CHAP. XVIII.

FRANKLIN AND GOVERNOR SHIRLEY.

531

to the degradation, but resigned his commission and retired from the military service.

Knowing the value of Washington's services at that critical time, Governor Sharpe urged him to remain in the army, and intimated that he might hold his former commission. "This idea," wrote the indignant young Virginian, “has filled me with surprise, for, if you think me capable of holding a commission that has neither rank nor emolument annexed to it, you must entertain a very contemptible opinion of my weakness, and believe me to be more empty than the commission itself." He declined the appointment and added: "I shall have the consolation of knowing that I have opened the way, when the smallness of our numbers exposed us to the attacks of a superior enemy; and that I have had the thanks of my country for the services I have rendered."

The early portion of the ensuing winter was spent by the colonists in anxious solicitude. France and England had been coquetting, with mutual professions of friendship, while every movement of the French in America indicated hostile intentions. The necessity of a colonial union was never more apparent than then, and Franklin, who had set his heart on the project, visited Shirley to confer with him on the subject. At the governor's house in Boston they discussed the topic long. Shirley was favorable to union, but it must be effected by the fiat of the British government, and not by the spontaneous act of the colonists. Franklin's love of popular liberty would

not consent to such a union, and he parted from Shirley with the assurance of the latter that he would immediately recommend not only a union planned by parliament, but a tax.

Meanwhile the British government, perceiving the peril of English dominion in America, resolved to send military aid to the colonists. Edward Braddock, an Irish officer of distinction then in Ireland, was appointed commander-in-chief of all British forces in America, and was ordered to proceed immediately to Virginia with two regiments of regular troops. He was a man soured by broken fortunes; haughty in spirit; brutal in manners; conceited and brave. He was ordered to call a council of royal governors on his arrival in America, and to exact a revenue from the colonies for military service. They were also to be informed that it was the king's pleasure "that a fund be established for the benefit of all the colonies collectively in North America"-a financial union-and that the general and field officers of the provincial forces should have no rank when serving with the general and field-officers commissioned by the king.

Braddock sailed with his two regiments. "What does that mean?" inquired the French minister. "Only defence, that the general peace may not be disturbed," replied the perfidious Duke of New Castle, of whom it had been written:

He makes no promise but to break it ;
Faithful to nought but his own ends,
The bitterest enemy to his friends;
But to his fixt, undaunted foe,
Obsequious, base, complying, low.
Cunning supplies his want of parts;
Treason and lies are all his arts."

Each government, evidently playing false toward the other, made friendly propositions for mutual concessions that were simply impossible; and so the matter stood when Braddock arrived in Chesapeake Bay, with his two regiments borne by vessels under Admiral Keppel. He first visited Governor Dinwiddie, at Williamsburgh, and then repaired to Alexandria, on the Potomac, with the admiral, where, at the middle of April, he held a council with royal governors at the fine house of Jonathan Carey. The governors present were Shirley, of Massachusetts; De Lancey, of New York; Sharpe, of Maryland; Morris, of Pennsylvania; Dobbs, of North Carolina; and Dinwiddie, of Virginia. These crown-officers told Braddock at the outset that the Assemblies would not comply with his demand for a revenue, nor the wishes of the king for a general fund for military purposes; and they agreed that it would be proper to recommend the government to take measures to force the colonies to bear their share of the expenses of the

CHAP. XVIII.

PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1755.

1

533

regular troops sent here. A communication to that effect, signed by the governors and the general, was sent to the ministers; but events would not wait on governors nor legislation. The council at Alexandria were compelled to take immediate action, or all would be lost. The warm weather was coming, and so were the French and Indians. So the council planned the campaign for 1755, depending upon the imperial government and the free-will of the colonists for the necessary supplies in executing it. Three separate expeditions were planned. One was to proceed against Fort Du Quesne, led by General Braddock; a second was to attack Fort Niagara at the mouth of the Niagara River, and Fort Frontenac at the foot of Lake Ontario on the site of Kingston, and was to be led by General Shirley. A third expedition, led by William Johnson (a nephew of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, and then the government superintendent of Indian affairs among the Six Nations), was to attempt the seizure of Crown Point on Lake Champlain. A fourth expedition had already been planned in the East, for the expulsion of the French from Nova Scotia, and possibly the recapture of Louisburg.

