The
exuberant
intention of the French is, after
getting back Cape Breton, "To restrict those aspiring Eng-
"lish Colonies," merePloughers and Traders, hardly number-
ing above one million, "to the Space eastward of the Al-
"leghany Mountains," over which they are beginning to
climb, "and southward of that Missiquash, or, at farthest, of
"the Penobscot and Kennebunk" (rivers hodie in the State of
Maine).
getting back Cape Breton, "To restrict those aspiring Eng-
"lish Colonies," merePloughers and Traders, hardly number-
ing above one million, "to the Space eastward of the Al-
"leghany Mountains," over which they are beginning to
climb, "and southward of that Missiquash, or, at farthest, of
"the Penobscot and Kennebunk" (rivers hodie in the State of
Maine).
Thomas Carlyle
* Excellency Andrie' has gone home; and a
Secretary of Legation, Herr Michel, is now here in his
stead: -- a good few dreary old Pamphlets of Michel's
publishing (official Declaration, official Arguments,
Documents, in French and English, 4to and 8vo, on
this extinct subject), if you go deep into the dust-bins,
can be disinterred here to this day. Tread lightly,
touching only the chief summits. The Haggle stretches
through five years, 1748 --1753, -- and then at last
ceases haggling:
"January 8th, 1748" (War still on foot, but near ending),
"Michel applies about injuries, about various troubles and
"unjust seizures of ships; Secretary Chesterfield answers,
'"We have an Admiralty Court; beyond question, right
"'shall be done. ' 'Would it were soon, then! ' hints Michel.
"Chesterfield, who is otherwise politeness itself, confidently
"hopes so; but cannot push Judicial people.
"February 1748. Admiralty being still silent, Michel ap-
plies by Memorial, in a specific case: 'Two Stettin Ships,
"' laden with wine from Bordeaux, and a third vessel,' of some
"other Prussian port, 'laden with corn; taken inRamsgate
"'Roads, whither they had been [driven by storm: Give me
'"these Ships back! ' Memorial to his Grace of Newcastle,
"this. Upon which the Admiralty sits; with deliberation,
"decides (June 1748), 'Yes! ' And 'there is hope that a
"'Treaty of Commerce will follow;'** which was far from
"being the issue just yet!
* Adelung, vn. 334.
>>* Gentleman's Magazine, xvm. (for 1748), pp. 64,141.
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? CHAP. XIH. l ENGLISH-PRIVATEER QUESTION. 163
1750-1753.
"On the contrary, his Prussian Majesty's Merchants, per-
"haps encouraged by this piece of British justice, come for-
"ward with more and ever more complaints and instances.
"To winnow the strictly true out of which, from the half-
"trueor not provable, his Prussian Majesty has appointeda
"'Commission,'" fit people, and under strict charges, lean
believe. "Commission takes (to Friedrich's own knowledge)
"a great deal of pains; -- and it does not want for clean corn,
"after all its winnowing. Plenty of facts, which can be in-
sisted on as indisputable. 'Such and such Merchant Ships'
"(Schedules of them given in, with every particular, time,
"name, cargo, value) 'have been laid hold of on the Ocean
"'Highway, and carried into English Ports;-- out of which
"' hisPrussian Majesty has, in all friendliness, to beg that they
"'be now re-delivered, and justice done. ' 'Contraband of
"'War,' answer the English; 'sorry to have given your
"'Majesty the least uneasiness; but they were carrying' --
"'No, pardon me; nothing contraband discoverable in them;'
"and hands in his verified Schedules, with perfectly polite,
"but more and more serious request, That the said ships be
"restored, and damages accounted for. 'Our Prize Courts
"' have sat on every ship of them,' eagerly shrieks Newcastle
"all along; 'what can we do! ' 'Nay a Special Commission
"' shall now' (1751, date not worth seeking further) --' Special
'"Commission shall now sit, till his Prussian Majesty get
"' every satisfaction in the world! '
"English Special Commission, counterpart to thatPrussian
"one (which is in vacation by this time), sits accordingly: but
"is very slow; reports for a long while nothing, except, 'Oh,
"'give us time! ' and reports, in the end, nothing in the least
"satisfactory. * 'Prize Courts? Special Commission? 'thinks
"Friedrich: 'I must have my ships back! ' And, after a
"great many months, and a great many haggles, Friedrich,
"weary of giving time, instructs Michel to signify, in proper
* 'Have entirely omitted the essential points on which the matter
'turns; and given such confused account, in consequence, that it is not
'well possible to gather from their Report any clear and just idea of it at
'all. ' (Verdict of the Prussian Commission; which had been re-assembled
by Friedrich, on this Report from the English one, and adjured to speak
only "what they could answer toGod, to theKing, and to the whole world,"
concerning it: Seyfarth, u. 183).
11*
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? 164 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
1750-1753.
"form ('23d November 1752'), 'Thatthe Law's delay seemed
"' to be considerable in England; that till the fulness of time
"' did come, and right were done his poorpeople, he, Friedrich
'"himself, would hopefully wait; but now at last must, pro-
visionally, pay his poor people their damages; -- would,
''' accordingly, from the 23d day of April next, cease the usual
'"payment to English Bondholders on their Silesian Bonds;
"' and would henceforth pay no portion farther of that Debt,
'"principal or interest" (about 250,0001, now owing), "but
'"proceed to indemnify his own people from it, to the just
"'length, -- and deposit the remainder in Bank, till Britannic
"' Majesty andPrussian could unite in ordering payment of it;
"'which one trusts may be soon! '" *
"November 23d, 1752, resolved on by Friedrich;"
"consummated, April 23d, 1753:" these are the dates
of this decisive passage (Michel's biggest Pamphlet,
French and English, issuing on the occasion). February
8th, 1753, no redress obtainable, poor Newcastle
shrieks, 'Can't, mustn't; astonishing! ' and "the people
"are in great wrath about it. April 12th, Friedrich
"replies, in the kindest terms; but sticking to his
"point. "** And punctually continued so, and did as
he had said. With what rumour in the City, commen-
taries in the Newspapers, and flutter to his Grace of
Newcastle, may be imagined. 'What a Nephew have
II' thinks Britannic Majesty: 'Hah, and Embden,
Ost-Friesland, is not his. Embden itself his mine! '
A great deal of ill-nature was generated, in England,
by this one affair of the Privateers, had there been
no other: and in dark cellars of men's minds (empty
and dark on this matter), there arose strange caricature
Portraitures of Friedrich: and very mad notions, --
* Walpole, i. 295; Seyfarth, n. 183, 157; Adelung, vn. 331-338; Gen-
tleman's Magazine; &c.
? ? Adelung, vn. 336-338.
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? CHAP. XIII. ] ENGLISH-rRIVATEER QUESTION. 165
1753.
Friedrich's perversity, astucity, injustice, malign and
dangerous intentions, -- are more or less vocal in the
Old Newspapers and Distinguished Correspondences of
those days. Of which, this one sample:
To what height the humour of the English ran against
Friedrich is still curiously noticeable, in a small Transaction
of tragic Ex-Jacobite nature, which then happened, and in
the commentaries it awoke in their imagination. Cameron of
Lochiel, who forced his way through the Nether-Bow in
Edinburgh, had been a notable rebel; but got away to
France, and was safe in some military post there. Dr. Archi-
bald Cameron, Lochiel's Brother, a studious contemplative
gentleman, bred to Physic, but not practising except for
charity, had quitted his books, and attended the Rebel March
in a medical capacity, -- "not from choice," as he alleged,
"but from compulsion of kindred;" -- and had been of help
to various Loyalists as well; a foe of Human Pain, and not
of anything else whatever: in fact, as appears, a very mild
form of Jacobite Rebel. He too got to France; but had left
his Wife, Children and frugal Patrimonies behind him, --
and had to return in proper concealment, more than once, to
look after them. Two Visits, I think two, had been success-
fully transacted, at intervals; but the third, in 1753, proved
otherwise.
