168. Braddock's expedition; Washington; the expulsion of the Acadians. Early in June (1755) Braddock set out accompanied by Colonel Washington and a body of Virginians, all eager to fight for "the best of kings." Braddock advanced from Fort Cumberland, at the base of the Alleghanies, and began to climb the rough ridges of the mountains. Three hundred axemen led the van to clear the way. Behind them came the British regulars, a glittering array of scarlet and steel. The distance to Fort Duquesne was about a hundred and thirty miles. The progress of the army was so slow that after a month's march they were still five miles from their destination. Up to this point all had gone well, when suddenly the English advance was greeted with a terrific Indian war-whoop and was fired upon by an unseen foe.

Braddock fell, mortally wounded, and the British regulars "ran like sheep pursued by dogs." 368 The Virginians with Washington at their head were the only men on the English side who did any successful fighting. Braddock had lost more than half of his army. Washington saved what was left. This disastrous defeat of British troops had one good result: it inspired the Virginians with confidence in their own methods of fighting, and it led at once to the creation of a military organization for the defence of the colony.

The attack on Fort Niagara was given up, but that on Crown Point and on Fort Beauséjour were completely successful. Then came the question what action should be taken respecting the Acadians, who, by conquest, were subjects of the King of England (§ 163), and were called "French neutrals." But at Beauséjour no less than three hundred of these "neutrals" had been found fighting on the side of France.

The British authorities suspected that the whole French population of Nova Scotia was secretly hostile to King George. They now urged the Acadians to take the oath of allegiance to the English sovereign; but nine-tenths of them refused. Then it was determined to banish them from the country. The

unsuspecting people were called together in their parish churches, and suddenly made prisoners. They were then hurried on board of British transports, and carried off to be distributed throughout the colonies from Maine to Georgia. The whole number thus kidnapped was between six and seven thousand. It was a terrible act, but apparently not contrary to the law of nations, and even France did not remonstrate.3

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169. Pitt and victory. The "French and Indian War" had now been going on for more than three years, but the English could show no adequate results. Then (1757) the elder William Pitt came into power; he soon became the directing power of the British Government. A master's hand now grasped the helm. He had faith in America. He called on the colonists to furnish twenty thousand men for a vigorous campaign. Pitt inspired the army with his own enthusiasm. He sent (1758) a strong force which recaptured Louisburg (§ 163), and the famous fort was dismantled and destroyed. Colonel George Washington planned the line of march of an expedition of seven thousand men against Fort Duquesne (1758); the French commander, having but a feeble garrison, blew up the fort and fled. A new structure was built on the ruins of the French stronghold, and named Fort Pitt in honor of the great statesman whose genius had made the war a success. A settlement sprang up around this military post which has since grown into the great manufacturing city of Pittsburg.

Sir William Johnson of Johnson Hall, New York, led his Iroquois "braves" against Fort Niagara, and took it. Ticonderoga and Crown Point fell, and so throughout the East the French were driven back to Canada.

170. Wolfe takes Quebec (1759). — The next move made by the English was on Canada itself. Montcalm, one of the bravest and noblest of French soldiers, held the world-renowned fortress of Quebec. General Wolfe, the young English officer who had stormed the batteries of Louisburg (1758), led the force against Quebec. He besieged the place for nearly three

months (1759), but without avail.

Out of his army of less

than nine thousand men, he had lost nearly a thousand in desperate assaults on the works. Wolfe had fretted himself into a fever, and began to doubt whether he should win the day.

Finally the English commander determined to make an attempt to scale the heights above the town. On a starlight night in September (1759) Wolfe landed five thousand men on the north shore of the river at the little cove which he himself had discovered, and which is now called by his name.

Feeling their way in the darkness, the soldiers seized hold of projections of the rocks, branches of trees, and bushes, and so noiselessly climbed up the almost perpendicular heights. When they reached the top, they re-formed and marched silently on until they came to the Plains of Abraham, outside the walls of Upper Quebec. There at dawn the French discovered them. There the decisive battle was fought. Both generals fell, mortally wounded. Wolfe lay bleeding on the ground, supported by an officer. "They run they run!" exclaimed the officer. "Who run?" asked Wolfe. "The French," was the reply. The English commander gave a final order, and then exclaimed, with his last breath, "Now God be praised, I die in peace."

Montcalm also lay dying. When told by the surgeon that he could not survive more than ten or twelve hours, he said: "So much the better; I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec."

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The fall of the capital of Canada virtually ended the war. It left the English in possession of everything which they had fought to gain, though peace was not formally declared until 1763.

171. Conspiracy of Pontiac (1763). Four years later (1763) Pontiac, chief of a Michigan tribe, led a revolt of the savages living in the vicinity of the upper lakes. The chief was friendly to the French, and he believed that with their help he could drive the English from the West.

It was the most formidable and widespread plot ever devised by an Indian brain. Pontiac hoped to unite all of the savage tribes west of the Alleghanies in a general movement against the colonies. The uprising met with such success that out of twelve military posts the Indians took eight and massacred their garrisons. In the whole West only the forts at Detroit, Niagara, and Pittsburg held out against the savages. The final battle was fought under the walls of Detroit (1763). Two years later (1765) Pontiac was forced to beg for peace.371 It was the last general attempt on the part of the western tribes to drive out the English settlers until, nearly half a century later, Tecumseh stirred up his famous revolt (1811).

172. Results of the struggle between England and France for the possession of America (1689-1763). By a treaty of peace made in 1763, France ceded to England all of her Ameri

can possessions east of the Mississippi, except two small islands off the coast of Newfoundland which Great Britain permitted her

to keep "as a shelter to her fishermen." 372 By a secret treaty made the previous year (1762), France had transferred New Orleans to Spain, and with that city all of her lands

west of the Mississippi; of her former magnificent domain on the North American continent she now had not even a foothold left. Meanwhile (1762) Spain, in return for the restoration of Cuba, had ceded Florida to England (ceded back to Spain in 1783). At the close of 1763, England held the whole continent, east of the Mississippi, from the frozen shores of the Polar

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Sea to the coral reefs of Florida, while Spain had her grasp on all the country west of the great river to the Pacific.

But England paid a heavy price for the vast territory she had wrested from France. The expense of the war (in Europe and America) doubled the English national debt, raising it from £70,000,000 to £140,000,000.374 The British tax-payers protested loudly against further outlay; but further outlay seemed an absolute necessity.

The Crown declared that a standing army of at least ten thousand men must be sent to America. This force was to hold Canada and the Ohio Valley, — otherwise the French and the Indians might rise and get back all that they had lost.

In order to obtain money to pay this army, England resolved to impose a direct tax on the colonies. Burke said that this tax was the origin of the quarrel between the colonists and the mother-country.375

If, then, one result of the French war was greatly to increase the extent of the American possessions held by England, on the other hand, the expense of that contest forced the King to adopt a policy which roused the colonists to resist his demands. George III. refused to make any concessions, and relentlessly pushed his claims, until finally the Americans rose and fought the War for Independence.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES IN 1763.

173. - Settlement and population.—In 1763 the population of the thirteen colonies was not far from 1,800,000, - or less than half that of New York City to-day. Of this population, somewhat more than 300,000 were slaves. These slaves were distributed throughout the colonies, but the number held north of Mason and Dixon's line (§ 145) was comparatively very small. The three largest cities were Philadelphia, New York, and Boston; but none of them had a population exceeding 30,000.