ON CAPE BRETON. 233 



\^/im 



At sea the results were equally discouraging for the English. Fifteen ships of the line 

 and three frigates, under the command of Admiral Holbourne, and twelve thousand troops 

 under the command of Earl Loudoun himself, assembled in the har- 

 bour of Halifax in the July of 1757, but owing to the absence of 



energy and celerity of movement from the very day the project was o^"^ / / 



decided upon in England, until after the arrival of the fleet in 

 America, the French were able to get reinforcements of ships and men into Louisbourg, and 

 the English admiral and general came to the resolve— so strange for Englishmen in time of 

 war — to run no risk in attacking the fortress. Loudoun returned to New York but too 

 late to retrieve the injury he had done to the northern colonies by withdrawing so large a 

 force from the frontier at a critical period, when Montcalm was marching on Fort William 

 Henry with such unfortunate results for the English interests. Plolbourne sailed with 

 his fleet for Louisbourg, and after an unsuccessful halfhearted attempt to draw the French 

 fleet, then safely moored under the guns of the town^ into an engagement even the ele- 

 ments combined against him, and when he had lost a number of his vessels on the rocky 

 Cape Breton coast, he returned to England to tell the story of his discreditable failure.' 

 It was time indeed that the genius of Pitt should be enlisted in the service of his coun- 

 trymen. The qualities of a mere political trickster like 

 the Duke of Newcastle were not those that could save 

 England in this hour of her necessity, when her colonies 

 in America were threatened by the intrepidity and skill 

 of the men who were endeavouring to carry out the bold 

 designs of France with the limited resources that their country placed in their hands. 

 Pitt possessed all the qualities necessary at this national crisis. His impassioned eloquence 

 touched a sympathetic chord in the hearts of his countrymen. His self-confidence inspired 

 hopefulness in all those with whom he conferred. His cool judgment and energy of char- 

 acter enabled him to carry out successfully the bold designs his fertile brain conceived. 

 His popularity rested not on the favour of the aristocracy, but on the support of the great 

 middle class of the people. It happened with England then, as it happens almost always 

 in a great national emergency. The necessities of the times gave birth to a man capable 

 of coping successfully with the difficulties of the situation. It was Pitt's good fortune to 

 control the destinies of England at a time when she was entering on the most remarkable 

 epoch of her history ; an epoch which was to be famous for victories in Asia and America, 

 would place her in the foremost rank of nations, and make her the centre of a vast 

 colonial empire such as the world never saw, even in the days when Rome was mistress.- 

 "When Pitt was recalled to office in July 1757, it was too late to prevent the humilia- 

 tion of En"-land through the incompetency of Holbourne, Loudoun and Webb, and the 



' See App. X, (last paragraph,) to this work for reference to authorities on this unfortunate expedition. 



• " When the disasters of the war drove Newcastle from ofBce, in Nov., 1756. Pitt became secretary of state, 

 tringing with him into office his relatives, George Grenville and Lord Temple, as well as Charles Townshend * * 

 The House was full of Newcastle's creatures, the King hated him, and only four months after taking office he was 

 forced to resign. The Duke of Cumberland insisted on his dismissal in April, 1757, before he would start to take 

 the command in Germany. In July, however, it was necessary to recall him. The failure of Newcastle's attempt 

 to construct an administration forced the duke to a junction with his rival, and while Newcastle took the head of 

 the treasury, Pitt again became secretary of state." Green, " Hist, of the English people," iv. 177. The same 

 historian has an excellent review of Pitt's character and ability, pp. 177-183. 



Sec. II, 1891. 30. 



