232 J. G. BOUEINOT 



almost annihilated tho French army by an effort of the most remai'kable military geuiias 

 that the world has ever witnessed, but it is not in the old world, with its conflict of 

 dynasties and national ambitions, that the war resulted in consequences of the most 

 moment to mankind. If Frederick prepared the way for the unity of Germany by his 

 successes, we must at the same time place among the results of the Seven Years' War the 

 conquest of that wondrous eastern empire which, from the earliest times, has attracted the 

 admiration of nations. India with its great shrines of faiths, which were old when Chris- 

 tianity came to purify the world by its humanizing influences, with its glittering stores 

 of diamonds and its barbaric ornaments of gold and silver to excite the rapacity of con- 

 quering armies, with its palaces and monuments of curious architectural skill — India was 

 won at Plassy by the genius of Clive ; and now from Ceylon to the Himalayas an English 

 viceroy represents English order and law in his white marble palace on the banks of the 

 Hughli. One hundred and thirty years after the victory of Plassy there was living in 

 this eastern palace a viceroy ' who had come there direct from the old French province in 

 America, — from that Canadian country which, under the rule of England, has grown up 

 to a vast dominion extending between two oceans since the days when it was won on the 

 field of Abraham by "Wolfe, whose name must always be associated with Quebec just as 

 the memory of Clive must ever live in the great province of Bengal. India, the United 

 States, and the Dominion of Canada are the heritage of the war which drove France from 

 the eastern and western hemispheres. 



Whilst Frederick was laying the foundations of an empire, which was a century 

 later to hurl a French emperor from his throne and inflict a tremendous blow on the pride 

 of France, the conflict between England and her great rival in America was chiefly 

 remarkable for the incapacity of English commanders on land and sea. Earl Loudoun^ 

 the commander-in-chief, arranged a campaign against the French on Lake Champlain and 

 against Louisbourg which ended only in disaster and humiliation for England. The forts 

 at Oswego, the most important on the frontiers of the English colonies, and always 

 regarded with great disfavour by the French who occupied Fort Frontenac on the opposite 

 side of Lake Ontario, were successfully attacked and destroyed by Montcalm. The ener- 

 getic French general then proceeded, a year later, to storm Fort William Henry and largely 

 owing to the incapacity or pusillanimity of G-eneral Webb who could have marched to the 

 assistance of the besieged from Fort Edward, the brave Scotch officer, Lieutenant-Colonel 

 Monro, then in command of this important defence of the northeastern frontier, was 

 obliged to surrender. After the capitulation of this fort a large number of helpless men, 

 women and children were barbarously murdered by the body of Indians that accom- 

 panied the French — one of the saddest episodes in American history, which must always 

 dim the lustre of Montcalm's victories, though it is now generally admitted that the 

 French general himself was not responsible for the treachery of his Indian allies, but 

 used his most earnest efforts — even at the risk of his own life — to save the English when 

 the savages were mad with lust for the blood of their enemies.^ 



' This special reference here is to Lord Dufferin, who was a very popular governor general of Canada from 1872 

 to 1878, but in addition to him two other distinguished governors-general have occupied the same exalted posi- 

 tion— Lord Elgin thirty years ago, and tho Marquees of Lansdowne since 1S8.S. 



- Of whom it was said " he is like St. George on the signs; .always on horseback, but never rides on," Frank- 

 lin's Autobiography (Sparks), vol. i. p. 219. 



' See Parkman's graphic account of this disgraceful affair, " Montcalm and Wolfe," i. 474-514. Capt. Jonathan 

 Carver has a narrative of the massacre (" Travels through the Interior Parts of North America," ed. of 1779, pp. 

 295-308), to which he nearly fell a victim. 



