The Loyalists of America and Their Times Volume I Part 22

He has taken merely the task of an historian upon him. Considered as such (as far as I can judge), most of the chapters are well written, and in such a way as to be very acceptable to the present age.

"But the freedom he has taken to expose the persecuting principles and practices of the first Planters, both in the body of his history and his abridgment of their laws, has displeased some persons here, and perhaps will be offensive there. I must confess I sent for him this week, and gave him my sense freely on this subject. I could wish he had more modified some of his relations, and had rather left out those laws, or in some page had annexed something to prevent our enemies from insulting both us and you on that subject. His answer was, that 'the fidelity of an historian required him to do what he had done;' and he has, at the end of the first and second volumes, given such a character of the present ministers and inhabitants of the country as may justly secure this generation from all scandal; and that it is a n.o.bler thing to tell the world that you have rectified the errors of your fathers, than if mere education had taught you so large a charity. He told me likewise that he had shown in the preface that all such laws as are inconsistent with the laws of England are, _ipso facto_, repealed by your new Charter. But methinks it would be better to have such cruel and sanguinary statutes as those under the t.i.tle of 'Heresy' repealed in form, and by the public authority of the nation; and if the appearance of this book in your country shall awaken your General a.s.sembly to attempt to fulfil such a n.o.ble piece of service to your country, there will be a happy effect of that part of the history which now makes us blush and be ashamed.

"I have taken the freedom to write a line or two to your most excellent Governor on this subject, which I entreat you to deliver, with my salutation; and I a.s.sure myself that Dr. Mather will have a zealous hand in promoting so gracious a work if it may be thought expedient to attempt it." (Collections of the Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, First Series, Vol. V., pp. 200, 201.)

The "glorious work" advised by Dr. Watts was not "attempted," and the "cruel and persecuting statutes pa.s.sed by the Congregational Court of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay were never repealed by any "public authority" of that colony, but were tacitly annulled and superseded by the provisions of the "new Charter" of King William and Mary in favour of toleration and civil liberty."]

[Footnote 220: History of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, Vol. I., p. 415.]

[Footnote 221: The effect of so much paper was to drive all gold and silver out of circulation, to raise the nominal prices of all commodities, and to increase the rate of exchange on England. Great confusion and perplexity ensued, and the community was divided in opinion, the most being urgent for the issue of more paper money. For this purpose a project was started for a Land-Bank, which was established in Ma.s.sachusetts, the plan of which was to issue bills upon the pledge of lands. All who were in difficulty advocated this, because they hoped that in the present case they might shift their burdens on to some one else. It was then resisted, and another plan was devised and carried (1714), namely, the issuing of 50,000 of bills of credit by Government, to be loaned to individuals at 5 per cent. interest, to be secured by estates, and to be repaid one-fifth part yearly. This quieted the Land-Bank party for a while. But the habit of issuing bills of credit continued, and was very seductive.

"In 1741, Rhode Island issued 40,000 in paper money, to be loaned to the inhabitants. In 1717, New Hampshire issued 15,000 paper money. In 1733, Connecticut issued 20,000 on the loan system for the first time, Rhode Island made another issue of 100,000." (Elliott's New England History, Vol. II., Chap, xii., p. 230.)]

[Footnote 222: History of the Province of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay from 1749 to 1774, p. 1.]

CHAPTER VIII.

Ma.s.sACHUSETTS AND OTHER COLONIES DURING THE SECOND WAR BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE, FROM THE PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, 1748, TO THE PEACE OF PARIS IN 1763.

