French Claims in New England

A few days afterward, a council of war concluded that it would be wise to abandon the expedition. The disheartened admiral returned to England with his ships, while the provincial troops were sent to Boston. Hearing of the calamity and the result, Nicholson unwillingly retraced his steps to Albany, and left Montreal unmolested. Walker actually claimed credit for himself in retreating after falsely charging the disaster to the incompetence of the New England pilots. "Had we arrived safe at Quebec, ten or twelve thousand men," he wrote, "must have been left to perish of cold and hunger; by the loss of a part, Providence saved all the rest." The admiral was disappointed in not receiving public honors for his exploits in assisting Providence.

In the spring of 1713, the war was ended by a treaty concluded at Utrecht, by which England obtained the privilege of being the chief trader of the world in African slaves, and received large accessions of territory from France. The eastern Indians, wearied with the war, sent delegates to Boston to sue for peace; and at Portsmouth, the governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire made a solemn treaty of amity with the chiefs of those tribes on the 24th of July.

A long peace now ensued. For thirty years the colonists of New England enjoyed comparative repose. It was broken only by discontented Indians in the East--the powerful Abenakes. They disputed the claims of Massachusetts to their territory, which the French had surrendered. Their chief said, "I have my land where the Great Spirit has placed me; and while there remains one child of my tribe, I will fight to preserve it." Finally, the English seized the young Baron de Castin, the son of an Indian woman. Smarting under this indignity, the Indians resolved to retaliate. The torch was again lighted, and Brunswick was laid in ashes. The Jesuit missionary, Rale, clearly perceiving their comparative weakness, told them plainly that their country was lost. The exasperated New Englanders overran portions of it with small military expeditions, striking blows here and there. It was in one of these forays upon Norridgewock that Rale was killed. He was the last Jesuit missionary in New England, and with him perished French influence over the Indian tribes in the East.

For several years after the close of these contests with the Indians, the history of Massachusetts consists chiefly of the record of warm political disputes by which the growth of republican principles was greatly stimulated. Controversies, sometimes violent and sometimes conciliatory, were carried on between the governors and the representatives of the people, the former contending for prerogatives and salaries which the latter deemed inadmissible. These disputes were suddenly arrested when, late in the spring of 1744, news came that France had declared war against Great Britain. The colonists knew that the evident result would be hostilities between their respective colonies in America, and they prepared for the conflict which is known in our history as "King George's War." It was so called because King George the Second was then on the throne of England, and had espoused the cause of the Empress of Austria, the celebrated Maria Theresa, who fought for the crown of Austria against the Elector of Bavaria. The king of France espoused the cause of his opponent, and this led to war. In Europe it was known as "The War of the Austrian Succession."

This was not marked by any very stirring events in America, excepting some military and naval operations in the East. Before war was declared, some French soldiers from the island of Cape Breton, surprised, captured and carried to Louisburg a small English garrison at Canseau. Then some Indians attacked the dilapidated fort at Annapolis, but were repulsed. These things compelled the English colonists to contemplate retaliation, and they resolved to attempt to capture the fortress at Louisburg, and so secure an important advantage. The men taken from Canseau had been sent to Boston on parole, and gave a minute account of that fortress. It had been built by the French after the treaty of Utrecht at a cost of five and a half million dollars, and because of its great strength it was called "The Gibraltar of America."

At that time, William Shirley, a good soldier and energetic statesman, was governor of Massachusetts. He asked England for aid in the expedition against Louisburg. He appealed to the other colonies. The Legislature of Massachusetts made provision for the expedition. New York sent some artillery, and Pennsylvania some food. The New England colonies raised men, Massachusetts alone furnishing more than three thousand. So the common danger was extending the idea of a necessity for a political union of the English-American colonies long before it assumed a practical shape in 1754, and especially in 1774.