March 12th, 1753, wind of him being had, and the slot-
hounds'uncoupled and put on his trail, poor Cameron was un-
earthed "at the Laird of Glenbucket's" and there laid hold of;
locked in Edinburg Castle, -- thence to the Tower, and to
Trial for High Treason. Which went against him; in spite
of his fine pleadings, and manful conciliatory appearances
and manners. Executed, 7th June, 1753. His poor Wife had
twice squeezed her way into the Royal Levee at Kensington,
with Petition for mercy; -- fainted, the first time, owing to
the press and the agitation; but did, the second time, fall on
her knees before Royal George, and supplicate, -- who
had to turn a deaf ear, royal gentleman; I hope not without
pain.
The truth is, poor Cameron, -- though, I believe, he had
some vague Jacobite errands withal, -- never would have
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? 166 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
1753.
harmed anybody in the rebel way; and might with all safety
have been let live. But his Grace of Newcastle, and the
English generally, had got the strangest notion into their
head. Those appointments of Earl Marischal to Paris, of
Tyrconnel to Berlin; Friedrich's nefarious spoiling of that
salutary Romish-King Project; and now simultaneous with
that, his nefarious conduct in our Pivateer Business: all this,
does it not prove him, -- as the Hanburys, Demon News-
writers, and well-informed persons have taught us,--to be one
of the worst men living, and a King bent upon our ruin?
What is certain, though now well nigh inconceivable, it was
then, in the Upper Classes and Political Circles, universally
believed, That this Dr. Cameron was properly an "Emissary
of the King of Prussia's;" that Cameron's errand here was to
rally the Jacobite embers into new flame; -- and that, at the
first clear sputter, Friedrich had 15,000 men, of his best Prus-
sian-Spartan troops, ready to ferry over, and help Jacobi-
tism to do the matter this time! *
About as likely as that the Cham of Tartary had
interfered in the "Bangorian Controversy" (raging, I
believe, some time since, -- in Cremorne Gardens
first of all, which was Bishop Hoadly's Place, --
to the terror of mitres and wigs); or that the Em-
peror of China was concerned in Meux's Porter-
Brewery, with an eye to sale of nux vomica. Among
all the Kings that then were, or that ever were,
King Friedrich distinguished himself by the grand
human virtue (one of the most important for Kings
and for men) of keeping well at home, -- of always
minding his own affairs. These were, in fact, the one
thing he minded; and he did that well. He was vigil-
ant, observant all round, for weather-symptoms;
thoroughly well informed of what his neighbours had on
* Walpole, George the Second, l. 388, 353; and Letters to Horace Mann (Summer 1753), for the belief held. Adelung, vii. 338-341, for the poor
Cameron tragedy itself.
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? CHIP. XIII. ] ENGLISH-PRIVATEER QUESTION. 167
1753.
hand; ready to interfere, generally in some judicious
soft way, at any moment, if his own Countries or their
interests came to be concerned; certain, till then, to
continue a speculative observer merely. He had know-
ledge, to an extent of accuracy which often surprised
his neighbours; but there is no instance in which he
meddled where he had no business; -- and few, I be-
lieve, in which he did not meddle, and to the purpose,
when he had.
Later in his Reign, in the time of the American
War (1777), there is, on the English part, in regard
to Friedrich, an equally distracted notion of the same
kind brought to light. Again, a conviction, namely,
or moral-certainty, that Friedrich is about assisting the
American Insurgents against us; -- and a very strange
and indubitable step is ordered to be taken in con-
sequence! * As shall be noticed, if we have time.
No enlightened Public, gazing for forty or fifty years
into an important Neighbour Gentleman, with intent
for practical knowledge of him, could well, though
assisted by the cleverest Hanburys, and Demon and
Angel Newswriters, have achieved less! --
Question Third is -- But Question Third, so ex-
tremely important was it in the sequel, will deserve a
Chapter to itself.
* (Envres de Frederic, xxvi. 394 (Friedrich to Prince Henri, 29th June
1777).
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? 168 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [bOOK XVI.
1750-1755.
CHAPTER XIV.
THERE IS LIKE TO BE ANOTHER WAR AHEAD.
Question Third, French-English Canada-Question,
is no other than, under a new form, our old friend the
inexorable Jenkins's - Ear Question; soul of all these
Controversies, and, -- except Silesia and Friedrich's
Question, -- the one meaning they have! Huddled
together it had been, at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle,
and left for closed under "New Spanish Assiento-
Treaty," or I know not what: -- you thought to close
it by Diplomatic putty and varnish in that manner:
and here, by law of Nature, it comes welling up on
you anew. For it springs from the Centre, as we
often say, and is the fountain and determining element
of very large Sections of Human History, still hidden
in the unseen Time.
"Ocean Highway to be free; for the English and
others who have business on it? " The English have
a real and weighty errand there. "English to trade
and navigate, as the Law of Nature orders, on those
Seas; and to ponderate or preponderate there, according
to the real amount of weight they and their errand
have? Or, English to have their ears torn off; and
imperious French-Spanish Bourbons, grounding on ex-
tinct Pope's-meridians, gloire, and other imaginary
bases, to take command? " The incalculable Yankee
Nations, shall they be in effect Yangkee ("English"
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? CHAP. XIT. l LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 169
1750-1755.
with a difference), or Frangcee ("French" with a dif-
ference)? A Question not to be closed by Diplomatic
putty, try as you will!
By Treaty of Utrecht (1713), "all Nova Scotia" (Acadie as
then called), "with Newfoundland and the adjacent Islands,"
was ceded to the English, and has ever since been possessed
by them accordingly. Unluckily that Treaty omitted to settle
a Line of Boundary to landward, or westward, for their
"Nova Scotia;" or generally, a Boundary from North to
South between the British Colonies and the French in those
parts.
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, eager to conlude itself,
stipulated, with great distinctness, That Cape Breton, all its
guns and furnishings entire, should be restored at once
(France extremely anxious on that point); but for the rest
had, being in such haste, flung itself altogether into the prin-
ciple of Status-quo-ante, as the short way for getting through.
The Boundary in America was vaguely defined, as "now to
"be what it had been before War. " It had, for many years
before the War, been a subject of constant altercation. Aca-
die, for instance, the Nova Scotia of the English since Utrecht
time, the French maintained to mean only "the Peninsula,"
or Nook included between the Ocean Waters and the Bay of
Fundy. And, more emphatic still, on the "Isthmus" (or
narrow space, at north-west, between said Bay and the
Ocean or the Gulf of St. Lawrence), they had built "Forts:"
"Stockades," or I know not what, "on the Missaquish" (hodie,
Missiquash), a winding difficult river, northmost of the Bay
of Fundy's rivers, which the French affirm to be the real limit
in that quarter. The sparse French Colonists of the interior,
subjects of England, are not to be conciliated by perfect to-
leration of religion and the like; but have an invincible pro-
clivity to join their Countrymen outside, and wish well to
those Stockades on the Missiquash. It must be owned, too,
the French Official People are far from scrupulous or
squeamish; show energy of management; and are very skil-
ful with the Indians, who are an important item. Canada
is all French; has its Quebecs, Montreals, a St. -Lawrence
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? 170 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
1750-1755.
River occupied at all the good military points, and serving at
once as bulwark and highway.
Southward and westward, France, in its exuberant
humour, claims for itself The whole Basin of the St. Lawrence,
and the whole Basin of the Mississippi as well: "Have not we
"Stockades, Castles, at the military points; Fortified Places in
"Louisiana itself? " Yes; -- and how many Ploughed Fields
bearing Crop, have you? It is to the good Plougher, not ul-
timately to the good Cannonier, that those portions of Creation
will belong!