By the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, France and England retained their respective possessions as they existed before the war. Louisburg, which had been captured from the French in 1745 by the skill of the British Admiral Warren, aided most courageously by the Ma.s.sachusetts volunteers, was therefore restored to the French, much to the regret and mortification of the New England colonies, by whom the enterprise against that powerful and troublesome fortress had first been devised and undertaken. By the treaty between France and England, the boundaries of their possessions in America were left undefined, and were to be settled by Commissioners appointed by the two countries. But the Commissioners, when they met at Paris, could not agree; the questions of these boundaries remained unsettled; and the French in Canada, with the Indians, nearly all of whom were in alliance with them, were constantly making aggressions and committing cruel outrages upon the English colonists in the back parts of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, who felt that their only security for life, property, and liberty was the extinction of French power in America, and the subjection of the Indians by conquest or conciliation. The six years which followed the peace of 1748 witnessed frequent and b.l.o.o.d.y collisions between the English colonists and their French and Indian Canadian neighbours, until, in 1756, England formally declared war against France--a war which continued seven years, and terminated in the extinction of French power in Canada, and in the enlargement of the British possessions from Labrador to Florida and Louisiana, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This war, in its origin and many scenes of its conflicts and conquests, was an American-Colonial war, and the American colonies were the gainers by its results, for which British blood and treasure had been lavishly expended. In this protracted and eventful conflict, the British Government were first prompted and committed, and then n.o.bly seconded by the colonies, Ma.s.sachusetts acting the most prominent part.

The last act of the British Government, pursuant to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, was to restore to the French Government Louisburg, in return for the strongly fortified fort of Madras, which had been wrested from the French by the colonists, a.s.sisted by Admiral Warren with a few English ships in 1745; and the first act of the French Government, after the restoration to them of Louisburg, was to prepare for wresting from Great Britain all her American colonies.[223] They dispatched soldiers and all kinds of military stores; encroached upon and built fortresses in the British province of Nova Scotia, and in the provinces of Pennsylvania and Virginia,[224] and erected a chain of forts, and planted garrisons along the line of the British provinces, from the St. Lawrence to the Ohio river, and thence to the Mississippi.[225]

The only means at the command of Great Britain to counteract and defeat these designs of France to extinguish the English colonies in America was to prevent them from carrying men, cannon, and other munitions of war hither, by capturing their ships thus laden and employed; but the French Government thought that the British Government would not proceed to such extremities, for fear that the former would make war upon the German possessions of the latter, the King of England being the Elector of Hanover. Besides, the proceedings of the French in America were remote and concealed under various pretexts; the French Government could oppose a general denial to the complaints made as to its encroachments on British territory and settlements in the distant wilderness of America; while any attack by England upon French ships at sea would be known at once to all Europe, and excite prejudice against England for such an act in time of peace against a neighbouring nation. The designs and dishonesty of the French Government in these proceedings are thus stated by Rapin:

"Though the French in all their seaports were making the greatest preparations for supporting their encroachments in America, yet the strongest a.s.surances came to England from that Ministry that no such preparations were making, and that no hostility was intended by France against Great Britain or her dependencies. These a.s.surances were generally communicated to the British Ministry by the Duke of Mirepoix, the French Amba.s.sador to London, who was himself so far imposed upon that he believed them to be sincere, and did all in his power to prevent a rupture between the two nations. The preparations, however, were so notorious that they could be no longer concealed, and Mirepoix was upbraided at St. James's with being insincere, and the proofs of his Court's double-dealing were laid before him. He appeared to be struck with them; and complaining bitterly of his being imposed upon, he went in person over to France, where he reproached the Ministry for having made him their tool. They referred him to their King, who ordered him to return to England with fresh a.s.surances of friendship; but he had scarcely delivered them when undoubted intelligence came that a French fleet from Brest and Rochefort was ready to sail, with a great number of land forces on board. The French fleet, which consisted of twenty-five ships of the line, besides frigates and transports, with a vast number of warlike stores, and between three and four thousand land forces, under Baron Dieskau, were ready to sail from Brest, under Admiral Macnamara. Upon this intelligence, Admiral Holbourne was ordered to reinforce Boscawen with six ships of the line and one frigate; and a great number of capital ships were put into commission. It was the 6th May (1755) before Macnamara sailed; but he soon returned with nine of his capital ships, and ordered the rest to proceed under the command of M. Bois de la Mothe.

