the Ohio company, had erected thereon a strong fortification called fort Du Quêsne.
The earl of Holderness, secretary of state, perceiving war to be inevitable, and aware of the advantages of union, and of securing the friendship of the Five Nations, had written to the governors of the respective colonies recommending these essential objects; and, at the same time, ordering them to repel force by force; and to take effectual measures to dislodge the French from their posts on the Ohio.
Convention at Albany.
At the suggestion of the commissioners for the plantations, a convention of delegates from the several colonies met at Albany, to hold a conference with the Five Nations on the subject of French encroachments, and to secure their friendship in the approaching war. Availing himself of this circumstance governor Shirley had recommended to the other governors to instruct their commissioners on the subject of union. Ample powers for this object were given to the delegates of Massachusetts; and those of Maryland were instructed to observe what others should propose respecting it. But no direct authority for concerting any system to call out and employ the strength of the colonies, was given by any other of the governments.
The congress, consisting of delegates from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, with the lieutenant governor and council of New York, after endeavouring to secure the friendship of the Five Nations by large presents, directed a committee, consisting of one member for each colony, to draw and report a plan of union.
Plan of union.
A plan[147] was reported which was approved on the 4th of July. Its essential principles were, that application be made for an act of parliament authorising the formation of a grand council to consist of delegates from the several legislatures, and a president general, to be appointed by the crown, and to be invested with a negative power. This council was to enact laws of general import; to apportion their quotas of men and money on the several colonies; to determine on the building of forts; to regulate the operations of armies; and to concert all measures for the common protection and safety.
The delegates of Connecticut alone dissented from this plan. That cautious people feared that the powers vested in the president general might prove dangerous to their welfare.
In England, the objections were of a different character. The colonies had, in several instances, manifested a temper less submissive than was required; and it was apprehended that this union might be the foundation of a concert of measures opposing the pretensions of supremacy maintained by the mother country.
This confederation, therefore, notwithstanding the pressure of external danger, did not prevail. It was not supported in America, because it was supposed to place too much power in the hands of the King; and it was rejected in England from the apprehension that the colonial assemblies would be rendered still more formidable by being accustomed to co-operate with each other.
In its stead, the minister proposed that the governors, with one or two members of the councils of the respective provinces, should assemble to consult, and resolve on measures necessary for the common defence, and should draw on the British treasury for the sums to be expended, which sums should be afterwards raised by a general tax, to be imposed by parliament on the colonies.
This proposition being entirely subversive of all the opinions which prevailed in America, was not pressed for the present; and no satisfactory plan for calling out the strength of the colonies being devised, it was determined to carry on the war with British troops, aided by such reinforcements as the several provincial assemblies would voluntarily afford.[148]
CHAPTER XI.
General Braddock arrives. … Convention of governors and plan of the campaign. … French expelled from Nova Scotia, and inhabitants transplanted. … Expedition against fort Du Quêsne. … Battle of Monongahela. … Defeat and death of general Braddock. … Expedition against Crown Point. … Dieskau defeated. … Expedition against Niagara. … Frontiers distressed by the Indians. … Meeting of the governors at New York. … Plan for the campaign of 1756. … Lord Loudoun arrives. … Montcalm takes Oswego. … Lord Loudoun abandons offensive operations. … Small-pox breaks out in Albany. … Campaign of 1757 opened. … Admiral Holbourne arrives at Halifax. … Is joined by the earl of Loudoun. … Expedition against Louisbourg relinquished. … Lord Loudoun returns to New York. … Fort William Henry taken. … Controversy between lord Loudoun and the assembly of Massachusetts.
1755
The establishment of the post on the Ohio, and the action at the Little Meadows, being considered by the British government as the commencement of war in America, the resolution to send a few regiments to that country was immediately taken; General Braddock.and early in the year, general Braddock embarked at Cork, at the head of a respectable body of troops destined for the colonies.
An active offensive campaign being meditated, general Braddock convened the governors of the several provinces, on the 14th of April, in Virginia, who resolved to carry on three expeditions.
Plan of the campaign.
The first, and most important, was against fort Du Quêsne. This was to be conducted by general Braddock in person at the head of the British troops, with such aids as could be drawn from Maryland and Virginia.
The second, against Niagara and fort Frontignac, was to be conducted by governor Shirley. The American regulars, consisting of Shirley and Pepperel's regiments, constituted the principal force destined for the reduction of these places.
The third was against Crown Point. This originated with Massachusetts; and was to be prosecuted entirely with colonial troops, to be raised by the provinces of New England, and by New York. It was to be commanded by colonel William Johnson of the latter province.[149]
While preparations were making for these several enterprises, an expedition, which had been previously concerted by the government of Massachusetts, was carried on against the French in Nova Scotia.
It has been already stated that the limits of this province remained unsettled. While the commissioners of the two crowns were supporting the claims of their respective sovereigns in fruitless memorials, the French occupied the country in contest, and established military posts for its defence. Against these posts this enterprise was to be conducted.
On the 20th of May, the troops of Massachusetts, together with Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments, amounting in the whole to about three thousand men, embarked, at Boston, under the command of lieutenant colonel Winslow. The fleet anchored about five miles from fort Lawrence, where a reinforcement was received of three hundred British troops and a small train of artillery. The whole army, commanded by lieutenant colonel Monckton, immediately after landing, marched against Beau Sejour, the principal post held by the French in that country. At the river Mussaquack, which the French considered as the western boundary of Nova Scotia, some slight works had been thrown up with the intention of disputing its passage. After a short conflict, the river was passed with the loss of only one man; and, in five days, Beau Sejour capitulated. French expelled from Nova Scotia.Other small places fell in succession, and, in the course of the month of June, with the loss of only three men killed, the English acquired complete possession of the whole province of Nova Scotia.
The recovery of this province was followed by one of those distressing measures which involve individuals in indiscriminate ruin, and aggravate the calamities of war.
Nova Scotia having been originally settled by France, its inhabitants were, chiefly, of that nation. In the treaty of Utrecht, it was stipulated for the colonists that they should be permitted to hold their lands on condition of taking the oaths of allegiance to their new sovereign. With this condition they refused to comply, unless permitted to qualify it