The exuberant intention of the French is, after
getting back Cape Breton, "To restrict those aspiring Eng-
"lish Colonies," merePloughers and Traders, hardly number-
ing above one million, "to the Space eastward of the Al-
"leghany Mountains," over which they are beginning to
climb, "and southward of that Missiquash, or, at farthest, of
"the Penobscot and Kennebunk" (rivers hodie in the State of
Maine). * That will be a very pretty Parallelogram for them
and their ploughs and trade-packs: we, who are 50,000 odd,
expert with the rifle far beyond them, will occupy the rest of
the world. Such is the French exuberant notion: and, Octo-
ber 1748, before signature at Aix-la-Chapelle, much more be-
fore Delivery of Cape Breton, the Commandant at Detroit
(west end of Lake Erie) had received orders, "To oppose
peremptorily every English Establishment not only there-
abouts, but on the Ohio or its tributaries; by monition first;
and then by force, if monition do not serve. "
Establishments of any solidity or regularity the English
have not in those parts; beyond the Alleghanies all is desert:
"from the Canada Lakes to the Carolinas, mere hunting-
"ground of the Six Nations; dotted with here and there an
'' English trading-house, or adventurous Squatter's farm:" --
to whom now the French are to say: "Home, you, instantly;
"and leave the Desert alone! " The French have distinct
Orders from Court, and energetically obey the same; the
English have indistinct Orders from Nature, and do not want
* LaGallisonniere, Governor ofCanada's Despatch, ''Quebec,15th Janu-
"ary 1749" (cited in Bancroft, History of the United States: Boston, 1839, et
seq. ). "The English Inhabitants are computed at 1,051,000; French (in
"Canada 45,000, in Louisiana 7,000), in all 52,000:" History of British Do-
minions in North America (London, 1773), p. 13. Bancroft (i. 154) counts
the English Colonists "in 1754 about 1,200,000. " -
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? CHAP. XIV. l LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 171
1750-1755.
energy, or mind to obey these: confusions and collisions are
manifold, ubiquitous, continual. Of which the history would
be tiresome to everybody; and need only be indicated here by
a mark or two of the main passages.
In 1749, three things had occurred worth mention. First,
Captain Coram, a public-spirited half-pay gentleman in Lon-
don , originator of the Foundling Hospital there, had turned
his attention to the fine capabilities and questionable condi-
tion of Nova Scotia, with few inhabitants, and those mostly
disaffected; and, by many efforts now forgotten, had got the
Government persuaded to despatch (June 1749) a kind of
Half-pay or Military Colony to those parts: "more than
"1,400 persons, disbanded officers, soldiers and marines,
"under Colonel Edward Cornwallis," Brother of the since
famous Lord Cornwallis. * Who landed, accordingly, on
that rough shore; stockaded themselves in, hardily endeav-
ouring and enduring; and next year, built a Town for them-
selves; Town of Halifax (so named from the then Lord Hali-
fax, President of the Board of Trade); which stands there, in
more and more conspicuous manner, at this day. Thanks to
you, Captain Coram; though the ungrateful generations (ex-
cept dimly in Coram Street, near your Hospital) have lost all
memory of you, as their wont is. Blockheads; never mind
them.
The Second thing is, an "Ohio Company" has got together
in Virginia; Governor there encouraging; Britannic Majesty
giving Charter (Marchl749), and what is still easier, "500,000
"Acres of Land" in those Ohio regions, since you are minded
to colonise there in a fixed manner. Britannic Majesty thinks
the Country "between the Monongahela and the Kanahawy"
(southern feeders of Ohio) will do best; but is not particular.
Ohio Company, we shall find, chose at last, as the eligible
spot, the topmost fork or very Head of the Ohio, -- where
Monongahela River from south, and Alleghany River from
north unite to form "The Ohio;" where stands, in our day,
the big sooty Town of Pittsburg and its industries. Ohio Com-
pany was laudably eager on this matter; Land-Surveyor in it
(nay, at length, "Colonel of a Regiment of 150 men raised by
"the Ohio Company") was Mr. George Washington, whose
* Coxe's Pelham, n. 113.
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? 172 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
1750-1755.
Family had much promoted the Enterprise; and who was in-
deed a steady-going, considerate, close-mouthed Young
Gentleman; who came to great distinction in the end.
French Governor (La Gallisonniere still the man), getting
wind of this Ohio-Company still in embryo, anticipates the
birth; sends a vigilant Commandant thitherward, "with 300
"men, To trace and occupy the Valleys of the Ohio and of
"the St. Lawrence, as far as Detroit. " That officer "buries
"plates of lead," up and down the Country, with inscriptions
signifying that "from the farthest ridge, whence water
"trickled towards the Ohio, the Country belonged to France;
"and nails the Bourbon Lilies to the forest-trees; forbidding
"the Indians all trade with the English; expels the English
"traders from the towns of the Miamis; and writes to the
"Governor of Pensylvania, requesting him to prevent all
"farther intrusion. " Vigilant Governors, these French, and
well supported from home. Duquesne, the vigilant successor
of La Gallisonniere (who is now wanted at home, for still
more important purposes, as will appear), finding "the lead
"plates little regarded, sends, by and by, 500 new soldiers
from Detroit into those Ohio parts (march of 100 miles or so);
-- "the French Government having, in this year 1750,
"shipped no fewer than 8,000 men for their American Garri-
"sons;" -- and where the Ohio Company venture on planting
a Stockade, tears it tragically out, as will be seen!
The Third thing worth notice, in 1749, and still more in
the following year, and years, had reference to Nova Scotia
again. One La Corne, "a recklessly sanguinary partisan"
(military gentleman of the Trenck, /ne%o-Trenck, species),
nestles himself (winter, 1749-50) on that Missiquash River,
head of the Bay of Fundy; in the Village of Chignecto, which
is admittedly English ground, though inhabited by French.
La Corne compels, or admits, the Inhabitants to swear al-
legiance to France again; and to make themselves useful in
fortifying, not to say in drilling, -- with an eye to military
work. Hearing of which, Colonel Cornwallis and incipient
Halifax are much at a loss. They in vain seek aid from the
Governor of Massachusets ("Assembly to be consulted first,
"to be convinced; Constitutional rights:-- Nothing possible
"just at once"); -- and can only send a party of 400 men, to
try and recover Chignecto at any rate. April 20th, 1750, the
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? CHAP. XIV. ] LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 173
1750-1755.
400 arrive there; order La Corne instantly to go. Bourbon
Flag is waving on his dikes, this side the Missiquash: high
time that he and it were gone. "Village Priest (flamingly
orthodox, as all these Priests are, all picked for the business),
"with his own hands, sets fire to the Church in Chignecto;"
inhabitants burn their houses, and escape across the river, --
La Corne as rearguard. La Corne, across the Missiquash,
declares, That, to a certainty, he is now on French ground;
that he will, at all hazards, defend the Territory here; and
maintain every inch of it, -- "till regular Commissioners"
(due ever since the Treaty of Aix, had not that Romish-King
Business been so pressing) "have settled what the Boundary
"between the two Countries is. "--Chignecto being ashes, and
the neighbouring population gone, Cornwallis and his Four
Hundred had to return to Halifax.
It was not till Autumn following, that Chignecto could be
solidly got hold of by the Halifax people; nor till a long time
after, that La Corne could be dislodged from his stockades,
and sent packing. * September 1750, a new Expedition on
Chignecto found the place populous again, Indians, French
"Peasants" (seemingly Soldiers of a sort); who stood very
fiercely behind their defences, and needed a determined on-
rush, and "volley close into their noses," before disappear-
ing. This was reckoned the first military bloodshed (if this
were really military on the French side). And in November
following, some small British Cruiser on those Coasts, falling
in with a French Brigantine, from Quebec, evidently carrying
military stores and solacements for La Corne, seized the
same; by force of battle, since not otherwise, -- three men
lost to the British, five to the French, -- and brought it to
Halifax. "Lawful and necessary! " says the Admiralty Court;
"Sheer Piracy! " shriek the French; -- matters breaking out
into actual flashes of flame, in this manner.