"When news of so strong a squadron sailing from Brest was confirmed, the people of England grew extremely uneasy for the fate of the squadron under Boscawen and Holbourne; and it was undoubtedly owing to the bad management of the French that one or both of those squadrons were not destroyed."[226]

The King, in proroguing Parliament, the 27th of May, 1755, among other things said:

"That he had religiously adhered to the stipulations of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and made it his care not to injure or offend any Power whatsoever; but never could he entertain the thoughts of purchasing the name of peace at the expense of suffering encroachments upon, or yielding up, what justly belongs to Great Britain, either by ancient possession or solemn treaties. That the vigour and firmness of his Parliament on this important occasion have enabled him to be prepared for such contingencies as may happen. That, if reasonable and honourable terms of accommodation can be agreed upon, he will be satisfied, and in all events rely on the justice of his cause, the effectual support of his people, and the protection of Divine Providence."[227]

This speech to Parliament was delivered a year before war was formally declared between England and France; and a year before that, in 1754, by royal instructions, a convention of delegates from the a.s.semblies of the several Colonies was held at Albany, in the Province of New York. Among other things relative to the union and defence of the Colonies which engaged the attention of this Convention, "a representation was agreed upon in which were set forth the unquestionable designs of the French to prevent the colonies from extending their settlements, a line of forts having been erected for this purpose, and many troops transported from France; and the danger the colonies were in of being driven by the French into the sea, was urged." The representation of the imminent danger to the colonies from the French encroachments probably accelerated the measures in England which brought on the war with France.[228]

Mr. Bancroft endeavours again and again to convey the impression that this seven years' war between England and France was a European war, and that the American colonies were called upon, controlled, and attempted to be taxed to aid Great Britain in the contest; yet he himself, in one place, admits the very reverse, and that Great Britain became involved in the war in defence of the American Colonies, as the facts above stated show, and as will appear more fully hereafter. Mr. Bancroft states the whole character and objects of the war, in both America and Europe, in the following words:

"The contest, which had now (1757) spread into both hemispheres, _began in America. The English Colonies, dragging England into their strife_, claimed to advance their frontier, and to include the great central valley of the continent in their system. The _American_ question therefore was, shall the continued colonization of North America be made under the auspices of English Protestantism and popular liberty, or shall the tottering legitimacy of France, in its connection with Roman Catholic Christianity, win for itself a new empire in that hemisphere?

The question of the _European_ continent was, shall a Protestant revolutionary kingdom, like Prussia, be permitted to rise up and grow strong within its heart? Considered in its unity as interesting _mankind_, the question was, shall the Reformation, developed to the fulness of Free Inquiry, succeed in its protest against the Middle Age?

"The war that closed in 1748 had been a mere scramble for advantages, and was sterile of results; the present conflict, which was to prove a seven years' war, was against the unreformed; and this was so profoundly true, that all the predictions or personal antipathies of Sovereign and Ministers could not prevent the alliances, collisions, and results necessary to make it so."[229]

The object and character of such a war for Protestantism and liberty, as forcibly stated by Mr. Bancroft himself, was as honourable to England, as the results of it have been beneficial to posterity and to the civilization of mankind; yet Mr. Bancroft's sympathies throughout his brilliant but often inconsistent pages are clearly with France against England, the policy and character of whose statesmen he taxes his utmost ingenuity and researches to depreciate and traduce, while he admits they are engaged in the n.o.blest struggle recorded in history.

