308 NATURAL AND CIVIL 



they could scarcely procure the necessaries of 

 life, much less bear the expences of war. The 

 whole country was in a state of constant terror 

 and alarm ; and in the frontier towns, the wo- 

 men and children found no refuge, but in the 

 garrisons. The men v/ent armed to their work, 

 centinels were posted in the fields, attacks were 

 made almost every week, reports of French and 

 Indian armies and incursions were incessant, 

 and every month some of the inhabitants were 

 cut off by the enemy. And what was more 

 humiliating, a flivorite but ill managed expedi- 

 tion against the French at Port Royal in Acadia, 

 in 1707, had failed.* 



To put an end to this horrid scene of depre* 

 dation and slaughter, there was no way but to 

 carry the war to the headquarters of the enemy, 

 and make another attempt for the conquest of 

 Canada. Solicitations for this purpose had been 

 made to the court .of England by the assembly 

 of Massachusetts ; by Francis Nicholson, who 

 had been lieutenant governor of New York and 

 Virginia ; and by captain Samuel Vetch, who 

 had been several years before at Quebec, for the 

 redemption of prisoners, and was well acquaint- 

 ed with the river St. Lawrence, and the French 

 settlements. Vetch made a full representation 

 to the British m.inistry, of the state of thingf; in 

 America ; and of the necessity of caiTying the 

 war into Canada. The British ministry ap- 

 proved of the plan ; and early in the spring, [17093 

 Vetch came to Boston with letters from the 

 carl of Sunderland, the British secretary of state, 



* Kutchimon's Hi»t. Ma33achusetts, Vol. a.p. 137— 159. Be!kn^p'3 

 Kist. New-Hampshire, Vol. i. p. 319— 347' 