British Commissions, two in number, names not worth
mention, have, at last in this Year 1750, gone to Paris; and
are holding manifold conferences with French ditto, -- to no
purpose, any of them. One reads the dreary tattle of the
Duke of Newcastle upon it, in the Years onward: "Just going
"to agree," the Duke hopes; "some difficulties, butevery-
* Gentleman's Magazine, xn. 539, 295.
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? 174 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [BOOK XVI.
1750-1755.
"body, French and English, wanting mere justice; and our
"and their Commissioners being in such a generous spirit,
"surely they will soon settle it. " * They never did or could;
and steadily it went on worsening.
That notable private assertion of the French, That
Canada and Louisiana mean all America West of the
Alleghanies, had not yet oozed out to the English;
but it is gradually oozing out, and that England will
have to content itself with the moderate Country lying
east of that Blue range. "Not much above a million
of you," say the French; "and surely there is room
enough East of the Alleghanies? We, with our couple
of Colonies, are the real America; -- counting, it is
true, few settlers as yet; but there shall be innumer-
able; and, in the mean while, there are Army-Detach-
ments, Blockhouses, fortified Posts, command of the
Rivers, of the Indian Nations, of the water-highways
and military keys (to you unintelligible); and we will
make it good! "
The exact cipher of the French (guessed to be
50,000), and their precise relative-value as tillers and
subduers of the soil, in these Two Colonies of theirs,
as against the English Thirteen, would be interesting
to know: curious also their little bill, of trouble taken
in creating the Continent of America, in discovering
it, visiting, surveying, planting, taming, making habit-
able for man: -- and what Rhadamanthus would have
said of those Two Documents! Enough, the French
have taken some trouble, more or less, -- especially
in sending soldiers out, of late. The French, to cer-
tain thousands, languidly tilling, hunting and adven-
* His Letters, in Core's Pelham, u. 407 ("September 1751"), &c.
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? CHAP. XIV. ] LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 175
August--November 175S.
turing, and very ski] fill in wheedling the Indian Na-
tions, are actually there; and they, in the silence of
Rhadamanthus, decide that merit shall not miss its
wages for want of asking. "Ours is America West
of the Alleghanies," say the French, openly before
long.
"Yours? Yours, of all people's? " answer the Eng-
lish; and begin, with lethargic effort, to awake a little
to that stupid Foreign Question; important, though
stupid and foreign, or lying far off. Who really owned
all America, probably few Englishmen had ever asked
themselves, in their dreamiest humours, nor could they
now answer; but, that North America does not belong
to the French, can be doubtful to no English creature.
Pitt, Chatham as we now call him, is perhaps the
Englishman to whom, of all others, it is least doubtful.
Pitt is in Office at last, -- in some subaltern capacity,
"Paymaster of the Forces" for some years past, in
spite of Majesty's dislike of the outspoken man; -- and
has his eyes bent on America; -- which is perhaps
(little as you would guess it such) the main fact in
that confused Controversy just now! --
In 1753 (28th August of that Year), goes message from
the Home Government, "Stand on your defence, over there!
Repel by force any Foreign encroachments on British Domin-
ions. " * And directly on the heel of this, November 1753,
the Virginia Governor, -- urged, I can believe, by the Ohio
Company, who are lying wind-bound so long, -- despatches
Mr. George Washington to inquire officially of the French
Commandant in those parts, "What he means, then, by in-
vading the British Territories, while a solidPeace subsists? "
Mr. George had a long ride up those desert ranges, and down
again on the other side; waters all out, ground in a swash
* Holderness, or Robinson our old friend.
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? 176 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April --July 1754.
with December rains, no help or direction but from wampums
and wigwams: Mr. George got to Ohio Head (two big Rivers,
Monongahela from South, Alleghany from North, coalescing
to form a double-big Ohio for the Far West); and thought to
himself, "What an admirable three-legged place: might be
"Chief Post of those regions, -- nest-egg of a diligent Ohio
"Company! " Mr. George, some way down the Ohio River,
found a strongish French Fort, log-barracks, "200 river-
"boats, with more building," and a French Commandant,
who cannot enter into questions of a diplomatic nature about
Peace and War: "My orders are, To keep this Fort and
"Territory against all comers; one must do one's orders,
"Monsieur: Adieu! " And the stedfast Washington had to
return; without result, -- except that of the admirable Three-
legged Place for dropping your Nest-egg, in a commanding
and defenceful way!
Ohio Company, painfully restrained so long in that opera-
tion, took the hint at once. Despatched, early in 1754, a
Party of some Forty or Thirty-three stout fellows, with arms
about them, as well as tools, "Go build us, straightway, a
"Stockade in the place indicated; you are warranted to smite
"down, by shot or otherwise, any gainsayer! " And
furthermore, directly got on foot, and on the road thither,
a "regiment of 150 men," Washington as Colonel to it,
For perfecting said Stockade, and maintaining it against all
comers.
Washington and his Hundred-and-fifty, -- wagonage,
provender, and a piece or two of cannon, all well attended to,
--vigorously climbed the Mountains; got to the top, 27th May
1754; and there met the Thirty-three in retreat homewards!
Stockade had been torn out, six weeks ago (17th April last);
by overwhelming French Force, from the Gentleman who
said Adieu, and had the river-boats, last Fall. And, instead
of our Stockade, they are now building a regular French
Fort,--FortDuquesne, they call it, in honour of their Governor
Duquesne! -- against which, Washington and his regiment,
what are they? Washington, strictly surveying, girds him-
self up for the retreat; descends diligently homewards again,
French and Indians rather harassing his rear. Entrenches
himself, 1st July, at what he calls "Fort Necessity," some
way down; and the second day after, 3d July 1754, is attacked
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? CHAP. XIV. ] LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 177
Jnly. 1754 --February 1755.
in vigorous military manner. Defends himself, what he can,
through nine hours of heavy rain; has lost thirty, the French
only three; -- and is obliged to capitulate: "Free With-
"drawal" the terms given. This is the last I heard of the
Ohio Company; not the last of Washington, by any means.
Ohio Company, -- its judicious Nest-egg squelched in this
manner, nay become a fiery Cockatrice or "Fort Duquesne" --
need not be mentioned farther.
By this time, surely high time now, serious military pre-
parations were on foot; especially in the various Colonies
most exposed. But, as usual, it is a thing of most admired
disorder; every Governor his own King or vice-King, horses
are pulling different ways: small hope there, unless the Home
Government (where too I have known the horses a little dis-
crepant, unskilful in harness! ) will seriously take it in hand.
The Home Government is taking it in hand; horses willing,
if a thought unskilful. Royal Highness of Cumberland has
selected General Braddock, and Two Regiments of the Line
(the two that ran away at Prestonpans, -- absit omen). Royal
Highness consults, concocts, industriously prepares, com-
pletes; modestly certain that here now is the effectual re-
medy.
About New-years-day 1755, Braddock, with his Two Re-
giments and completed apparatus, got to sea. Arrived,
20th February, at Williamsburg in Virginia ("at Hampden,
"near there, if anybody is particular); found now that this
was not the place to arrive at; that he would lose six weeks
of marching, by not having landed in Pennsylvania instead.
Found that his Stores had been mispacked at Cork, -- that
this had happened, and also that; -- and, in short, that Chaos
had been very considerably prevalent in this Adventure of
his; and did still, in all that now lay round it, much prevail.
Poor man: very brave, they say; but without knowledge, ex-
cept of field-drill; a heart of iron, but brain mostly of pipe-
clay quality. A man severe and rigorous in regimental points;
contemptuous of the Colonial Militias, that gathered to help
him; thrice contemptuous of the Indians, who were a vital
point in the Enterprise ahead. Chaos is very strong, -- espe-
cially if within oneself as well! Poor Braddock took the
Colonial Militia Regiments, Colonel Washington as Aide-de-
Camp; took the Indians and Appendages, Colonial Chaos
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. IX. 12
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? 178 -THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [bookXVI.
