain ; and the gallant Saunders, a " pattern of most sturdy bravery, united with the most unaffected modesty," was to support the attack on Quebec; while Wolfe, " the im- mortal," was to command the army in the River St. Lawrence. All these movements were esteemed of great consequence, and, if judiciously conducted, it was thought could scarcely fail of success.2 France saw her danger, and despaired of preserving Canada. Montcalm had informed Belle Isle that, without unexpected good fortune, Canada must be taken this year or the next. The country was in an impoverished condition, and its energies were exhausted. With a population of less than fourscore thousand, only seven thousand of whom were fit for service, and the eight French battalions numbering but thirty-two hundred men, -what were these to the fifty thou- sand of England and her colonies ? Besides, famine still raged ; the fields were hardly cultivated; and old men and women, and even little children, were compelled to engage in tilling the soil, and reaping the scanty harvest upon which they were to depend ; for supplies were cut off by the vigilance
1 Letter of Pitt, of Dec. 9, 1758, in Trumbull MSS. i. 137; Lord Mahon's Hist. Eng. ii. 378.
2 Military critics, indeed, have cen- sured the plan of the prime minister
as imprudent, (see Smollett's Hist. Eng. b. iii. c. xi. ยง 13;) "but," says Lord Mahon, (Hist. Eng. ii. 379,) " let it never be forgotten how much easier it is to cavil than to act."
234
SIEGE OF FORT NIAGARA.
CHAP. of the English. By the fall of Louisburg and the reduction VIII. of Acadia, the high road of the St. Lawrence lay open to the 1759. British ; and the capture of Fort Du Quesne had given them the command of the valley of the Ohio. Hence the Canadian French were isolated from all aid, and confined within the lim- its of the country they occupied.1
The policy of England in making liberal appropriations for the conduct of the war was an encouragement to the colonies to continue their enlistments. Nearly seven thousand men were raised by Massachusetts ; Connecticut sent five thousand into the field ; and the other northern colonies put forth their best exertions for strengthening the army. It has been estimated that, in all, nearly twenty-five thousand men were furnished by the colonies, and that England furnished twenty-five thousand more.2 The expense of the war to Massachusetts alone, for 1758, was over a hundred and fifty thousand pounds ; 3 and the burden upon the other colonies was proportionally great. The exertions of the colonies, therefore, under these circumstances, evince their loyalty. The colonies to the south, though equally interested, had done less for carrying on the war. The insti- tution of slavery crippled their energies, and rendered it dan- gerous to enlist many whites.4
The brigade of Prideaux was the first to engage actively. July 1. At the opening of July, he embarked on Lake Ontario, with two battalions from New York, a battalion of Royal Ameri- cans, and two British regiments, with a detachment of artillery, and the Indians under Sir William Johnson. Pouchot was the commandant at Fort Niagara, and the place was speedily in- July 15. vested. In the midst of the siege Prideaux was killed by the bursting of a cohorn ; the command devolved upon Sir William July 25. Johnson ; and ten days after the garrison capitulated. This
1 Pouchot's Mems. i. 178 et seq. ; Walpole's George II. 394; Warbur- ton's Conquest of Canada, ii. 108.
2 Trumbull MSS. i. 142.
3 Mass. Rec's ; Minot, ii. 49.
4 Trumbull's Connecticut, ii. 371; Bancroft, iv. 224.
235
EXPEDITION TO CROWN POINT.
victory was so decisive that the officers and troops sent by CHAP. Stanwix from Pittsburg took possession of the French posts as VIII.
far as Erie without resistance ; and the English were masters 1759. of Niagara River and of Lake Erie. Colonel Gage, who was sent to succeed Prideaux, was intrusted to take the fort at La Gallette ; but so many difficulties attended the attempt that it was laid aside, and no assistance was afforded to the army at Quebec from that quarter.1
In the mean time General Amherst left New York for Apr. 28. Albany, and, upon his arrival, busied himself in preparations May 3. for transporting his troops to Lake George. Tedious delays attended this movement; but at length, towards the last of Jun. 21. June, he reached the lake, and immediately traced out the ground for a fort. Four weeks later all was in readiness ; his July 21. army, numbering eleven thousand men, embarked upon the waters, and the next day landed near the site of Abercrombie's former encampment.
Conscious of his inability to sustain a protracted siege, Bour- lamarque, the commandant at Ticonderoga, silently abandoned the fort, leaving every gun loaded and pointed, several mines July 23. charged for the destruction of the defences, and a lighted fire communicating with the magazine. Two days after, in the July 26. night, an awful explosion rent the air ; and, from under the cloud of smoke and the shower of embers, the flames of the breastworks flashed upon the sky, while at intervals, "from the mass of fire, the yellow flash of the bursting guns and the ex- ploding mines varied the tints of the light that fell far and near upon the lake and the forest." 2
Five days later Crown Point was abandoned ; and the Aug. 1. French retreated to intrench themselves at Isle-aux-Noix, with Aug.16. three thousand five hundred men and one hundred cannon.
