ON CAPE BEBTON. 207 



protection for the fisheries of Acadie and New England, but he had not given any definite 

 information with respect to the plan that was then forming itself in his mind. Without 

 waiting for an answer from England he sent circular letters to all the colonies as far 

 south as Pennsylvania, setting forth the nature of the project and the prospects of its 

 success. Everywhere exce^jt in New England it was regarded as a wild Quixotic scheme. 

 Franklin looked upon it as quite impracticable. The issue was that Shirley found 

 himself obliged to depend entirely upon the colonies of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New 

 Hampshire and Massachusetts It was on the latter that the great burden of the expedition 

 fell. It was exclusively a New England affair, and none of the other colonies can claim 

 even a reflected glory from its success. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are said to have 

 promised to send some provisions and clothing.' New York did a little better, for 

 although Grovernor Clinton could not get any assistance in men from the legislature with 

 which he had some differences at that time on a question of salary, he succeeded in 

 obtaining a loan often pieces of small ordnance with carriages, and a quantity of powder 

 and provisions, for which he does not appear to have been ever adequately repaid by the 

 colony. Groveinor Clinton was evidently determined that his efforts to assist the 

 expedition should not be lost sight of, for in his letter to the Duke of Newcastle he called 

 attention to the fact that without these guns "they could not have undertaken the affair," 

 and he had the pleasure of telling the minister " that these very cannon greatly 

 contributed to the reduction of Louisbourg, for which he received the thanks of the 

 general court of Massachusetts Bay in a public manner, though he could hardly get any 

 one to pay for the transportation of them." ■ Some allowance must, howcA'^er, be made 

 for the strained relations between the governor and the legislature, and besides it is not 

 surprising that the members of the latter should hesitate to incur very heavy expense in 

 a matter in which none of them had any confidence. When even the general court of 

 Massachusetts agreed to the scheme by only a majority of one, it was hardly to be expected 

 that the legislatures of other colonies, where the plan did not originate, could be animated 

 by enthusiasm in favour of an undertaking which appeared so likely to end in disaster. 



The expedition was ready to sail on the 23rd of March, and consisted of 4,0*70 men, 

 of whom Massachusetts contributed 3,250, New Hampshire 304, Connecticut 516. Maine, 

 not then separated from Massachusetts, contributed nearly one-third of the whole force 

 on account of the great popularity of Colonel Pepperrell of Kittery on the Piscataqua, in 

 the villages and towns of the districts where he lived. Rhode Island had promised a 

 force of 150 men, but unfortunately for her share in the glory of the expedition it did not 

 arrive until the battle was won. Pepperrell had command, with the title of lieutenant- 

 general, and it would have been impossible to have made a more judicious selection in 

 the colonies. He had become wealthy in commerce, and held some of the most important 

 positions in New England. He had pleasant manners and thoroughly understood the 

 independent character of the people and the best way of managing them. He had no 

 military experience, but he was a man of excellent judgment and undoubted courage, and 



' See Usher Parsons, " Life of Pepperrell," p. 57; Hildreth, "Hist, of the U.S.," ii. 30.5. It would appear, 

 however, from the statement of Hutchinson (" History of Ma.ssachuselts Bay," ii. oSO, n) that these colonies 

 contributed money and provisions only after the reduction of the fortress. Belknap ("History of New Hampshire," 

 ii. 212, n) makes a similar assertion- 



2 See " New York Colonial Documents," vi. 280, 2S4,'i;85. 