From 1748 to 1754, the contests in America were chiefly between the colonists and the French and their Indian allies (except at sea), and were for the most part unsuccessful on the part of the colonists, who lost their forts at Oswego and Niagara, and suffered other defeats and losses. "But in the year 1755," says Dr. Minot, "the war in America being now no longer left to colonial efforts alone, the plan of operations consisted of three parts. The first was an attack on Fort du Quesne, conducted by troops from England under General Braddock; the second was upon the fort at Niagara, which was carried on by American regulars and Indians (of the Six Nations); and the third was an expedition against Crown Point, which was supported by militia from the northern colonies, enlisted merely for that service."[230]

The expedition against Fort du Quesne ended in the disgraceful defeat and death of Braddock and one-third of his men, hundreds of whom were shot down by ambushed foes whom they never saw. The contemplated attack upon Niagara was never prosecuted; the expedition against Crown Point was a failure, and exhaustive of the resources of Ma.s.sachusetts; but, as a compensation, Colonel Johnson defeated and took prisoner the French general, Baron Dieskau, for which the King made him a baronet, and the House of Commons voted him a grant of 5,000 sterling.[231]

The most was made in England as well as the colonies of this decisive victory over a famous French general and his troops, as the year otherwise was disastrous to the English, and "the French, with the a.s.sistance of their Indian allies, continued their murders, scalping, capturing, and laying waste the western frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania during the whole winter."[232]

Nor were the years 1756 and 1757 more successful on the part of the English than the year 1755. Some of the princ.i.p.al events are as follows: War was formally declared by England against France in May, and declared by France against England in August. The expenses incurred by Ma.s.sachusetts and other colonies in the unfortunate Crown Point expedition were compensated by a parliamentary grant of 115,000 sterling.[233]

The Earl of Loudoun arrived from England as Governor of Virginia, to take command of the British troops in America; but did little more than consult with the Governors of the several provinces as to military operations for the ensuing year, the relations of provincial and regular officers, the amount of men and means to be contributed by each province for common defence. He gave much offence by his haughty and imperious demands for the quartering of the troops in New York and in Ma.s.sachusetts. Additional troops were sent from England, under Major-General Abercrombie, who superseded the Earl of Loudoun as Commander-in-Chief. The fortress at Oswego was taken and destroyed by the French.[234]

The French, led by Montcalm, took Fort William Henry.[235]

The Ma.s.sachusetts a.s.sembly refused to allow British troops to be quartered upon the inhabitants.[236]

At the close of the year 1757, the situation of the colonies was alarming and the prospects of the war gloomy. The strong statements of Mr. Bancroft are justified by the facts. He says: "The English had been driven from every cabin in the basin of the Ohio; Montcalm had destroyed every vestige of their power within the St. Lawrence. France had her forts on each side of the lakes, and at Detroit, at Mackinaw, at Kaskaskia, and at New Orleans. The two great valleys of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence were connected chiefly by three well-known routes--by way of Waterford to Fort du Quesne, by way of Maumee to the Wabash, and by way of Chicago to the Illinois. Of the North American continent, the French claimed and seemed to possess twenty parts in twenty-five, leaving four only to Spain, and but one to Britain. Their territory exceeded that of the English twenty-fold. As the men composing the garrison at Fort Loudoun, in Tennessee, were but so many hostages in the hands of the Cherokees, the claims of France to the valleys of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence seemed established by possession.

America and England were humiliated."[237]

The colonies had shown, by their divided and often antagonistic counsels, their divided resources and isolated efforts, how unable they were to defend themselves even when a.s.sisted at some points by English soldiers, commanded by unskilful generals, against a strong and united enemy, directed by generals of consummate skill and courage. The colonies despaired of future success, if not of their own existence, after incurring so heavy expenditures of men and money, and wished England to a.s.sume the whole management and expenses of the war.[238]

The colonies had done much for their own defence, but they acted as so many petty independent Governments, and could not be brought to combine their resources of men and money in any systematical method, under some central authority as the same colonies did twenty years later in the American Revolution; and the first proceedings of Abercrombie and Loudoun rendered them powerless to command the confidence and united action of the colonies. General Abercrombie was appointed Commander-in-Chief, to supersede General Shirley, until the arrival of the Earl of Loudoun. Abercrombie landed in New York the 12th of June, with two regiments, and forty German officers, who were to raise and train recruits for Loudoun's Royal American regiment of four thousand--a most impolitic proceeding, which offended and discouraged the colonists.

