1758.

CONQUEST OF SENEGAL.

137

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE warfare of 1758 was waged through all the four quarters of the globe. In India, as we shall more fully see hereafter, the Gallic power had begun to sink before the fortune of England and the genius of Clive. In Africa the French had succeeded in engrossing to themselves the gum trade, along five hundred miles of coast, from Cape Blanco to the river Gambia; they had built Fort Louis within the mouth of the Senegal; they had fortified the island of Goree. The idea of dispossessing them from these important settlements was first conceived by Mr. Thomas Cumming, a Quaker merchant. Peaceful as were both the tenets of his faith and the habits of his calling, he was not withheld by either from framing a scheme of military conquest.* This scheme he submitted to the Boards of Trade and Admiralty. It was approved; and a small squadron was despatched, under Captain Marsh, having on board Mr. Cumming himself, and a few hundred marines. On the 23d of April they appeared in sight of St. Louis, and no sooner were their forces landed than the French, finding themselves unequal to resistance, agreed to a capitulation on honourable terms.

The English armament was itself, as it proved, inadequate to the further conquest of Goree; but later in the year a fresh armament on a larger scale was despatched from home, the command being entrusted to Commodore Keppel, the same officer who had sat on Byng's Court Martial. He had on board 700 men of regular troops, while the French garrison of Goree could not muster half that number.

* When taunted with this religious inconsistency, Mr. Cumming used to answer by exclaiming that his military schemes, if there were but the blessing of Providence upon them, might all be accomplished without shedding a drop of human blood! (See an apologetic note in Smollett's History, book iji. ch. ix. sect. I.)

The attack took place on the 29th of December. For several hours the British ships poured in their broadsides, while the fire was briskly returned from the batteries on shore; but the former at length prevailed; the French Governor was compelled to strike his colours, and surrender at discretion. During the conflict the opposite shore of the Continent had been lined with crowds of negroes, who expressed their interest or surprise by loud shouts and uncouth gesticulations.*

America became the scene of greater operations. Pitt had early directed his attention to this quarter, had planned the conquest of Cape Breton and St. John's, had sent out considerable reinforcements, and what was, perhaps, still more effectual for success, had recalled the Earl of Loudoun. As the commander of the intended expedition, his good judgment selected for the army General Amherst, afterwards Lord Amherst; for the fleet, Admiral Boscawen. Wolfe likewise, who had attracted Pitt's notice by his behaviour before Rochefort, was despatched with the rank of Brigadier General, and as second in command. In these military appointments Pitt disregarded the claims of seniority, passing over many officers of older standing, but inferior merit.** This principle of selection (but skilfully and sparingly applied) was, no doubt, among the main causes at this period of the sudden revival of the British spirit, and the surpassing glory of the British arms. The claims of patronage were now as little heeded as those of seniority. It was no longer asked, as under the Pelhams, before an officer was named: In what borough or county has he votes? Of what Duke or Earl is he cousin? Every man in the public service now felt that a superior eye was upon him, quick to discern and ready to reward his deserts; with such an impulse he soon went beyond the line of

* Goree had been first planted by the Dutch in 1617. In 1677 it fell into the hands of the French under the Count d'Estrées. The name is derived from Goeree, in Dutch "a good road for shipping." (Entick's History of the War, vol. iii. p. 270.)

** Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 261.

1758.

CAPE BRETON REDUCED.

139

mere cold, strict, formal duty; he set his whole heart and soul to the business, and ere long Victory came to crown his exertions.

