sends its cars over the Alleghanies in fewer hours than the army had taken weeks for its unresisted march, passes through the scene where the carnage was the worst; and in all that region no sounds now prevail but of life and activity.

Two regiments composed of Pennsylvanians, Marylanders, and Virginians, remained as a garrison, under the command of Mercer; and for Washington, who at twenty-six retired from the army, after having done so much to advance the limits of his country, the next few weeks were filled with happiness and honor. The people of Fredericktown had chosen him their representative. On the last day of the year, "the affectionate officers" who had been under him expressed, with "sincerity and openness of soul," their grief at "the loss of such an excellent commander, such a sincere friend, and so affable a companion," "a man so experienced in military affairs, one so renowned for patriotism, conduct, and courage." They publicly acknowledged to have found in him a leader who had "a quick discernment and invariable regard for merit, an earnestness to inculcate genuine sentiments of true honor and passion for glory;" whose "example inspired alacrity and cheerfulness in encountering severest toils;" whose zeal for "strict discipline and order gave to his troops a superiority which even the regulars and provincials publicly acknowledged." On the sixth of the following January, the woman of his choice was bound with him in wedlock. The first month of union was hardly over, when, in the house of burgesses, the speaker, obeying the resolve of the house, publicly gave him the thanks of Virginia for his services to his country; and as the young man, taken by surprise, hesitated for words in his attempt to reply, "Sit down," interposed the speaker; "your modesty is equal to your valor, and that surpasses the power of any language I possess.' After these crowded weeks, Washington, no more a soldier, retired to Mount Vernon, with the experience of five years of assiduous service. Yet not the quiet of rural life by the side of the Potomac, not the sweets of conjugal love, could turn his fixed mind from the love of

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glory; and he revealed his passion by adorning his rooms with busts of Eugene and Marlborough, of Alexander, of Cæsar, of Charles XII.; and of one only among living men, the king of Prussia, whose struggles he watched with painful sympathy. Thus Washington had ever before his eyes the image of Frederic. Both were eminently founders of nations, childless heroes, fathers only to their countries: the one beat down the dominion of the aristocracy of the middle ages by a military monarchy; the Providence which rules the world had elected the other to guide the fiery coursers of revolution along nobler paths, and to check them firmly at the goal.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. PITT'S MINISTRY CONTINUED.

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AMERICA more and more drew the attention of statesmen ; and Pitt, who through his under-secretaries continued to profit by Franklin's wisdom, resolved that the boundlessnorth of that continent should be a conquest for his country. With astonishing unanimity, parliament voted for the year twelve millions sterling, and such forces, by sea and land, as till those days had been unimagined in England.

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In the arrangements for the campaign, the secretary disregarded seniority of rank. Stanwix was to complete the occupation of the posts at the west from Pittsburg to Lake Erie; Prideaux to reduce Fort Niagara; and Amherst, now commander in chief and the sinecure governor of Virginia, to advance with the main army to Lake Champlain. To command the fleet which was to support the attack on Quebec, Pitt selected the generous and kind-hearted Saunders, an officer who to unaffected modesty and steady courage joined the love of civil freedom. The command of the army in the river St. Lawrence was conferred on Wolfe. "I feel called upon," he had once written, on occasion of his early promotion, "to justify the notice taken of me by such exertions and exposure of myself as will probably lead to my fall." And the day before departing for his command, in the inspiring presence of Pitt, he forgot danger, glory, every thing but the overmastering purpose to devote himself for his country.

All the while, ships from every part of the world were bringing messages of the success of British arms. In the preceding April, a small English squadron made a conquest

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of Senegal; in December, negroes crowded on the heights of the Island of Goree to gaze on the strange spectacle of war, and to witness the surrender of its forts to Commodore Augustus Keppel. In the Indian seas, Pococke maintained the superiority of England. In the West Indies, in January, 1759, a fleet of ten line-of-battle ships, with six thousand effective troops, made a fruitless attack on Martinique ; but, sailing for Guadaloupe, the best of the West India possessions of France, after the losses and daring deeds of more than three months, in May it gained, by capitulation, that delightful and well-watered island, whose harbor can screen whole navies from hurricanes, whose position gives the command of the neighboring seas.

From the continent of Europe came the assurance that a victory at Minden had protected Hanover. The French, having repulsed Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick at Frankfort, pursued their advantage, occupied Cassel, compelled Munster to capitulate, and took Minden by assault; so that Hanover could be saved only by a victory. Contades and Broglie, the French generals, with their superior force were allured from their strong position, and accepted battle on narrow and inconvenient ground, on which their horse occupied the centre, their foot the wings. The French cavalry charged, but, swept by artillery and the rolling fire of the English and Hanoverian infantry, they were repulsed. At this moment, Ferdinand, who had detached the hereditary prince of Brunswick with ten thousand men to cut off the retreat, sent a message to the commander of the British cavalry, Lord George Sackville, by a German aide-de-camp. Lord George affected not to understand. Ligonier came next, with express directions that he should bring up the cavalry and attack the French, who were faltering. "See the confusion he is in!" cried Sloper to Ligonier; "for God's sake, repeat your orders!" Fitzroy arrived with a third order from Ferdinand. "This cannot be so," said Lord George; "would he have me break the line?" Fitzroy urged the command. "Do not be in a hurry," said Lord George. "I am out of breath with galloping," replied young Fitzroy, "which makes me speak quick; but my

orders are positive; the French are in confusion; here is a glorious opportunity for the English to distinguish themselves." "It is impossible," repeated Lord George, "that the prince could mean to break the line." "I give you his orders," rejoined Fitzroy, "word for word." "Who will be the guide to the cavalry?" asked Lord George. "I," said the brave boy, and led the way. Lord George, pretending to be puzzled, was reminded by Smith, one of his aids, of the necessity of immediate obedience; on which he sent Smith to lead on the British cavalry, while he himself rode to the prince for explanation. Ferdinand, in scorn, renewed his orders to the Marquis of Granby, the second in command, and was obeyed with alacrity; but the decisive moment was lost. "Lord George's fall was prodigious," said Horace Walpole; "nobody stood higher; nobody had more ambition or more sense.' Pitt softened his misfortune with the offices of humanity, but condemned his conduct. George II. dismissed him from all his posts. A court-martial, the next year, found him guilty of disobeying orders, and unfit for employment in any military capacity; on which the king struck his name out of the council-book and forbade his appearance at court.

To

In America, every colony north of Maryland seconded this zeal of William Pitt. In New York and New England, there was not one village but grew familiar with war from the experience of its own inhabitants. Massachusetts sent into the service more than seven thousand men, or nearly one sixth part of all who were able to bear arms. Connecticut raised, as in the previous year, five thousand men. meet the past expense, the little colony incurred heavy debts, and appointed taxes on property to discharge them. New Jersey had already lost one thousand men, and yet voted to raise one thousand more; and expended yearly for the war an amount equal to about five dollars for each inhabitant. Such was the free service of the loyal colonies under an administration which respected their liberty.

To encounter the preparations of England and America, Canada received scanty supplies of provisions from France. "The king," wrote the minister to Montcalm, “relies on