1 Pouchot's Mems. ii. 15-131; 293 ; Smith's N. Y. ii. 275.
Hist. of the War, 190-192; Review of Pitt's Administration, 107; Hutch- inson, iii. 77; Chalmers, Revolt, ii.
2 Pouchot's Mems. ii. 13, 14; Ro- gers's Journal, 138-142.
236
THE ATTEMPT ON QUEBEC.
CHAP. The position they had taken gave them the command of the VIII. entrance to the Richelieu River - the most vulnerable, and at 1759. the same time the most vital, part of Canada. Amherst, in- stead of instantly proceeding to attack this post, contented himself with his present advantages ; and all August, and the month of September, and ten days of October passed before he embarked. Then messages from Quebec arrived, which caused him to turn back, having done nothing but occupy and repair deserted forts.1
The fleet under Sir Charles Saunders, and the army under Feb. Wolfe, left England in February, and arrived before Quebec Jun. 26. the latter part of June. The army of Wolfe, landed on the Isle of Orleans, consisted of eight regiments, two battalions of Royal Americans, three companies of rangers, artillery, and a brigade of engineers - in all, about eight thousand men. The fleet under Saunders comprised twenty-two ships of the line, and as many frigates and armed vessels. A noble spectacle this armament presented, as the ships of war, with sails furled and pennons streaming, lay at anchor with the numerous transports, and as the white tents, in which the troops were lodged, stretched across the island. But far more imposing, to the eye of Wolfe, was the appearance of the fortress he was about to besiege, with its frowning bastions and its array of batteries bristling with guns. What though a storm burst over his head as he gazed upon that scene, and the teeming rain fell like a veil between him and the shore? What though the lightning hissed through the air, and transports and boats were dashed frightfully together ? What though the enemy launched fire ships, to light up with lurid glare the bosom of the waters, for the destruction of the fleet ? The gallant commander was not
1 Pouchot's Mems. ii. 14. The occurrences of this campaign, slight as they were, called forth the warmest eulogiums from Pitt. " If it was in Vigetius," cried he, "all the world
would admire ; it is in America, and nobody regards it." Lord Orford's Memoirs, ii. 398 ; Lord Mahon's Eng. ii. 381.
237
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE SIEGE.
one of those who "fret at trifles, and quarrel with their CHAP. toothpicks." 1 The storm could not quench his courage ; the VIII. lightning flash but stimulated his zeal. The fire ships were 1759. repulsed ; and, after the excitement of the hour abated, the " All is well " of the British seamen greeted his ears like music from home.
The arrangements for the siege were rapidly pushed ; but the obstacles to be encountered were many and various. Point Levi was soon occupied ; and from this post heavy ordnance Jun. 30. played upon the city with ruinous effect. Strong intrenchments were likewise thrown up on the westernmost point of the Island of Orleans ; and the safety of the fleet in the basin was assured. A few days later Wolfe encamped upon the eastern July 9. bank of the Montmorenci, whose beautiful fall is second in interest only to Niagara. From the batteries at these places an incessant fire of guns and mortars was poured upon the city and upon the French lines to the westward. The lower town was much damaged ; and a fire broke out in the upper July 16. town where a shell had fallen.
July and August passed thus away. At length, early in September, Wolfe himself discovered the cove which bears his Sept. 9. name, where the bending promontories form a basin, over which the hill rises precipitously. A path, so narrow that two men could hardly walk in it abreast, led to its top. Here he , resolved to surprise the city. On the twelfth of the month Sep. 12. he issued his last orders, and by one o'clock on the morning of the thirteenth every thing was in readiness. Silently and swiftly the boats dropped down the stream, favored by the darkness and by a flowing tide. As they moved on, the young general, whose mind was full, repeated the lines from Gray's Elegy, prophetic of the fate to which he was hasten- ing : -
1 Wolfe to his mother, Nov. 6, 1751, quoted in Lord Mahon's Hist. Eng. i. 377.
238
CAPTURE OF QUEBEC.
CHAP. VIII.
1759.
"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inexorable hour - The path of glory leads but to the grave."
