1744]

BRAINERD.

263

Forks of the Delaware. RAUCH and other Moravians began to labor among the Mohegan tribe in Eastern New York and also just within the borders of Connecticut; but the assembly of New York, instigated by the land-speculators and liquor-traders, forbade the missionaries to preach. Accompanied by some Indian converts they therefore moved down to their settlement of Bethlehem, on the Lehigh.

A little later (1742), CHRISTIAN

Simultaneously, JOHN SERGEANT, a tutor of Yale College, originated a mission among the Housatonic Indians at Stockbridge in western Massachusetts, not far from Rauch's little settlements. Sergeant labored with much zeal and success for fifteen years, when he died. The noted JONATHAN EDWARDS became his successor. The Stockbridge colony, when Sergeant was stricken down, had increased from fifty natives to four times that number, and possessed neat dwellings, cultivated farms, a house of worship and several schools.

A young man of strong intellect, of excellent memory, searching and convincing in his discourse, was DAVID BRAINERD, a pupil of Jonathan Edwards, who came in 1744 from Connecticut to labor among the tribes of the Delawares at the Forks and in central and western New Jersey. Living in their wigwams, eating their coarse fare, regardless of creature comforts so that he might have many hours of quiet for meditation and prayer, he travelled-mostly at his own chargeshundreds of miles through the wooded wilderness and swamps, and over toilsome steeps, exhibiting in his beautiful Christian life a worthy example of purity and self-denial.

The scene of Brainerd's greatest success was in New Jersey. The principal village of the Christian Indians was called by the name of Bethel, and it was said of its people that their consistent lives "put to shame their white brethren in other churches." But the young missionary sustained for three years only this arduous life in the wilderness; for, having

embarked upon a journey to the upper Susquehanna (whither he had been several times before), his feeble frame gave way under the fatigue and exposure, and death ensued before he had reached his thirtieth year. A younger brother, JOHN BRAINERD, entered the same field of useful work. Although much favored by Belcher, the governor of New Jersey, yet many of the Indian titles for lands being disputed, fell into the hands of chief-justice Morris, an irreligious man, and the Indians of Bethel were eventually ejected from their possessions.

One who came to assist the younger Brainerd, says: "It is surprising to see the people who, not long since, were led captive by Satan at his will, and living in the practice of all manner of abominations, without the least sense even of moral honesty, yet now living soberly and regularly, and not seeking every man his own, but every man, in some sense, his neighbor's good; and to see those who but a little while past, knew nothing of the true God, now worshipping him in a solemn and devout manner, not only in public, but in their families and in secret; which is manifestly the case, it being a difficult thing to walk into the woods in the morning without disturbing persons in secret devotions. It seems wonderful that this should be the case not only with adult persons, but with children also; for it is observable here, that many children retire into secret places to pray."

CHAPTER XXI.

GEORGE II. SECOND PERIOD.

1744-1760.

THIRD WAR WITH CANADA. LOUISBURG CAPTURED.

THE wars that at intervals broke out between the rival monarchs of Europe, were always accompanied, as we have seen, by a counterpart conflict in the American colonies. When Charles VI., Emperor of Germany, died in 1740, the claim of his daughter Maria Theresa to the throne, was disputed by the Elector of Bavaria. England, thereupon, espoused the cause of the former, while France, Spain and Prussia took the part of the Bavarian, and for seven years were fought upon the plains of western Europe the battles for the Austrian succession. Meanwhile the angry billows of strife had broken upon the American shores, where the English colonies, under the leadership of Massachusetts, prepared once more to attack Canada.

It was considered, in the first place, of vital importance to firmly secure the friendship of the Six Nations; and accordingly, Governor CLINTON of New York, together with commissioners from New England, met the chiefs and envoys of the tribes at Albany, in 1743, and gained them over by liberal presents. And at another important council held at Lancaster a year later, it was agreed, upon the part of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, that the claim of the Six Nations to the country between the Blue Ridge and the Ohio, which they 265

M

23

had conquered from the Shawnees, should now be admitted. For the sum of £400 all the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah and the mountain-country of Virginia back to the Ohio were given up to the English.

But the vanquished Shawnees who had been thus deprived of their hunting-grounds, and the Delawares who had lost largely of their land by the Indian Walk, both favored the cause of the French.

The latter nation began hostilities by the capture of the little fort, and the destruction of the fishery, at Canso, on the north-eastern extremity of the Nova Scotian peninsula; and, as privateers, issuing from Louisburg on the opposite isle of Cape Breton, threatened to injure the New England commerce and to annihilate its fisheries, it was determined to attempt the conquest of that formidable fortress. The colonies as far south as Pennsylvania having been solicited for aid, 4000 troops, mostly furnished by Massachusetts, were placed under the command of William Pepperell, and, embarking for Canso, were shortly joined by several ships from England under Commodore Warren. The siege of Louisburg, after it had continued over two months, was terminated in the sixth month (June) 1745, by the surrender of its French garrison, together with the defenders from the town, numbering in all nearly 2000 men. Although the loss of the English in the siege had been but about 150, yet of those who were now unwillingly detained to garrison the place, ten times that number perished by disease, many of them being Indians who had been persuaded to enlist as soldiers in the provincial regiments.

While the colonies, in the expectation of another fleet from England, were raising additional troops to follow up their recent success by the hoped-for conquest of Canada, great consternation was caused by the news of the sailing of a French squadron of forty ships of war for the American coast. The hostile fleet, however, was shattered by storms and shipwreck,

1747]

THIRD WAR WITH CANADA.

267

and the troops were wasted by a pestilent disease; the admiral died, and his successor, in a delirium, committed suicide. The ships returned singly to France, but having subsequently made a second attempt (1747) to reach Canada, they were captured by the English fleet of Admiral Anson.

In the meantime the Canadian Indians, allies of the French, were active in harassing the northern frontier. At Crown Point, on the west shore of Lake Champlain, a fort had been constructed by the French, and from there a small force was sent, which surprised and ravaged the English settlement at Saratoga. The official agent of the English among the Six Nations at this period, was a man of Scotch-Irish birth, named WILLIAM JOHNSON. He had established himself on the Mohawk river, thirty miles west of Albany, where he diligently cultivated the good-will of the natives, took a wife from amongst them, and carried on a lucrative traffic, supplying them with rum, fire-arms and scalping-knives, or whatever else their savage need craved. Johnson's influence over the Mohawk tribe was greater than that of any of their native chiefs, and, in the war with the French, he led a party of the tribe who were designed to act as forest-skirmishers in advance of the main army.

In Pennsylvania, the desire of the Friends, the Mennonites and others, for peace, was at last overruled by the governor and a majority of the people of the province, the wishes of the latter being greatly aided by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. The philosopher at that time was a man above forty years of age, and by his printed productions, his great abilities and natural force of character, began to exercise much weight in political affairs. There being a rumor that French privateers. were about to attempt the capture of Philadelphia, a large militia force was organized, and money was raised by lotteries to erect batteries for the defence of the Delaware. And thus terminated (1747) the happy period of uninterrupted peace