On his arrival at New York he received letters from the shrewd and able Governor of Virginia, Dinwiddie, recommending Washington as "a very able and deserving gentleman," who "has from the beginning commanded the forces of this Dominion. He is much beloved, has gone through many hardships in the service, has great merit, and can raise more men here than any one," and urged his promotion in the British army. But Washington's services and rank were never recognized in the British army. A week after Abercrombie's arrival in New York, he wrote (June 19, 1756) a letter to Governor Colden: "I find you never will be able to carry on anything to any purpose in America, till you have a viceroy or superintendent over all the provinces." He stated that Lord Loudoun's arrival would produce "a great change in affairs."

The 25th of June Abercrombie arrived at Albany, and forthwith insisted that the regular officers should take precedence of the provincial officers, and that the troops should be quartered in private houses, which he accomplished two days afterwards; for on the 27th, "in spite of every subterfuge, the soldiers were at last billeted upon the town,"

to the great indignation of the Mayor, who wished all the soldiers back again, "for" said he, "we can defend our frontiers ourselves."

The next day after Abercrombie's arrival, Shirley (now relinquishing the office of Commander-in-Chief) informed General Abercrombie of the exposed and unsafe state of Oswego, advising that two battalions be sent forward for its protection; that 200 boats were ready, and every magazine along the pa.s.sage plentifully supplied. But Abercrombie decided to wait the arrival of Loudoun, who at length reached Albany the 29th of July, and joined Abercrombie in the policy of hesitation and delay, though having 10,000 men at his disposal--the New England regiments, with the provincials from New York and New Jersey, amounting to more than 7,000 men, besides 3,000 soldiers of British regular regiments.

In the meantime the French generals were more active and energetic, taking places of defence between Albany and Oswego, strengthening the defences and garrison of Ticonderaga (then in possession of the French, and called by them Fort Carillon), making a palisaded camp near the mouth of Sandy Creek, close to Oswego, and at length attacking Oswego itself, the enterprising Montcalm making forced marches day and night, marching on foot, living and sleeping like his soldiers, and taking the fort the 9th of August, after a week's siege, capturing 1,600 prisoners, 120 cannon, six vessels of war, 300 boats, stores of ammunition and provisions, and three chests of money.

Loudoun had sufficient forces and time to penetrate to the heart of Canada, had he possessed the qualities of Montcalm; but he preferred to place obstacles to prevent the enemy from attacking him; and after having spent some weeks in busy inactivity at Albany, he dismissed the provincials to their homes, and the regulars to winter quarters.[239]

Loudoun never fought a battle in America; and the only battle in which Abercrombie commanded he kept out of reach of personal danger, was defeated, and retreated[240] after losing 1,942 men, among whom was General Lord Howe, who had been selected by Pitt to be Commander-in-Chief in America, had not succeeded to it, but had become a favourite with the army and colonists of all cla.s.ses.

The General a.s.sembly of Ma.s.sachusetts appropriated out of the public treasury the sum of 250 for erecting a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey, as a testimony to the sense which the Province had of the services and military virtues of the late Lord Viscount Howe, who fell in the last campaign fighting in the cause of the colonies, and also to express the affection which their officers and soldiers have to his command.

After the disgraceful defeat and still more disgraceful retreat of Abercrombie, the last of the incompetent English generals, General Amherst was appointed Commander-in-Chief, a.s.sisted by General Wolfe, and the fortunes of war turned in favour of England and her colonies, and the French power began to wane in America.