Sept. 13. In a short time the boats landed, and the ascent commenced. When morning broke, the army of Wolfe stood upon the Plains of Abraham, ready for battle. Montcalm was bewil- dered when he learned of their presence ; but at once he resolved to give them battle. Before midday the battle com- menced ; before nightfall it was over. Wolfe and Montcalm were both mortally wounded; the former expired the same day, the latter on the day following. Quebec was taken, and the key of Canada was in the hands of the English. When the tidings reached Boston, they were received with unusual demonstrations of joy. Bonfires blazed from every hill ; every pulpit applauded Wolfe's bravery ; every paper scattered the news ; legislatures vied with each other in congratulatory re- solves. In England, the nation triumphed at the victory its general had achieved ; the nation mourned his early decease. France was in double mourning - for the loss of her general, and for the loss of her possessions.1
1760. The attempt of De Levi to regain Quebec was unsuccessful. May. " The smiles of fortune were turned to frowns." France was not destined to be again mistress of that fortress; and its capture resulted in the downfall of her dominions in the west. Sept. 9. Amherst closed the war by the reduction of Montreal ; and the Marquis de Vaudreuil signed the capitulation which sepa- rated Canada from France forever. Thus the French war was principally ended so far as America was concerned. Peace was not declared until 1763 ; but in the north hostilities had ceased nearly three years before.
1 Pouchot's Mems. ii. 131-150; of the War, 171-189; Mortimer's Eng. iii. 655-663 ; Grahame, ii .; Lord Mahon's Eng. ii. 381-390 ; Warbur- ton's Conquest of Canada, ii. 171-222.
Grenville Corresp. i. passim ; Chatham Corresp. i. 425 et seq. ; Review of Pitt's Administration, 93-106; Hist.
239
CLOSE OF THE WAR.
The cost of the war to England was enormous - amounting, CHAP. in all, to seventy millions sterling. The cost to the colonies VIII. was proportionally great; and Massachusetts lavished her 1759. treasure and strength for the conquest of Canada. The effect of that conquest upon the destinies of the colonies will appear hereafter. It was the preparatio libertatis - the stepping-stone to the revolution ; and officers were trained in all parts of the country to take charge of the armies of the thirteen United Colonies, enrolled under Washington as commander-in-chief.
CHAPTER IX.
CONTESTS WITH THE CROWN.
CHAP. IX.
1748 to
1763.
ENGLAND lost her colonies by the mismanagement of her ministers. It can hardly be supposed that the bulk of the nation was hostile to America, for the ties of relationship be- tween the countries were too strong to admit of such feelings. Natives of England were frequently passing from the old world to the new ; and many descendants of the original planters returned to the mother country and to the homes of their ancestors. To visit England was to go home; and when those who had been born on these shores crossed the Atlantic, and landed at London, or Bristol, or Plymouth, they did not feel that they had landed among strangers, but among those of their own nation, who spoke the same language and owned the! same kindred. There could not be, on either side of the ocean, any extensive alienation of feeling. True, differences of religious opinion have been fruitful of discord in the world ; and divisions have been produced by such differences in fami- lies and among nations. But the Americans were Protestants as well as the English ; and if a majority of the former were dissenters from the ritual of the Anglican church, the doctrines professed by that church were generally received. It can never be believed that the English, as a people, were unfriendly to America ; and if alienation of feeling led to a rupture be- tween the colonies and the crown, there must have been a cause for that alienation, for which rulers were chiefly respon- sible. And the history of the times abundantly proves that the counsellors of the king, like the counsellors of Achitophel, were unworthy of his confidence and traitors to his interests.
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241
CONTESTS WITH THE CROWN.
From the settlement of Massachusetts, there were not want- CHAP. ing men, neither friends to the colony nor to the English IX. constitution, who busied themselves in secretly traducing and 1748 maliciously representing the loyalty of the people. These 1763. to men could always find others to listen to their tales ; and, under the Stuarts, the mischiefs which sprang from this source threatened serious evils. Those who have been disappointed in the prosecution of their own schemes can seldom wit- ness without envy the successes of others ; and especially if crossed in their purposes, the wound rankles deeper in their breasts, and becomes immedicable. Such was the experience of America at that period ; and, by the machinations of her enemies, Massachusetts lost the charter which, for more than 1684. fifty years, had guarded her liberties and protected her from harm. When a new charter was granted, her enemies revived, 1692. and, ever vigilant to check her prosperity, their schemes for her humiliation were prosecuted afresh. The parties responsi- ble for the measures which followed it is not difficult to desig- nate. Merchants and manufacturers, whose grasping avarice could brook no rivalry, complained of the commercial and industrial prosperity of New England ; aspirants for office, pager for preferment and lacking in principle, echoed these complaints, and deplored the levelling spirit which prevailed ; ind purblind statesmen, destitute of political sagacity, though aunting their superior wisdom, recommended a course of legis- ation based upon false premises, supported by misrepresenta- ions, and enforced with a rigor which begat a retaliatory pirit, and alienated those whom the truly wise would have ought to conciliate, rather than to repel.
Hooker, the great light of English literature, and the de- nder of the "ecclesiastical polity " of the church, declares, lat "the lawful power of making laws to command whole political societies of men belongeth so properly unto the same tire societies, that for any prince or potentate, of what kind ever upon earth, to exercise the same of himself, and not VOL. II. 16
242
CONTESTS WITH THE CROWN.
