The Trans-Atlantic Problem: Great Britain, France, Spain. page 2

In 1755 two regiments took ship at Cork for Virginia, the 44th and the 48th, under the command of General Braddock, a veteran officer. The British colonists and the home-government at this time, on the eve of the Seven Years' War, aimed at the possession of Fort Duquesne, a standing menace to Virginia and Pennsylvania; of Crown Point and Ticonderoga, bases for operations against New York and other colonies; of Fort Niagara, commanding the northwestern trade in furs; of Louisbourg, lately captured and foolishly restored; and of Quebec, the key to the St. Lawrence and the chief stronghold of Canada. The disastrous issue of Braddock's march against Fort Duquesne is well known. Ambushed Indians and French Canadians destroyed two-thirds of the force, with the loss of all the cannon, baggage, and stores, and the military chest. Braddock died a few days later of his wounds. An expedition against Fort Niagara was abandoned, on the desertion of the colonial militia, and the hostile attitude of the Iroquois. Three months later, in September, British credit was partly restored in the severe repulse, near Lake George, of a strong force of French regulars, Canadians, and Indians, by New England militia under the able colonial leader William Johnson, who received a baronetcy for his success.

In 1756 the marquis de Montcalm arrived as commander of the French forces. He was a man in the prime of life, of high repute for skill and courage, and he brought with him two battalions of royal troops, a large supply of warlike stores, and an able second-in-command, the Chevalier de Levis, a brave officer who had fought at Dettingen. Montcalm soon made his presence felt by his British opponents. Fort Oswego, on the south-eastern shore of Lake Ontario, was attacked and taken with 1,600 prisoners, seven small men-of-war, 200 barges, 100 cannon, and a large supply Of stores The person chiefly responsible for this disgrace was the incompetent commander of the British forces in America, the earl of Loudon, who had ample resources at his disposal. Another discreditable failure came in 1757, when a powerful armament, including many sail of the line and some frigates, with 6,000 troops, was assembled at Halifax, Nova Scotia, for an attack on Quebec, and broke up in the autumn without producing any effect except a general impression of the utter incapacity of the direction of British naval and military affairs. Before a change came, more disasters were to try the patience of the British public at home. In July, 1757, a small British force, moving on Ticonderoga, was almost destroyed by an Indian ambush. In August, Fort William Henry, at the southern end of Lake George, was captured, after bombardment, by Montcalm, and over 2,000 British troops, with their arms and colours, marched out on condition of not serving in the war for 18 months. Many of the men, with women and children, were slain by the Indians, after surrender in presence of the French force, though Montcalm and De Levis used all efforts to save them, short of directing the weapons of French soldiers against their Indian allies. In July, 1758, General Abercrombie advanced from Albany against Ticonderoga, at the head of the largest army ever gathered in America. The force was composed of above 6,000 regulars, including the Royal Highlanders, or 42nd regiment, afterwards famous as the "Black Watch," and about the same number of the New York and New England militia. The fort was defended by Montcalm with 3,500 regular troops, and, in the lack of heavy guns to destroy the works or effect a serviceable breach, it was vainly assailed by the British infantry. Nearly 2,000 men were killed and wounded, including 500 of the 42nd regiment. In other quarters matters had a different issue.

A new man had come to the front in Great Britain, William Pitt the elder, afterwards earl of Chatham. This noble patriot, directing foreign affairs in nominal subordination to a corrupt and incapable premier, the duke of Newcastle, was something different from "a lath painted to resemble iron." He was not a man to write state-papers arguing ably for his country's side in a dispute, and then yield every point at issue by a policy of "graceful concession." Capable of choosing fit men to do the country's work by sea and land, he had an ardent soul whose fire seemed to kindle the spirit of every officer and man, every sailor, ship's boy, and marine. Hurling proud defiance at the foes of Great Britain, he followed up words with blows of dire effect, and turned a scene of discomfiture and discredit into an arena of complete victory, where the foundation of a grand colonial dominion was laid. Pitt, resolved to annihilate French power in America, would not fail for lack of sufficient force. The American colonies were requested to supply 20,000 men, and about 12,000 regular troops were dispatched from England on transports convoyed by 23 sail of the line and 18 frigates. In charge of the ships was Admiral Boscawen, or "Old Dreadnought," as his men called him from a vessel once under his command. Major-General Amherst, on the recall of Lord Loudon, had become commander-in-chief in America, with James Wolfe as one of his brigadiers, a young officer who had fought at Dettingen and Culloden, and had risen by sheer merit to the command, in 1749, of the 20th of the line, a regiment nobly distinguished, ten years later, at the battle of Minden. Amherst had served at Dettingen and Fontenoy, and in other Continental battles, and had shown ability and the coolness of demeanour essential in a military chief. The first object of attack was Louis-bourg. A landing was made on July 8th, 1758; eight days later, some heights with batteries were stormed. The works were knocked to pieces by bombardment; the French men-of-war in the harbour were all burnt or taken, and on July 27th the renowned fortress surrendered, and with it the island of Cape Breton came finally into British possession. 5,000 soldiers and sailors went as prisoners of war to England; 200 cannon, vast supplies, and n standards were taken, the latter being placed in St. Paul's Cathedral. The works were demolished; Boston and all the New Engenders on the seaboard rejoiced; Louisbourg was a deserted ruin; Halifax became the chief stronghold of the north-east coast. The disaster at Ticonderoga, which had occurred 19 days before the success at Louisbourg, was quickly remedied, though nothing could atone for the loss of the brave Scots and others who had fallen. In August the capture of Fort Frontenac (now Kingston), on the north-east shore of Lake Ontario, ended French supremacy in those waters, and the destruction of great stores of ammunition and food starved the chain of posts in the Ohio valley. In the following November the gallant John Forbes, former colonel of the Scots Greys, and now brigadier under Amherst, with young Colonel Washington in charge of a Virginia regiment, advanced on Fort Duquesne, and found it an abandoned ruin, blackened by the smoke of powder used to destroy works which the French despaired of holding.