The armament under Amherst and Boscawen was assembled at Halifax, consisting of 150 sail, and of 12,000 soldiers. On the 2d of June it came to anchor within seven Iniles of Louisburg, the capital of Cape Breton. The landdefences of this place had been carefully strengthened by the French in expectation of an attack; five ships of the line were drawn up in the harbour, and the garrison, soldiers and marines together exceeded 6,000 men. It was with much difficulty and after stout resistance that the English effected their landing. Wolfe was the first to spring from the boats into the raging surf, and cheer on his soldiers to the charge. During the whole siege his ardour and activity were equally conspicuous. The conduct of General Amherst also deserves high praise; and a most cordial co-operation, another proof how judiciously the chiefs had been chosen, — prevailed between himself and Admiral Boscawen. For the besieged, they kept up their fire with much spirit, and attempted several sallies, but before the close of July, many of their cannon being dismounted, and divers practicable breaches made in the walls, they were compelled to capitulate. The garrison became prisoners of war, and were transported to England. Besides the ships captured in the harbour, a large amount of stores and ammunition was found in the place. The whole island of Cape Breton submitted on the fall of its capital, and the island of St. John's followed the fate of Cape Breton, being occupied by Colonel Lord Rollo with a detachment of troops. The name of St. John's was afterwards, in compliment to the Royal Family, altered to Prince Edward's Island. These happy news were transmitted to England through Captain Amherst, brother of the General and father of the present Earl, and he was also entrusted with eleven pair of French colours taken at Louisburg. These trophies were, by His Majesty's command, carried in procession, with kettle-drums and trumpets

sounding, from Kensington Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral, and there deposited amidst a salute of cannon and other public demonstrations of triumph. Nor were such rejoicings confined to London; a great number of other towns and corporations lighted bonfires in the streets, and sent addresses of congratulation to the King.

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On the continent of America General Abercrombie had become senior officer by the recall of Lord Loudoun. Mr. Pitt, though not willing to entrust him with the enterprise against Cape Breton, had proposed to him a more limited and less arduous sphere for his operations, reduce the French forts on the Lakes George and Champlain, and thus open a way for the future conquest of Canada. Accordingly the General began his march from New York at the head of 6,000 regular troops and 10,000 provincial militia. With these he embarked on Lake George, his main object being Ticonderoga, a strong fort on a neck of land between Lake George and Lake Champlain. The English effected their landing without hindrance, and gained some advantage over the French in a petty skirmish, in which, however, Lord Howe, one of their ablest officers, fell. "His life," says an historian, "had been long enough for "his honour, but not for his country."* The enemy were scarce 4,000 strong, but headed by their Commander in chief the Marquis de Montcalm, and occupying a strong entrenched camp close upon the fort. Their breast-works were eight feet in height, and had in front barricades of felled trees, with the branches outwards. So misinformed or so presumptuous was General Abercrombie, that he expected to force this strong position by musketry alone, and resolved to commence his attack without awaiting his artillery, which, for want of good roads, was yet lagging in the rear. Thus, on the 8th of July, the British troops marched up to the onset with undaunted courage, and bravely continued the

* Annual Register, 1758, p. 73. This useful compilation begins with 1758, and has been continued by different hands until the present time. The earlier narratives (ascribed principally to Burke) are written with great spirit, and compiled with great care,

1758.

EXPEDITION TO THE COAST OF FRANCE.

141

fire for several hours; but the difficulties before them proved insurmountable, and they were at length withdrawn, after a loss, in killed and wounded, of nearly 2,000 men. The General, who is accused of never having approached the scene of actual conflict nearer than the post of Saw-Mills, two miles distant*. was as precipitate in his final retreat as in his first attack. Far from seeking to retrieve his disaster, or making use of his greatly superior force, he hastened to re-embark his men, and to return whence he came. So headlong was his course, that, as an officer present informs us, a great number of entrenching tools, and several boatloads of provisions, were left behind; "all strong indica"tions," he adds, "of an unaccountable panic."

At Philadelphia a much less considerable force had been assembled under Brigadier Forbes, and had received orders from England to advance against Fort Duquesne. This line of march, destitute at that time of all military roads, and beset with morasses and mountains, was fraught with no common difficulties; these, however, were courageously overcome, and, as the English approached, the French garrison of Fort Duquesne, struck with alarm, dismantled their works, and withdrew. Thus, on the 25th of November, Brigadier Forbes took peaceable possession of the place. He repaired this fort, the contention for which had been one main cause of the war, and, with the unanimous concurrence of his officers, altered its name to PITTSBURG, a well-earned compliment to the Minister who had planned its conquest.

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In England, Mr. Pitt, undeterred by the failure before Rochefort, was still firmly bent on expeditions to the coast of France. A formidable armament assembled at Spithead, its precise destination remaining strictly secret. No less than 14,000 troops of the line and 6,000 marines went on board; having for their chief, Charles, second Duke of Marlborough, a man, beyond all question, brave, goodnatured, and generous, but of no shining talents in the field

* Entick's History, vol. iii. p. 258.