CHAP. either by express commission immediately and personally re- IX. ceived from God, or else authority received at first from their 1748 to consent upon whose persons they impose laws, - it is no better 1763. than mere tyranny."1 To the correctness of this doctrine the American people readily subscribed ; and the acts of the king and of the Parliament of which they complained were, in their estimation, an infringement of their liberties as Englishmen and as men. The history of that legislation, and of its causes and results, will prepare us to understand the action of the colonies, and will amply defend them from the charge of disloyalty.
The instincts of a whole people may sometimes be wrong ; yet the maxim, Vox populi vox Dei, holds true in general. A few persons may delude themselves with the idea that their rights are invaded, when, in fact, all that has awakened their resentment is that wholesome restraint indispensable to the welfare of every community. But when the public itself rises in its might; when the gifted and the true, as well as the masses, are burning with a sense of overwhelming injustice, and no alternative is left but to resist or be enslaved ; then resistance is lawful - nay, it is imperatively demanded ; and he who would condemn it must do so by a perverse reasoning, against which there is no remedy, and which can only be left to be cured by its own folly. For nearly a century the Amer- ican people were the victims of an oppression as systematic as it was unjust. They were entitled to the rights of Englishmen - to the rights of man. The former were trampled upon ; the latter were denied. English jurisprudence bounded its views of American duty by the narrowest construction of legal fic- tions. It seems never to have entered the minds of the major- ity of British statesmen that there was any thing superior to human constitutions ; nor was the sacredness of compacts strictly regarded. Not only was there a defect in the founda-
1 Eccles. Polity, book viii.
243
RESTRICTION OF COMMERCE.
tion of their reasoning, but the superstructure built upon that CHAP. reasoning was equally defective. A gigantic system of fraud IX. and of wrong was reared, which reached such a height that 1748 the whole political fabric tottered under its weight, and the to 1763.
dismemberment of the colonies was the natural result.
The restriction of commercial and of manufacturing interests was one of the earliest causes of complaint. There has never existed, perhaps, a more energetic people than the original set- tlers of British America. Coming to a new country, which was to be subdued by their toil, and compelled to depend, not upon extraneous aid, but upon their own resources, for success, the efforts they put forth were necessarily vigorous ; nor would their labors have been crowned with such abundant rewards, had it not been for the diligence with which they were prose- cuted. Hence, within fifteen years from the settlement of Boston, the inhabitants of Massachusetts were noted for their enterprise ; they had built up a commerce, both local and for- eign, and had laid the foundation for domestic manufactures.1 And from that time forward these branches of industry were pursued with a zeal which knew no abatement, but which was constantly stimulated by the hope of increased gains ; so that, before the charter fell, merchants and manufacturers began to complain that such " widely-extended traffic, if not checked in season, would not only ruin the trade of this kingdom, but would leave no sort of dependence from that country to this." 2 In consequence of this enterprise, and of the complaints of the disaffected, the commerce of the country was subjected to laws whose authority was resisted and whose constitutionality was denied, though submission was generally, if reluctantly, paid to them.
Before the close of the seventeenth century, at the instance 1696. of Davenant and the principal merchants of Bristol and Liver- pool, the "Board of Trade" was established, to regulate the
1643.
1676.
1 See vol. i. of this work, p. 309.
2 See vol. i. p. 453.
244
THE BOARD OF TRADE.
CHAP. national and colonial commerce. The position of this body, IX. even if the expediency of its establishment is conceded, was 1696. peculiarly unfortunate ; nor were its members, in all cases, distinguished for their wisdom. Framed to promote the commerce of England, which attracted a large share of the attention of the nation, it had yet no executive power, nor could it enforce the regulations it saw fit to adopt. It could only investigate, deliberate, and advise. It could hear com- plaints from whatever source they came, especially from the governors of the colonies ; but it had little responsibility for the measures it proposed. The ministers were the responsible parties, though it was doubtless designed that they should be advised by the lords of trade, and kept properly informed ; but, from the fact that the power of these lords was purposely circumscribed, and their importance could be increased only by alarming the fears or humoring the prejudices of the coun- sellors of the king, they were tempted to give false informa- tion, and to suggest harsh measures, well knowing that either would result in little harm unless the counsellors were deceived by their information, and approved their measures. It must not be supposed, however, that the Board of Trade was utterly powerless to accomplish the purposes for which it was insti- tuted. On the contrary, as the depositary for all complaints from home and from abroad, and as bound to be informed of the state of the colonies in general, and of each province in particular, its archives were loaded with documents of every description, and to this day are valuable for the materials they furnish illustrating the progress of the colonies and the spirit and purposes of their rulers and officers.1
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