The colonists were delighted by evidences that the imperial government intended to help them in their unequal contest with the French and Indians. They laid aside their grievances, and with zeal and patriotism joined the government in preparations for war. All of the colonial legislatures, excepting Pennsylvania and Georgia, voted men and supplies for the impending conflict. The Quaker Assembly of Pennsylvania were conscientiously opposed to military movements, and Georgia was too indigent in men and money to do anything.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE ENGLISH BEGIN HOSTILITIES ON THE SEA-EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS FROM NOVA SCOTIA -HATRED OF THE ACADIANS BY BRITISH OFFICIALS-BRADDOCK'S PRIDE AND FOLLY-HIS ARMY MOVES SLOWLY TOWARD FORT DU QUESNE-WASHINGTON ON BRADDOCK'S STAFFGIVES GOOD ADVICE-A DETACHMENT OF THE ARMY MOVES MORE RAPIDLY-WASHINGTON'S WISE ADVICE REJECTED-BRADDOCK'S ARMY DEFEATED IN BATTLE AND HIMSELF SLAINRETREAT OF THE ARMY-WASHINGTON MARVELLOUSLY PROTECTED-SHIRLEY'S EXPEDITION A FAILURE-EXPEDITION UNDER JOHNSON AT THE HEAD OF LAKE GEORGE-APPROACH OF A FRENCH ARMY.

T

HE French, false themselves, did not believe Newcastle's assurance; and when Keppel sailed with Braddock's troops, they sent a fleet with soldiers, under the veteran Baron Dieskau, to reinforce their army on the St. Lawrence. With Dieskau went Vaudreuil, the successor of Du Quesne as governor of Canada. Admiral Boscawen, with some English ships, pursued the French fleet, and they came together south of Newfoundland. "Are we at peace or war?" asked the French. They were answered by the thunder of Boscawen's cannon. Two of the French ships were captured; the remainder escaped and landed the governor, with Dieskau and his troops, at Quebec, late in June.

Meanwhile the eastern expedition had moved. Three thousand men sailed from Boston on the 20th of May, 1755, under the command of General John Winslow, a great grandson. of Edward Winslow of the May-Flower, and then major-general of the Massachusetts militia. They landed at near the head of the Bay of Fundy, where they were joined by Colonel Monckton and three hundred British regulars and a small train of artillery from a neighboring garrison. The French at Beau-Sejour and other military posts on the peninsula were ignorant of the hostile preparations of the two governments, until the appearance of this armament. Resistance would have been in vain. The peninsula became an easy prey to the English before the close of June. The French soldiers were sent to Louisburg, and the Acadians, who had been forced into the service, were granted an amnesty. But a sad fate awaited them.

The simple Acadians expected forbearance and went on cultivating their lands. They readily took an oath of allegiance, but could not pledge them

CHAP. XIX.

ACADIANS RUDELY TREATED.

535 selves to bear arms against their kindred in nation and religion. The English coveted their fertile lands, and made their refusal a pretext for possessing them. A technical question in law was raised, whether one who refuses to take all required oaths could hold lands in the British dominions. It was referred to the chief-justice of Nova Scotia, who decided against the Acadians; when it was determined to drive them out of the province and force them to settle in the English colonies. Not a word of suspicion reached the ears of the intended victims until the cruel plot was ripe for execution. The command went forth for their distribution among the English colonists. The French government asked for them the privilege of leaving their lands, taking with them their effects, and choosing for themselves their future home. "No," was the reply; "they are too useful subjects to be lost; we must enrich our colonies with them." A touching memorial to the council at Halifax was borne by a deputation of educated men, in which they asked for the restitution of the guns and canoes of the people for domestic use, and promising fidelity as the ransom for them. The document was read in an humble manner by the leading deputy, to the That official treated it and its bearers with scorn. "It is highly governor. arrogant, insidious and insulting," said Governor Lawrence. He charged them with intending to carry food to the enemy in their boats, and reminded them that a law of the British realm forbade all Roman Catholics having arms in the houses. He scolded the deputies without stint. "It is not the language of British subjects," he said, "to talk of terms with the crown, or capitulate about their fidelity and allegiance. What excuse can you make for your presumption in treating this government with such indignity as to expound to them the nature of fidelity? Manifest your obedience by immediately taking the oaths required, before the council." The deputies meekly replied: "We will do as our people may determine," and asked leave to return home and consult them.

On the following day they saw the peril of themselves and their people, and offered to take the oaths. By a law of the realm," said the governor, "Roman Catholics who have once refused to take the oaths cannot be permitted to do so afterward, and are considered Popish recusants;" and as such they were cast into prison. The chief-justice insisted that all the French inhabitants-hundreds of innocent families-were rebels and Popish recusants; that they stood in the way of English interests in the country; that they had forfeited their possessions to the crown, and advised against the receiving of any of the French inhabitants to take the oath, and also the removing of all of them from the province.

Execution of the cruel measure recommended speedily followed the