England and her Colonies

From the gracefully-written work of an English author we select a description of the condition of the colonies, and their relations to the mother-country, in the period immediately succeeding the French and Indian War, extending the review to the date of the passage of the Stamp Act. The most important event of the period, outside of the political difficulties, was that known as Pontiac's Conspiracy, an Indian war of extended proportions and, for a time, of phenomenal success. Pontiac, a Shawnee chief, in the year 1763, organized a scheme of attack upon the frontier forts and settlements, the details of which were arranged with the utmost craft and secrecy. The Cherokees, and the Six Nations with the exception of the Senecas, kept out of the conspiracy, but the tribes of the Ohio, and most of those on the eastern side of the Mississippi, and in the vicinity of Detroit, were included, the leading tribes being the Shawnees and Delawares.

At the appointed time the warriors fell furiously upon the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Great numbers of the settlers were massacred, though many took the alarm in time to escape. For twenty miles inland the settlements were ruined. The traders among the Indians were murdered and their effects seized by the savages. But the most important result of the outbreak, from a military point of view, was the capture of several of the frontier forts. A number of the smaller forts--Le Boeuf, Venango, Presque Isle, Michilimackinac, and others--were taken by the savages, and the garrisons generally massacred. The large and important forts of Detroit, Niagara, and Pittsburg were fiercely assailed. Amherst quickly sent detachments to relieve these forts. That sent to Detroit, after reinforcing the garrison, fell into an ambuscade of the enemy, and met with heavy loss. The remainder took refuge in the fort, from which the besiegers soon after retired.

The fort of Pittsburg was assailed with unusual skill and obstinacy for Indian combatants. The post was ill prepared for a siege, and was maintained with difficulty against the furious assault. An expedition under Colonel Bouquet, sent to its relief, was ambuscaded on the march, and furiously assailed. The assault was one of the most persistent and skilfully conducted ever made by Indians, and only the steady discipline of the English and the skill of their leader saved them from destruction. For seven hours the battle continued, and it was renewed the next day with undiminished fury. The English were worn out by the repeated assaults of the ferocious enemy, who displayed a combined caution and intrepidity which were gradually wasting away the troops. Advance and retreat became alike impossible, and complete destruction seemed inevitable. At this crisis Colonel Bouquet essayed a manoeuvre which fortunately proved successful. Part of the troops retired as if in flight, while the others seemed endeavoring to cover the flight. On perceiving this, the savages abandoned their cautious tactics, and, emerging from their covers, rushed in rage and triumph on the seemingly flying army. This was what Bouquet had desired, and, the English turning on them with the skill and vigor of disciplined troops, they were routed with immense slaughter. Several of their ablest chiefs fell, and, despairing of success, they fled in terror. Four days afterwards, Bouquet reached the fort, from which the besiegers at once withdrew.

An assault was now made on the fort at Niagara. The same tactics were applied here. A convoy of provisions was assailed and captured; and a lake-fight took place between canoes and a provision-schooner, in which the savages were repulsed. Finally the fort was relieved; but the Indians continued a predatory warfare until the following spring and summer, when they were assailed with such spirit and success that they were forced to sue for peace. The articles of the treaty were very stringent, and greatly increased the strength of the English hold on the Western country.

One unfortunate result of this war was the inflaming of the passions of the settlers to deeds of unprovoked murder. A society of peaceful Indians, converted to Christianity by the Moravian missionaries, residing in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, were attacked and indiscriminately butchered by a party of settlers from the neighboring township of Paxton. These "Paxton Boys" even broke open the jail at Lancaster, and murdered the Indians who had been placed there as a measure of safety. The proclamations of the governor against these outrages were disdained, and the sanguinary mob marched upon Philadelphia, with the purpose of slaughtering the Indians who had been taken thither. There was much sympathy with the murderers in the city; but a body of the more respectable inhabitants, including many young Quakers, armed in defence of the refugees. The Paxton Boys advanced to Germantown, the governor fled in dismay, and the province seemed on the brink of civil war. Franklin and some others, however, expostulated with the insurgents, and finally prevailed on them to give up their purpose and return home.

The accompanying account of political events we extract from Mary Howitt's "History of the United States."]

THE war between England and France, though at an end on the continent of America, was still continued among the West India islands, France in this case also being the loser. Martinique, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent's,--every island, in fact, which France possessed among the Caribbees,--passed into the hands of the English. Besides which, being at the same time at war with Spain, England took possession of Havana, the key to the whole trade of the Gulf of Mexico.