19 



of the period was dcvolcd to war. The contest was at an end. The 

 Gaul resigned the mastery of the New World to the Briton.* 



In view otthe past and the future, our fathers were "satisfied." 

 It remains to give a summary of the exertions of the northern colo- 

 nists to achieve the conquest of Canada. So numerous were the sea- 

 men and fishermen of N(>w England on board of the ships-of-war, that 

 her merchants were compelled to navigate theii- own vessels with In- 

 dians and negroes. JNIore than four hundred privateers were fitted out 

 during the contest to ravage the French West Indies and distress the 

 commerce of France in all parts of the world ; and it was asserted in 

 the House of Commons, without contradiction, that, of the seamen 

 emploj'ed in the British navj'-, ten thousand were natives of America. 

 For the attack on Louisbourg and Quebec alone, the number furnished 

 by the single colon\^ of Massachusetts was five hundred, besides the 

 fishermen who were impressed. t A single example of the pecuniary 

 burdens of those who personally bore no part in hostile deeds will 

 suffice.^ A Boston gentleman of fortune sent one of his tax-bills to a 

 friend in London for his opinion, and received for answer that "he did 

 not believe there was a man in all England who prdd so much, in pro- 



* It may be said that Great Critaiii has liardly had a moment's quiet with Canada since the 

 day when Wolfe rose from a sick bed to '•(Yw happy" in planting her flag on the walls of 

 Queliec. We cannot stop to trace the reasdus for this state of things, hut must conthie our 

 remarks to the course of events immediately ibllnwing tlie conquest. After the fall of Quebec 

 and the reduction of the entire country, but before the final cession, there arose an exciting 

 controversy among some of the leading statesmen of the time, whether Canada shoidd be re- 

 tained or restored to France, and the island of CTuadalouj)e be added to the British domhiionsin 

 its sread. There seems to havebeena prevalent fear that, if Canada were kept, the cohmies, rid 

 of all apprehensions from the French, woidd increase at an alarming rate, and finally throw ofl" 

 their dependence on the mother comitry. A tract was published in support of this view, sup- 

 posed to have l)een written either by Edmund or AVilliam Burke, to which Franklin re])lied in 

 his happiest and ablest manner. Fi'aiiklin's answer, in the judgment of Mr. Spai'ks, '-was be- 

 lieved to have had great weiglit in the ministerial councils, and to have been mainly instru- 

 mental in causing Canada to be held at the peace." 



In the course of the dispute, the cliarge was openly made that the treaty of peace which re- 

 Btored to France the conquests of Bellisle, Goree, Gaudaloupe, St. Lucia, Martiniqiu', and Ha- 

 vami, which guarantied t« her people the nse of the Newfoundland fishery, and vhun re- 

 tained an acquisition of so doubtful value as Cauiida, was the restilt of corrupt bargaining. 



Lord St. A'incenf (a great naval captain, and hardly inferior to Nelson) whs of the opiinon, 

 even in 17H:?, that Canada ought not (o lie retained by England. Lord Brougham, in his his- 

 t<irical sketches, relates that, "when Lord Shelburne's peace (178;i) was signed, and before 

 tlie term.s were made public, he sent for the adudral, and, showing them, asked his opinion.' 

 'I like them very well,' said he, 'but there is a great omission.' 'In what?' 'In leaving 

 Canada as a British province.' 'How could we possibly give it up?' inipiired Lord Shel- 

 Jiunie. ' ilow can you hope to keejjit?' refilled the veteran wanior: 'with an English re- 

 puldic j'l.st esUtblished in tlie sight of Canada, and with a population of a handful of English 

 settled iimong a body of hereditary Frenchmen, it is inqiossibli- ; and, rely on it, yoti only re- 

 tain a running sore, the source of endless disquiet and e.\|)ense.' 'Would the country bciir 

 it? have you forgotten Wolfe and (Quebec.'' asked iiis lordship. 'No: it is because I re- 

 jnerrilier botli. I served with Wolfe at (jhieliec. Ilaviim lived so long, I hiive had full lime for 

 retleetiou oti this uiatter : iunl niy clearcqiinion is, that if this iiiir occasion for giving up Canada 

 is ncKlecied, iiothiutr l>ut dlHiculiy, in eitlier keeping or resiuuins; if, will everatter be known.' " 

 This remarkable pi-ediction liius been fullilled, as every one who is (iimiliar with Canadian af- 

 t'lir.s wWl mliiih. 



t "Tlie Massachusetts forces," in IT')!*, says Iluieliinson, "were of great service. Twenty- 

 five hundred served in garrison at Louisbourg and Nova Scotia, in the room of the regular 

 tro(q)s taken from thence to serve under General \\'<dfi'. Several hundred served on board 

 the kind's ships as seamen, and the remaind<'r of the six thousand five hundred nu'ii voted in 

 the spring siTved imder (Jeneral Andierst. Besides this f"orce, ujion application of General 

 Wolfe, three hiuidred nKU'e were raised and sent to Quebec by the lieutcuimt governor, in 

 ihe absence of the governor at i'euot^scot." 