9th July 1755.
much presiding: and after infinite delays and confused hag-
flings, got on march;? -- 2,000 regular, and of all sorts say
,000 strong.
Got on march; sprawled and haggled up the Alleghanies,
-- such a Commissariat, such a wagon-service, as was seldom
seen before. Poor General and Army, he was like to be
starved outright, at one time; had not a certain Mr. Franklin
come to him, with charitable oxen, with 500/.
Secretary of Legation, Herr Michel, is now here in his
stead: -- a good few dreary old Pamphlets of Michel's
publishing (official Declaration, official Arguments,
Documents, in French and English, 4to and 8vo, on
this extinct subject), if you go deep into the dust-bins,
can be disinterred here to this day. Tread lightly,
touching only the chief summits. The Haggle stretches
through five years, 1748 --1753, -- and then at last
ceases haggling:
"January 8th, 1748" (War still on foot, but near ending),
"Michel applies about injuries, about various troubles and
"unjust seizures of ships; Secretary Chesterfield answers,
'"We have an Admiralty Court; beyond question, right
"'shall be done. ' 'Would it were soon, then! ' hints Michel.
"Chesterfield, who is otherwise politeness itself, confidently
"hopes so; but cannot push Judicial people.
"February 1748. Admiralty being still silent, Michel ap-
plies by Memorial, in a specific case: 'Two Stettin Ships,
"' laden with wine from Bordeaux, and a third vessel,' of some
"other Prussian port, 'laden with corn; taken inRamsgate
"'Roads, whither they had been [driven by storm: Give me
'"these Ships back! ' Memorial to his Grace of Newcastle,
"this. Upon which the Admiralty sits; with deliberation,
"decides (June 1748), 'Yes! ' And 'there is hope that a
"'Treaty of Commerce will follow;'** which was far from
"being the issue just yet!
* Adelung, vn. 334.
>>* Gentleman's Magazine, xvm. (for 1748), pp. 64,141.
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? CHAP. XIH. l ENGLISH-PRIVATEER QUESTION. 163
1750-1753.
"On the contrary, his Prussian Majesty's Merchants, per-
"haps encouraged by this piece of British justice, come for-
"ward with more and ever more complaints and instances.
"To winnow the strictly true out of which, from the half-
"trueor not provable, his Prussian Majesty has appointeda
"'Commission,'" fit people, and under strict charges, lean
believe. "Commission takes (to Friedrich's own knowledge)
"a great deal of pains; -- and it does not want for clean corn,
"after all its winnowing. Plenty of facts, which can be in-
sisted on as indisputable. 'Such and such Merchant Ships'
"(Schedules of them given in, with every particular, time,
"name, cargo, value) 'have been laid hold of on the Ocean
"'Highway, and carried into English Ports;-- out of which
"' hisPrussian Majesty has, in all friendliness, to beg that they
"'be now re-delivered, and justice done. ' 'Contraband of
"'War,' answer the English; 'sorry to have given your
"'Majesty the least uneasiness; but they were carrying' --
"'No, pardon me; nothing contraband discoverable in them;'
"and hands in his verified Schedules, with perfectly polite,
"but more and more serious request, That the said ships be
"restored, and damages accounted for. 'Our Prize Courts
"' have sat on every ship of them,' eagerly shrieks Newcastle
"all along; 'what can we do! ' 'Nay a Special Commission
"' shall now' (1751, date not worth seeking further) --' Special
'"Commission shall now sit, till his Prussian Majesty get
"' every satisfaction in the world! '
"English Special Commission, counterpart to thatPrussian
"one (which is in vacation by this time), sits accordingly: but
"is very slow; reports for a long while nothing, except, 'Oh,
"'give us time! ' and reports, in the end, nothing in the least
"satisfactory. * 'Prize Courts? Special Commission? 'thinks
"Friedrich: 'I must have my ships back! ' And, after a
"great many months, and a great many haggles, Friedrich,
"weary of giving time, instructs Michel to signify, in proper
* 'Have entirely omitted the essential points on which the matter
'turns; and given such confused account, in consequence, that it is not
'well possible to gather from their Report any clear and just idea of it at
'all. ' (Verdict of the Prussian Commission; which had been re-assembled
by Friedrich, on this Report from the English one, and adjured to speak
only "what they could answer toGod, to theKing, and to the whole world,"
concerning it: Seyfarth, u. 183).
11*
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? 164 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
1750-1753.
"form ('23d November 1752'), 'Thatthe Law's delay seemed
"' to be considerable in England; that till the fulness of time
"' did come, and right were done his poorpeople, he, Friedrich
'"himself, would hopefully wait; but now at last must, pro-
visionally, pay his poor people their damages; -- would,
''' accordingly, from the 23d day of April next, cease the usual
'"payment to English Bondholders on their Silesian Bonds;
"' and would henceforth pay no portion farther of that Debt,
'"principal or interest" (about 250,0001, now owing), "but
'"proceed to indemnify his own people from it, to the just
"'length, -- and deposit the remainder in Bank, till Britannic
"' Majesty andPrussian could unite in ordering payment of it;
"'which one trusts may be soon! '" *
"November 23d, 1752, resolved on by Friedrich;"
"consummated, April 23d, 1753:" these are the dates
of this decisive passage (Michel's biggest Pamphlet,
French and English, issuing on the occasion). February
8th, 1753, no redress obtainable, poor Newcastle
shrieks, 'Can't, mustn't; astonishing! ' and "the people
"are in great wrath about it. April 12th, Friedrich
"replies, in the kindest terms; but sticking to his
"point. "** And punctually continued so, and did as
he had said. With what rumour in the City, commen-
taries in the Newspapers, and flutter to his Grace of
Newcastle, may be imagined. 'What a Nephew have
II' thinks Britannic Majesty: 'Hah, and Embden,
Ost-Friesland, is not his. Embden itself his mine! '
A great deal of ill-nature was generated, in England,
by this one affair of the Privateers, had there been
no other: and in dark cellars of men's minds (empty
and dark on this matter), there arose strange caricature
Portraitures of Friedrich: and very mad notions, --
* Walpole, i. 295; Seyfarth, n. 183, 157; Adelung, vn. 331-338; Gen-
tleman's Magazine; &c.
? ? Adelung, vn. 336-338.
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? CHAP. XIII. ] ENGLISH-rRIVATEER QUESTION. 165
1753.
Friedrich's perversity, astucity, injustice, malign and
dangerous intentions, -- are more or less vocal in the
Old Newspapers and Distinguished Correspondences of
those days. Of which, this one sample:
To what height the humour of the English ran against
Friedrich is still curiously noticeable, in a small Transaction
of tragic Ex-Jacobite nature, which then happened, and in
the commentaries it awoke in their imagination. Cameron of
Lochiel, who forced his way through the Nether-Bow in
Edinburgh, had been a notable rebel; but got away to
France, and was safe in some military post there. Dr. Archi-
bald Cameron, Lochiel's Brother, a studious contemplative
gentleman, bred to Physic, but not practising except for
charity, had quitted his books, and attended the Rebel March
in a medical capacity, -- "not from choice," as he alleged,
"but from compulsion of kindred;" -- and had been of help
to various Loyalists as well; a foe of Human Pain, and not
of anything else whatever: in fact, as appears, a very mild
form of Jacobite Rebel. He too got to France; but had left
his Wife, Children and frugal Patrimonies behind him, --
and had to return in proper concealment, more than once, to
look after them. Two Visits, I think two, had been success-
fully transacted, at intervals; but the third, in 1753, proved
otherwise.
March 12th, 1753, wind of him being had, and the slot-
hounds'uncoupled and put on his trail, poor Cameron was un-
earthed "at the Laird of Glenbucket's" and there laid hold of;
locked in Edinburg Castle, -- thence to the Tower, and to
Trial for High Treason. Which went against him; in spite
of his fine pleadings, and manful conciliatory appearances
and manners. Executed, 7th June, 1753. His poor Wife had
twice squeezed her way into the Royal Levee at Kensington,
with Petition for mercy; -- fainted, the first time, owing to
the press and the agitation; but did, the second time, fall on
her knees before Royal George, and supplicate, -- who
had to turn a deaf ear, royal gentleman; I hope not without
pain.
