[liqhthall] POWNALL'S PART IN THE CONQUEST OF CANADA 269 



''' the country, as possessed by the English and French, were with great 

 '■'difficulty, if at all, to be obtained; and, I may venture to say, utterly 

 '' uiiknown to our military." 



iTihe consequence of these doings was the favourable turn ta, the 

 British campaign. The results were no less than the conquest of North 

 America, the establishment of both the British Empire and the United 

 States, and the dominance of the world By Anglo-Saxon institutions. 

 JTihis statement is a new and a broad one, but is it incorrect? The 

 proofs are in the Documentary Histoiry of New York. Schuyler, Vetch,. 

 De Lancey, Pownall, Pitt and Wolfe were the six bright stars of the 

 " Glorious Enterprise." Perhaps Saunders, too, should be included. 

 The work of Pownall was sui generis — masterly, great-hearted, the equal 

 of the others in sw^eep of vision, a link as necessary as theirs in the suc- 

 cess of the " noble désigne." 



As the present paper is merely a note, this is not the place far an 

 extended account of Pownall. He was bom in England in 1728 and 

 died there in 1805. A very full biographical article upon him is 

 contained in Volume XVI. of tlie Maga2àne of American History, and 

 i? embellished with a fine portrait. He was a man af rich qualities 

 of both heart and intellect, and an intimate and loyal friend of Ben- 

 jamin Franklin even throughout the Eevolution. He is generally 

 acknowledged as the author of the idea of United Empire, and had 

 his enlightened views as a friend of America abtained proper hearing, 

 there might have been no Eevolutionary War. But 1 believe that in 

 the above lines and in the pampblet referred to I am calling attention 

 for the first time to his greatest work. 