This change in the colonies from defeat to victory, from disgrace to honour, from distrust to confidence, from fear to triumph, was owing to a change of councillors and councils in England, and the rousing of the colonies from the shame and defeat of the past to a supreme and combined effort with the English armies for the expulsion of the French from America, and the consequent subjugation and alliance of the Indian tribes, whose hostilities had been all along and everywhere prompted and aided by the French, who paid the Indians large bounties for English scalps.[241]

"But," says Hutchinson, "in the interval between the repulse at Ticonderaga and the arrival of General Amherst, Colonel Bradstreet (a provincial officer of New York), with 3,000 provincials and 150 regulars, stole a march upon Montcalm, and before he could send a detachment from his army to Lake Ontario by way of the St. Lawrence, went up the Mohawk river. About the 25th of August they arrived at Fort Frontenac; surprised the garrison, who were made prisoners of war; took and destroyed nine small vessels and much merchandise; but having intelligence of a large body of the enemy near, they made haste back to Albany. The men complained of undergoing greater hardship than they had ever undergone before, and many sickened and died from the fatigue of the march."[242]

After the arrival of Lord Amherst, three expeditions were proposed for the year 1758--the first against Louisburg, the second against Ticonderaga, and the third against Fort du Quesne--all of which were successful.

On the first expedition against Louisburg, Admiral Boscawen sailed from Halifax the 28th of May, with a fleet of 20 ships of the line and 18 frigates, and an army of 14,000 men, under the command of General Amherst, a.s.sisted by General Wolfe, and arrived before Louisburg the 2nd of June. The garrison was composed of 2,500 regulars, aided by 600 militia, commanded by the Chevalier de Drucourt, an officer of courage and experience. The harbour was secured by five ships of the line, one 50-gun ship, and five frigates; three of which were sunk across the mouth of the basin. The landing of the troops, artillery, and stores had therefore to be effected some distance from the town, and was extremely difficult and hazardous; but General Wolfe, who led the 2,000 men detached for that purpose, was equal to the occasion, and displayed qualities which designated him as the future conqueror of Quebec. After an obstinate siege from the 8th of June to the 26th of July, the fortress was surrendered at discretion, and the whole of Cape Breton, including St. John Island (since Prince Edward Island), came into possession of Great Britain. The loss on the part of the English was about 400 killed and wounded; the garrison lost upwards of 1,500 men, and the town was reduced to a heap of ruins. The conquerors took 221 pieces of cannon, 16 mortars, and an immense quant.i.ty of stores and ammunition, and 5,637 prisoners, including naval officers, sailors, and marines.[243]

Admiral Boscawen, after taking possession of the Island of St. John, included in the capitulation of Louisburg, sailed with the fleet for England, with General Wolfe, conveying the French prisoners to England, and the trophies of victory. General Amherst embarked, with about thirty transports filled with the victorious troops, and encamped on the common at Boston near the end of August, on his march, which he pursued after three days' rest, to the western forts; for a part of the plan of operations was, after the conquest of Cape Breton, for General Amherst, with 12,000 men, to destroy the enemy's fort at Ticonderaga (so unsuccessfully attacked by Abercrombie the year before), in order to open a way into Canada by the Lakes George and Champlain, and the River Sorell down to Quebec, the capture of which, by advancing up the St.

Lawrence, was a.s.signed to the fleet under Admiral Saunders, and to General Wolfe, in command of 9,000 men. It was intended that the armies under Generals Amherst and Wolfe should meet and join in the taking of Quebec; but the junction was not effected, and the two armies operated separately and successfully. The taking of the fortress of Niagara, which was regarded as "the throat of the north-western division of the American continent," was a.s.signed to Brigadier-General Prideaux, aided by Sir William Johnson, who commanded the Provincials and Indians.

General Prideaux conducted the expedition and planned the mode of attack; but on the 19th of July, while walking in his trenches, he was killed by the carelessness of his own gunner in firing a cannon.

"Luckily," says Hutchinson, "for Sir William Johnson, who, as next officer, took the command on Prideaux's death, a body of 1,200 men from Detroit, etc., making an attempt, on the 24th of July, to throw themselves into the fort as a reinforcement, were intercepted and killed, taken, or dispersed, and the next day the garrison capitulated."

(History of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, Vol. III., p. 77.)