The truth is, poor Cameron, -- though, I believe, he had
some vague Jacobite errands withal, -- never would have
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? 166 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
1753.
harmed anybody in the rebel way; and might with all safety
have been let live. But his Grace of Newcastle, and the
English generally, had got the strangest notion into their
head. Those appointments of Earl Marischal to Paris, of
Tyrconnel to Berlin; Friedrich's nefarious spoiling of that
salutary Romish-King Project; and now simultaneous with
that, his nefarious conduct in our Pivateer Business: all this,
does it not prove him, -- as the Hanburys, Demon News-
writers, and well-informed persons have taught us,--to be one
of the worst men living, and a King bent upon our ruin?
What is certain, though now well nigh inconceivable, it was
then, in the Upper Classes and Political Circles, universally
believed, That this Dr. Cameron was properly an "Emissary
of the King of Prussia's;" that Cameron's errand here was to
rally the Jacobite embers into new flame; -- and that, at the
first clear sputter, Friedrich had 15,000 men, of his best Prus-
sian-Spartan troops, ready to ferry over, and help Jacobi-
tism to do the matter this time! *
About as likely as that the Cham of Tartary had
interfered in the "Bangorian Controversy" (raging, I
believe, some time since, -- in Cremorne Gardens
first of all, which was Bishop Hoadly's Place, --
to the terror of mitres and wigs); or that the Em-
peror of China was concerned in Meux's Porter-
Brewery, with an eye to sale of nux vomica. Among
all the Kings that then were, or that ever were,
King Friedrich distinguished himself by the grand
human virtue (one of the most important for Kings
and for men) of keeping well at home, -- of always
minding his own affairs. These were, in fact, the one
thing he minded; and he did that well. He was vigil-
ant, observant all round, for weather-symptoms;
thoroughly well informed of what his neighbours had on
* Walpole, George the Second, l. 388, 353; and Letters to Horace Mann (Summer 1753), for the belief held. Adelung, vii. 338-341, for the poor
Cameron tragedy itself.
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? CHIP. XIII. ] ENGLISH-PRIVATEER QUESTION. 167
1753.
hand; ready to interfere, generally in some judicious
soft way, at any moment, if his own Countries or their
interests came to be concerned; certain, till then, to
continue a speculative observer merely. He had know-
ledge, to an extent of accuracy which often surprised
his neighbours; but there is no instance in which he
meddled where he had no business; -- and few, I be-
lieve, in which he did not meddle, and to the purpose,
when he had.
Later in his Reign, in the time of the American
War (1777), there is, on the English part, in regard
to Friedrich, an equally distracted notion of the same
kind brought to light. Again, a conviction, namely,
or moral-certainty, that Friedrich is about assisting the
American Insurgents against us; -- and a very strange
and indubitable step is ordered to be taken in con-
sequence! * As shall be noticed, if we have time.
No enlightened Public, gazing for forty or fifty years
into an important Neighbour Gentleman, with intent
for practical knowledge of him, could well, though
assisted by the cleverest Hanburys, and Demon and
Angel Newswriters, have achieved less! --
Question Third is -- But Question Third, so ex-
tremely important was it in the sequel, will deserve a
Chapter to itself.
* (Envres de Frederic, xxvi. 394 (Friedrich to Prince Henri, 29th June
1777).
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? 168 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [bOOK XVI.
1750-1755.
CHAPTER XIV.
THERE IS LIKE TO BE ANOTHER WAR AHEAD.
Question Third, French-English Canada-Question,
is no other than, under a new form, our old friend the
inexorable Jenkins's - Ear Question; soul of all these
Controversies, and, -- except Silesia and Friedrich's
Question, -- the one meaning they have! Huddled
together it had been, at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle,
and left for closed under "New Spanish Assiento-
Treaty," or I know not what: -- you thought to close
it by Diplomatic putty and varnish in that manner:
and here, by law of Nature, it comes welling up on
you anew. For it springs from the Centre, as we
often say, and is the fountain and determining element
of very large Sections of Human History, still hidden
in the unseen Time.
"Ocean Highway to be free; for the English and
others who have business on it? " The English have
a real and weighty errand there. "English to trade
and navigate, as the Law of Nature orders, on those
Seas; and to ponderate or preponderate there, according
to the real amount of weight they and their errand
have? Or, English to have their ears torn off; and
imperious French-Spanish Bourbons, grounding on ex-
tinct Pope's-meridians, gloire, and other imaginary
bases, to take command? " The incalculable Yankee
Nations, shall they be in effect Yangkee ("English"
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? CHAP. XIT. l LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 169
1750-1755.
with a difference), or Frangcee ("French" with a dif-
ference)? A Question not to be closed by Diplomatic
putty, try as you will!
By Treaty of Utrecht (1713), "all Nova Scotia" (Acadie as
then called), "with Newfoundland and the adjacent Islands,"
was ceded to the English, and has ever since been possessed
by them accordingly. Unluckily that Treaty omitted to settle
a Line of Boundary to landward, or westward, for their
"Nova Scotia;" or generally, a Boundary from North to
South between the British Colonies and the French in those
parts.
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, eager to conlude itself,
stipulated, with great distinctness, That Cape Breton, all its
guns and furnishings entire, should be restored at once
(France extremely anxious on that point); but for the rest
had, being in such haste, flung itself altogether into the prin-
ciple of Status-quo-ante, as the short way for getting through.
The Boundary in America was vaguely defined, as "now to
"be what it had been before War. " It had, for many years
before the War, been a subject of constant altercation. Aca-
die, for instance, the Nova Scotia of the English since Utrecht
time, the French maintained to mean only "the Peninsula,"
or Nook included between the Ocean Waters and the Bay of
Fundy. And, more emphatic still, on the "Isthmus" (or
narrow space, at north-west, between said Bay and the
Ocean or the Gulf of St. Lawrence), they had built "Forts:"
"Stockades," or I know not what, "on the Missaquish" (hodie,
Missiquash), a winding difficult river, northmost of the Bay
of Fundy's rivers, which the French affirm to be the real limit
in that quarter. The sparse French Colonists of the interior,
subjects of England, are not to be conciliated by perfect to-
leration of religion and the like; but have an invincible pro-
clivity to join their Countrymen outside, and wish well to
those Stockades on the Missiquash. It must be owned, too,
the French Official People are far from scrupulous or
squeamish; show energy of management; and are very skil-
ful with the Indians, who are an important item. Canada
is all French; has its Quebecs, Montreals, a St. -Lawrence
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? 170 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
1750-1755.
River occupied at all the good military points, and serving at
once as bulwark and highway.
Southward and westward, France, in its exuberant
humour, claims for itself The whole Basin of the St. Lawrence,
and the whole Basin of the Mississippi as well: "Have not we
"Stockades, Castles, at the military points; Fortified Places in
"Louisiana itself? " Yes; -- and how many Ploughed Fields
bearing Crop, have you? It is to the good Plougher, not ul-
timately to the good Cannonier, that those portions of Creation
will belong!
