MISCELLANEOUS. 1148 



pedition caused great rejoicings throughout the British empire. The 

 French colors were deposited in St. Paul's, London, and a form of 

 thanksgiving was ordered to be used hi all the churches; while in New 

 England, prayers and thanksgivings were solemnly offered on the 

 domestic altar and in public worship. 



General Wolfe commanded a detached body of two thousand troops, 

 and was highly distinguished.* He sailed from Louisbourg the follow- 

 ing year, at the head of eight thousand men, to "die satisfied" on the 

 Plains of Abraham. Well might he utter these words ! He was the 

 victor in one of the decisive battles of the world ! In the hour that the 

 British troops entered Quebec, the rule of America passed from the 

 Gallic to the Anglo-Saxon race. Between the death of a Jesuit father 

 and the breaking up of a French settlement in Maine, and the treaty of 

 Paris, was just a century and a half. We have seen how large a part 

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

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



In view of the 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 New England on board of the ships-of-war, that 

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



* "Wolfe," says Horace Walpole, "who was no friend of Mr. Con way last year, 

 and for whom I consequently have no affection, has great merit, spirit, and alacrity, 

 and shone extremely at Louisbourg. " 



t It may be said that Great Britain has hardly had a moment's quiet with Canada 

 since the day when Wolfe rose from a sick bed to "die happy" in planting her flag on 

 the walls of Quebec. We cannot stop to trace the reasons for this state of things, but 

 must confine our remarks to the course of events immediately following the 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 should be retained or restored to France, and the island of Gua- 

 daloupe. be added to the British dominions in its stead. There seems to have been a 

 prevalent fear thatynf Canada were kept, the colonies, rid of all apprehensions from 

 the French, would increase at an alarming rate, and finally throw off their dependence 

 on the mother country. A tract was published in support of this view, supposed to 

 have been written either by Edmund or William Burke, to which Franklin replied in 

 his happiest and ablest manner. Franklin's answer, in the judgment of Mr. Sparks, 

 "was believed to have had great weight in the ministerial councils, and to have been 

 mainly instrumental in causing Canada to be held at the peace." 



In the course of the dispute, the charge was openly made that the treaty of peace 

 which restored to France the conquests of Belhsle, Goree, Guadaloupe, St. Lucia, 

 Martinique, and Havana, which guarantied to her people the use of the Newfoundland 

 fishery, and which retained an acquisition of so doubtful value as Canada, was the 

 result of corrupt bargaining. 



Lord St. Vincent (a great naval captain, and hardly inferior to Nelson) was of the 

 opinion, even in 1783, that Canada ought not to be retained by England. Lord 

 Brougham, in his historical sketches, relates that, "when Lord Shelburne's peace 

 (1783) was signed, and before the terms were made public, he sent for the admiral, 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?' inquired Lord Shelburne. 'How can you hope to keep it?' 

 replied the veteran warrior: 'with an English republic just established m the sight of 

 Canada, and with a population of a handful of English settled among a body of heredi- 

 tary Frenchmen, it is impossible; and, rely on it, you only retain a running sore, the 

 source of endless disquiet and expense.' 'Would the country bear it? have you for- 

 gotten Wolfe and Quebec?' asked his lordship. 'No: it is because I remember 

 both. I served with Wolfe at Quebec. Having lived so long, I have had full time for 

 reflection on this matter; and my clear opinion is, that if this fair occasion for giving 

 up Canada is neglected, nothing but difficulty, in either keeping or resigning it, will 

 ever after be known.' ' This remarkable prediction has been fulfilled, as every one 

 who is familiar with Canadian affairs will admit. 