The rule of France in the Ohio valley thus came to an end, and the minister at home, the inspiring genius of those who were in the field, was honoured by the change of name to Fort Pitt, on the site of the modern flourishing town of Pittsburg, a Birmingham of the United States.

At the opening of the year 1759 it was clear to competent observers that the French hold on North America was much loosened. The worthless government at home disregarded the brave and able Montcalm's appeals for help. The whole of the males of Canada, from 16 years of age to 60, could not furnish 15,000 fresh men fit for service. There were only a few regiments of royal troops, and these were far below their full strength. The British Parliament, under the impulse of Pitt's commanding spirit, voted abundant funds for the contest, and the royal troops and colonial levies made up more than 50,000 well-equipped soldiers. In June Amherst took the field in force, and found Ticonderoga deserted. Crown Point, also abandoned and destroyed, was restored in a stronger form, and powerful garrisons there and at the former place gave the British firm possession of Lake Champlain. In the west, Fort Niagara, commanding the passage from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, surrendered to Brigadier Prideaux, and all the other western forts in French hands, Detroit alone excepted, were speedily taken. This narrative must now draw to a close with a brief reference to glorious events known to every British schoolboy. The key of French power in North America lay in the town and fortress of Quebec, garrisoned by 13,000 men of every age, including five royal regiments. Pitt was resolved to make an end, and Wolfe was placed in command of 8,000 men, including regiments whose colours showed that they had fought in some or all of Marlborough's great battles, and others that had conquered at Louisbourg. Royal artillery, a body of engineers, and some companies of the "Louisbourg Grenadiers" were included in the force. The fleet numbered 22 ships of the line, and as many more frigates and smaller vessels, commanded with the utmost skill and energy by an almost forgotten British worthy, Admiral Saunders, a fit colleague of Wolfe in professional skill, devotion to duty, and loyal co-operation with his illustrious colleague. He had sailed with Anson round the world; he ended his career as " Admiral of the Fleet": his body lies in Westminster Abbey, near to the monument of Wolfe. Among the officers of the fleet were John Jervis, Earl St. Vincent in later days, as victor over the French in the battle of 1797, and James Cook, of renown in the southern seas. After a repulse near the Montmorency Falls, some miles below Quebec, on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence, Wolfe, worn with anxiety and wasted by disease, with the season so far advanced that the fleet must soon withdraw to avoid the ice-blockade, won immortal fame through the flash of genius which guided him to a landing by a morning surprise on the Plains of Abraham above the town. On September i3th the battle of Quebec was won, both commanders, by an issue of rare occurrence, being mortally wounded. The great Englishman was not 33 years of age. His body lies by his father's side in the vaults of Greenwich church. The gallant Frenchman's remains, those of a noble-minded man, a patriot of incorruptible spirit in an age of baseness among Canadian officials, were buried in the garden of the Ursuline Convent at Quebec. In the public garden overlooking the river, a stately pillar does honour, with a suitable inscription, to the noble pair. The victory in the field was followed five days later, on September 18th, 1759, by the surrender of Quebec, and in Pitt's words of eulogy on Wolfe, "an empire was added to British rule." De Levis, in the spring of 1760, when the British garrison was greatly enfeebled by deaths from cold and disease, and by frost-bite affecting the hands and feet, appeared before the fortress from Montreal, and tempted General Murray to an attack outside, with less than one- third of his enemy's force. The British, 3,000 strong, were out flanked and beaten after a desperate two hours' battle, losing six guns and nearly 1,200 men killed and wounded. The issue of the struggle was not affected by this event. The works of Quebec were far too strong for an assault, and the arrival of a British fleet, when navigation was opened, drove the French back to Montreal. In the summer, the advance of three strong armies from the south and east-by Lake Champlain and the river Richelieu; under Murray from Quebec, up the St. Lawrence; and under Amherst, by way of the Mohawk and Oswego rivers—made the French position at Montreal hopeless. De Vaudreuil, the governor of Canada, had 2,000 disheartened men against eight times that number surrounding a weak place, and he sensibly and honourably surrendered on terms which made Canada a province subject to the British Crown. A census showed the population of the colony to be a little over 76,000. A month later, on October 25th, 1760, George III. became king, and in February, 1763, the Peace of Paris finally ceded Canada, Nova Scotia or Acadie, including New Brunswick, and Cape Breton, and all other islands in the gulf and river of St. Lawrence, with the reservation to France of certain rights as to fishing and drying fish near and on Newfoundland, and of the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as fishing-stations. Everything west of the mid-Mississippi was also surrendered, except New Orleans. Spain, which had also been at war with Great Britain, received back Havana, in Cuba, and ceded Florida and all other territories east of the Mississippi; while France, by a separate treaty, gave up New Orleans and the whole of Louisiana, then a vast vague southern territory, to Spain. The number of inhabitants in the 13 British colonies had by this time reached nearly 2,000,000. We need,only here further record that in the "Pontiac war" of 1763, an Ottawa chief of that name, a firm friend of the French, formed a combination of several tribes, and seized many forts on the Canada to Mississippi frontier; but the whole movement was ultimately suppressed, by able military work under Colonel Bouquet, and by the skilful negotiations conducted by Sir William Johnson.