The exuberant intention of the French is, after
getting back Cape Breton, "To restrict those aspiring Eng-
"lish Colonies," merePloughers and Traders, hardly number-
ing above one million, "to the Space eastward of the Al-
"leghany Mountains," over which they are beginning to
climb, "and southward of that Missiquash, or, at farthest, of
"the Penobscot and Kennebunk" (rivers hodie in the State of
Maine). * That will be a very pretty Parallelogram for them
and their ploughs and trade-packs: we, who are 50,000 odd,
expert with the rifle far beyond them, will occupy the rest of
the world. Such is the French exuberant notion: and, Octo-
ber 1748, before signature at Aix-la-Chapelle, much more be-
fore Delivery of Cape Breton, the Commandant at Detroit
(west end of Lake Erie) had received orders, "To oppose
peremptorily every English Establishment not only there-
abouts, but on the Ohio or its tributaries; by monition first;
and then by force, if monition do not serve. "
Establishments of any solidity or regularity the English
have not in those parts; beyond the Alleghanies all is desert:
"from the Canada Lakes to the Carolinas, mere hunting-
"ground of the Six Nations; dotted with here and there an
'' English trading-house, or adventurous Squatter's farm:" --
to whom now the French are to say: "Home, you, instantly;
"and leave the Desert alone! " The French have distinct
Orders from Court, and energetically obey the same; the
English have indistinct Orders from Nature, and do not want
* LaGallisonniere, Governor ofCanada's Despatch, ''Quebec,15th Janu-
"ary 1749" (cited in Bancroft, History of the United States: Boston, 1839, et
seq. ). "The English Inhabitants are computed at 1,051,000; French (in
"Canada 45,000, in Louisiana 7,000), in all 52,000:" History of British Do-
minions in North America (London, 1773), p. 13. Bancroft (i. 154) counts
the English Colonists "in 1754 about 1,200,000. " -
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? CHAP. XIV. l LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 171
1750-1755.
energy, or mind to obey these: confusions and collisions are
manifold, ubiquitous, continual. Of which the history would
be tiresome to everybody; and need only be indicated here by
a mark or two of the main passages.
In 1749, three things had occurred worth mention. First,
Captain Coram, a public-spirited half-pay gentleman in Lon-
don , originator of the Foundling Hospital there, had turned
his attention to the fine capabilities and questionable condi-
tion of Nova Scotia, with few inhabitants, and those mostly
disaffected; and, by many efforts now forgotten, had got the
Government persuaded to despatch (June 1749) a kind of
Half-pay or Military Colony to those parts: "more than
"1,400 persons, disbanded officers, soldiers and marines,
"under Colonel Edward Cornwallis," Brother of the since
famous Lord Cornwallis. * Who landed, accordingly, on
that rough shore; stockaded themselves in, hardily endeav-
ouring and enduring; and next year, built a Town for them-
selves; Town of Halifax (so named from the then Lord Hali-
fax, President of the Board of Trade); which stands there, in
more and more conspicuous manner, at this day. Thanks to
you, Captain Coram; though the ungrateful generations (ex-
cept dimly in Coram Street, near your Hospital) have lost all
memory of you, as their wont is. Blockheads; never mind
them.
The Second thing is, an "Ohio Company" has got together
in Virginia; Governor there encouraging; Britannic Majesty
giving Charter (Marchl749), and what is still easier, "500,000
"Acres of Land" in those Ohio regions, since you are minded
to colonise there in a fixed manner. Britannic Majesty thinks
the Country "between the Monongahela and the Kanahawy"
(southern feeders of Ohio) will do best; but is not particular.
Ohio Company, we shall find, chose at last, as the eligible
spot, the topmost fork or very Head of the Ohio, -- where
Monongahela River from south, and Alleghany River from
north unite to form "The Ohio;" where stands, in our day,
the big sooty Town of Pittsburg and its industries. Ohio Com-
pany was laudably eager on this matter; Land-Surveyor in it
(nay, at length, "Colonel of a Regiment of 150 men raised by
"the Ohio Company") was Mr. George Washington, whose
* Coxe's Pelham, n. 113.
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? 172 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
1750-1755.
Family had much promoted the Enterprise; and who was in-
deed a steady-going, considerate, close-mouthed Young
Gentleman; who came to great distinction in the end.
French Governor (La Gallisonniere still the man), getting
wind of this Ohio-Company still in embryo, anticipates the
birth; sends a vigilant Commandant thitherward, "with 300
"men, To trace and occupy the Valleys of the Ohio and of
"the St. Lawrence, as far as Detroit. " That officer "buries
"plates of lead," up and down the Country, with inscriptions
signifying that "from the farthest ridge, whence water
"trickled towards the Ohio, the Country belonged to France;
"and nails the Bourbon Lilies to the forest-trees; forbidding
"the Indians all trade with the English; expels the English
"traders from the towns of the Miamis; and writes to the
"Governor of Pensylvania, requesting him to prevent all
"farther intrusion. " Vigilant Governors, these French, and
well supported from home. Duquesne, the vigilant successor
of La Gallisonniere (who is now wanted at home, for still
more important purposes, as will appear), finding "the lead
"plates little regarded, sends, by and by, 500 new soldiers
from Detroit into those Ohio parts (march of 100 miles or so);
-- "the French Government having, in this year 1750,
"shipped no fewer than 8,000 men for their American Garri-
"sons;" -- and where the Ohio Company venture on planting
a Stockade, tears it tragically out, as will be seen!
The Third thing worth notice, in 1749, and still more in
the following year, and years, had reference to Nova Scotia
again. One La Corne, "a recklessly sanguinary partisan"
(military gentleman of the Trenck, /ne%o-Trenck, species),
nestles himself (winter, 1749-50) on that Missiquash River,
head of the Bay of Fundy; in the Village of Chignecto, which
is admittedly English ground, though inhabited by French.
La Corne compels, or admits, the Inhabitants to swear al-
legiance to France again; and to make themselves useful in
fortifying, not to say in drilling, -- with an eye to military
work. Hearing of which, Colonel Cornwallis and incipient
Halifax are much at a loss. They in vain seek aid from the
Governor of Massachusets ("Assembly to be consulted first,
"to be convinced; Constitutional rights:-- Nothing possible
"just at once"); -- and can only send a party of 400 men, to
try and recover Chignecto at any rate. April 20th, 1750, the
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? CHAP. XIV. ] LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 173
1750-1755.
400 arrive there; order La Corne instantly to go. Bourbon
Flag is waving on his dikes, this side the Missiquash: high
time that he and it were gone. "Village Priest (flamingly
orthodox, as all these Priests are, all picked for the business),
"with his own hands, sets fire to the Church in Chignecto;"
inhabitants burn their houses, and escape across the river, --
La Corne as rearguard. La Corne, across the Missiquash,
declares, That, to a certainty, he is now on French ground;
that he will, at all hazards, defend the Territory here; and
maintain every inch of it, -- "till regular Commissioners"
(due ever since the Treaty of Aix, had not that Romish-King
Business been so pressing) "have settled what the Boundary
"between the two Countries is. "--Chignecto being ashes, and
the neighbouring population gone, Cornwallis and his Four
Hundred had to return to Halifax.
It was not till Autumn following, that Chignecto could be
solidly got hold of by the Halifax people; nor till a long time
after, that La Corne could be dislodged from his stockades,
and sent packing. * September 1750, a new Expedition on
Chignecto found the place populous again, Indians, French
"Peasants" (seemingly Soldiers of a sort); who stood very
fiercely behind their defences, and needed a determined on-
rush, and "volley close into their noses," before disappear-
ing. This was reckoned the first military bloodshed (if this
were really military on the French side). And in November
following, some small British Cruiser on those Coasts, falling
in with a French Brigantine, from Quebec, evidently carrying
military stores and solacements for La Corne, seized the
same; by force of battle, since not otherwise, -- three men
lost to the British, five to the French, -- and brought it to
Halifax. "Lawful and necessary! " says the Admiralty Court;
"Sheer Piracy! " shriek the French; -- matters breaking out
into actual flashes of flame, in this manner.
British Commissions, two in number, names not worth
mention, have, at last in this Year 1750, gone to Paris; and
are holding manifold conferences with French ditto, -- to no
purpose, any of them. One reads the dreary tattle of the
Duke of Newcastle upon it, in the Years onward: "Just going
"to agree," the Duke hopes; "some difficulties, butevery-
* Gentleman's Magazine, xn. 539, 295.
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? 174 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [BOOK XVI.
1750-1755.
"body, French and English, wanting mere justice; and our
"and their Commissioners being in such a generous spirit,
"surely they will soon settle it. " * They never did or could;
and steadily it went on worsening.
That notable private assertion of the French, That
Canada and Louisiana mean all America West of the
Alleghanies, had not yet oozed out to the English;
but it is gradually oozing out, and that England will
have to content itself with the moderate Country lying
east of that Blue range. "Not much above a million
of you," say the French; "and surely there is room
enough East of the Alleghanies? We, with our couple
of Colonies, are the real America; -- counting, it is
true, few settlers as yet; but there shall be innumer-
able; and, in the mean while, there are Army-Detach-
ments, Blockhouses, fortified Posts, command of the
Rivers, of the Indian Nations, of the water-highways
and military keys (to you unintelligible); and we will
make it good! "
The exact cipher of the French (guessed to be
50,000), and their precise relative-value as tillers and
subduers of the soil, in these Two Colonies of theirs,
as against the English Thirteen, would be interesting
to know: curious also their little bill, of trouble taken
in creating the Continent of America, in discovering
it, visiting, surveying, planting, taming, making habit-
able for man: -- and what Rhadamanthus would have
said of those Two Documents! Enough, the French
have taken some trouble, more or less, -- especially
in sending soldiers out, of late. The French, to cer-
tain thousands, languidly tilling, hunting and adven-
* His Letters, in Core's Pelham, u. 407 ("September 1751"), &c.
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? CHAP. XIV. ] LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 175
August--November 175S.
turing, and very ski] fill in wheedling the Indian Na-
tions, are actually there; and they, in the silence of
Rhadamanthus, decide that merit shall not miss its
wages for want of asking. "Ours is America West
of the Alleghanies," say the French, openly before
long.
"Yours? Yours, of all people's? " answer the Eng-
lish; and begin, with lethargic effort, to awake a little
to that stupid Foreign Question; important, though
stupid and foreign, or lying far off. Who really owned
all America, probably few Englishmen had ever asked
themselves, in their dreamiest humours, nor could they
now answer; but, that North America does not belong
to the French, can be doubtful to no English creature.
Pitt, Chatham as we now call him, is perhaps the
Englishman to whom, of all others, it is least doubtful.
Pitt is in Office at last, -- in some subaltern capacity,
"Paymaster of the Forces" for some years past, in
spite of Majesty's dislike of the outspoken man; -- and
has his eyes bent on America; -- which is perhaps
(little as you would guess it such) the main fact in
that confused Controversy just now! --
In 1753 (28th August of that Year), goes message from
the Home Government, "Stand on your defence, over there!
Repel by force any Foreign encroachments on British Domin-
ions. " * And directly on the heel of this, November 1753,
the Virginia Governor, -- urged, I can believe, by the Ohio
Company, who are lying wind-bound so long, -- despatches
Mr. George Washington to inquire officially of the French
Commandant in those parts, "What he means, then, by in-
vading the British Territories, while a solidPeace subsists? "
Mr. George had a long ride up those desert ranges, and down
again on the other side; waters all out, ground in a swash
* Holderness, or Robinson our old friend.
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? 176 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April --July 1754.
with December rains, no help or direction but from wampums
and wigwams: Mr. George got to Ohio Head (two big Rivers,
Monongahela from South, Alleghany from North, coalescing
to form a double-big Ohio for the Far West); and thought to
himself, "What an admirable three-legged place: might be
"Chief Post of those regions, -- nest-egg of a diligent Ohio
"Company! " Mr. George, some way down the Ohio River,
found a strongish French Fort, log-barracks, "200 river-
"boats, with more building," and a French Commandant,
who cannot enter into questions of a diplomatic nature about
Peace and War: "My orders are, To keep this Fort and
"Territory against all comers; one must do one's orders,
"Monsieur: Adieu! " And the stedfast Washington had to
return; without result, -- except that of the admirable Three-
legged Place for dropping your Nest-egg, in a commanding
and defenceful way!
Ohio Company, painfully restrained so long in that opera-
tion, took the hint at once. Despatched, early in 1754, a
Party of some Forty or Thirty-three stout fellows, with arms
about them, as well as tools, "Go build us, straightway, a
"Stockade in the place indicated; you are warranted to smite
"down, by shot or otherwise, any gainsayer! " And
furthermore, directly got on foot, and on the road thither,
a "regiment of 150 men," Washington as Colonel to it,
For perfecting said Stockade, and maintaining it against all
comers.
Washington and his Hundred-and-fifty, -- wagonage,
provender, and a piece or two of cannon, all well attended to,
--vigorously climbed the Mountains; got to the top, 27th May
1754; and there met the Thirty-three in retreat homewards!
Stockade had been torn out, six weeks ago (17th April last);
by overwhelming French Force, from the Gentleman who
said Adieu, and had the river-boats, last Fall. And, instead
of our Stockade, they are now building a regular French
Fort,--FortDuquesne, they call it, in honour of their Governor
Duquesne! -- against which, Washington and his regiment,
what are they? Washington, strictly surveying, girds him-
self up for the retreat; descends diligently homewards again,
French and Indians rather harassing his rear. Entrenches
himself, 1st July, at what he calls "Fort Necessity," some
way down; and the second day after, 3d July 1754, is attacked
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? CHAP. XIV. ] LIKELY TO BE ANOTHER WAR. 177
Jnly. 1754 --February 1755.
in vigorous military manner. Defends himself, what he can,
through nine hours of heavy rain; has lost thirty, the French
only three; -- and is obliged to capitulate: "Free With-
"drawal" the terms given. This is the last I heard of the
Ohio Company; not the last of Washington, by any means.
Ohio Company, -- its judicious Nest-egg squelched in this
manner, nay become a fiery Cockatrice or "Fort Duquesne" --
need not be mentioned farther.
By this time, surely high time now, serious military pre-
parations were on foot; especially in the various Colonies
most exposed. But, as usual, it is a thing of most admired
disorder; every Governor his own King or vice-King, horses
are pulling different ways: small hope there, unless the Home
Government (where too I have known the horses a little dis-
crepant, unskilful in harness! ) will seriously take it in hand.
The Home Government is taking it in hand; horses willing,
if a thought unskilful. Royal Highness of Cumberland has
selected General Braddock, and Two Regiments of the Line
(the two that ran away at Prestonpans, -- absit omen). Royal
Highness consults, concocts, industriously prepares, com-
pletes; modestly certain that here now is the effectual re-
medy.
About New-years-day 1755, Braddock, with his Two Re-
giments and completed apparatus, got to sea. Arrived,
20th February, at Williamsburg in Virginia ("at Hampden,
"near there, if anybody is particular); found now that this
was not the place to arrive at; that he would lose six weeks
of marching, by not having landed in Pennsylvania instead.
Found that his Stores had been mispacked at Cork, -- that
this had happened, and also that; -- and, in short, that Chaos
had been very considerably prevalent in this Adventure of
his; and did still, in all that now lay round it, much prevail.
Poor man: very brave, they say; but without knowledge, ex-
cept of field-drill; a heart of iron, but brain mostly of pipe-
clay quality. A man severe and rigorous in regimental points;
contemptuous of the Colonial Militias, that gathered to help
him; thrice contemptuous of the Indians, who were a vital
point in the Enterprise ahead. Chaos is very strong, -- espe-
cially if within oneself as well! Poor Braddock took the
Colonial Militia Regiments, Colonel Washington as Aide-de-
Camp; took the Indians and Appendages, Colonial Chaos
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. IX. 12
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? 178 -THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [bookXVI.
9th July 1755.
much presiding: and after infinite delays and confused hag-
flings, got on march;? -- 2,000 regular, and of all sorts say
,000 strong.
Got on march; sprawled and haggled up the Alleghanies,
-- such a Commissariat, such a wagon-service, as was seldom
seen before. Poor General and Army, he was like to be
starved outright, at one time; had not a certain Mr. Franklin
come to him, with charitable oxen, with 500/.
