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June, and on the 25th of July it surrendered. Fort Frontenac was also taken by a body of three thousand Provincials, aided by regulars; and the French, after a severe encounter with part of General Forbes's army, evacuated Fort de Quesne on the Ohio.

Ticonderoga, the great object of New England's efforts, still remained to scourge the country, and it was resolved forthwith to attack it. This attempt, however, proved unsuccessful, and occasioned a loss of sixteen hundred and eight rank and file of the regulars, among whom was Lord Viscount Howe, and threehundred and thirty-four Provincials. To put an end to this ruinous contest, three great expeditions were undertaken: General Amherst, with a body of twelve thousand men, was to attack Crown Point; General Wolf was, at the opposite quarter, to enter the St. Lawrence, and undertake the siege of Quebec, while Generals Johnson and Prideaux were to attempt the reduction of the French forts, near the Falls of Niagara.

It was late in July before General Amherst reached Ticonderoga; on his approach, the French blew up the magazine, evacuated the fort, and retreated to Crown Point, whither he immediately pursued them. But they retired, and took post at Isle aux Noix, at the northern extremity of Lake Champlain. As the season was so far advanced, he returned to Crown Point, and put his troops in winter quarters.

The expedition, under Generals Prideaux and Johnson, against Fort Niagara, was crowned with complete success. A large force, collected from all the neighboring garrisons, was assembled for the purpose of raising the siege, for the French justly considered that post as the key to all their interior American empire. These troops were gallantly repulsed, in view of the besieged, who, discouraged by having all succor cut off, surrendered as prisoners of war.

While these successful operations were carried on in Upper Canada, General Wolfe was prosecuting the grand enterprise for the reduction of Quebec. Of the ascent of the heights of Abraham, the battle that ensued, the death of Wolfe and Montcalm, the fall of Quebec, and the subsequent conquest of Canada, every history, both American and English, contains a copious account. To abridge it would be to deprive it of its interest, and to enter upon it at large, is inconsistent with the nature of this work. Bald and scanty as the narrative I have given must necessarily

be, it is copious enough to exhibit the military character of the colonists, and the school in which they were trained to a knowledge of actual service. Any thing beyond this I have omitted, as incompatible with the plan of a book that professes not to be a history, but a political sketch.

On the 10th of February, 1763, a definitive treaty of peace was signed at Paris, and soon after ratified. By the second article, France renounced and guaranteed to Great Britain all Nova Scotia or Acadia, and likewise Canada, the Isle of Cape Breton, and all other islands in the Gulf and River of St. Law

rence.

CHAPTER II.

SKETCH OF POLITICAL EVENTS FROM 1698 TO 1740.

Arrival of Sir William Phipps-Difference between Old and New ChartersSpirit of first Legislation-Determination to Establish no permanent Salaries -Formation of two Parties, Loyalists and Patriots-Character and Death of Phipps-New York imitates the Conduct of New England-Refusal of Militia of Connecticut to obey the King's Officer+Board of Trade established -Courts of Admiralty created-Oath framed for Governors to enforce Trade Acts-Arrival of Lord Bellemont-His Character and Conduct-Appointment of Mr. Dudley-His Unpopularity-The Assembly deny his Right to Negative their Choice of Speaker, and refuse to comply with any of the Royal Instructions-Insinuations against the Governor that he was holding treasonable Correspondence with the Enemy-He is attacked by the Preachers-Appointment of Colonel Chute-Opposition of Assembly-Appointment and Death of Governor Burnet-Arrival of Governor Belcher-End of Contest about fixed Salaries.

On the 14th of May, 1692, Sir William Phipps arrived at Boston, with the new charter, and a commission, appointing him Governor of the colony. The people were not a little surprised to find, that the patent which had caused them so much apprehension, was more favorable than they expected; but liberal as it was, there was a very large party in the colony averse from receiving it, hoping that by showing a bold front, and determined opposition, they might extort a renewal of the old one.

Warned by past experience of the danger of permitting any sect to indulge intolerance, a clause was introduced into it by the crown officers, allowing liberty of conscience in the worship of God to all Christians excepting Papists; appeals to the King and Council were supported in all personal actions above three hundred pounds sterling in value; and the exercise of Admiralty jurisdiction was reserved to the Crown. But the great restraint laid upon the province consisted in the appointment of the Governor, Lieutenant-governor, and Secretary by the king; in investing his representative with a negative upon all laws and elections made by the Council and House of Representatives; and subjecting the laws, even when thus sanctioned, to rejection by the king, within the term of three years. The Governor was also authorized to call an Assembly whenever he saw proper, and to adjourn,

prorogue, and dissolve it at pleasure. No act of the Legislature was to have any validity without his assent. The appointment of all military officers was vested in him solely, and he had concurrent authority with the Council in filling every situation in Courts of Justice; their civil officers were to be chosen by the two Houses, subject to his negative; and no money could be paid out of the treasury, but by his warrant.

Besides these changes, the differences between the old and new charter consisted in an express authority for exercising powers which had been in constant use from necessary implication: these were the privileges of a House of Representatives as a branch of the Legislature, the levying of taxes, and creating courts for the trial of capital crimes. The probate of wills, and granting administration on intestate estates, were expressly given to the Governor and Council. While the privileges of the people were thus diminished, the territory of the province was enlarged. The colony of New Plymouth, the province of Maine, and the county of Nova Scotia, with the lands between the two latter, were joined to Massachusetts, and formed an extensive tract of not less than eight hundred miles in length. Out of this extensive domain, the only new reservations made were the timber suitable for masts for the Royal Navy, and grants of land between the River Sagadahock and the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence, which were not to be valid without the king's approbation.

The jealousy always felt of royalty showed itself at once on the first exercise of prerogative rights under the charter. Advantage was taken of the ignorance of the governor by the Council, to assume to themselves the appointment of sheriffs, justices, and other similar officers. An act was passed at the same time, to continue in full force, until formally repealed, all the old laws of the colony in existence when the second charter issued; by which, had not the design been discovered and frustrated in England, the law enforcing the ecclesiastical discipline of the Congregationalists, and authorizing the levying taxes for their support, would have been re-enacted; and as no refusal could have been procured without the consent of the Lower House, it would have either remained forever on the Statute Book, or caused some legislative action in Parliament. Another contemporaneous act clearly evinces the spirit of the people. It was a sort of Magna Charta (from which, indeed, many of its clauses were copied),

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and recited at length their various rights and privileges; among others they failed not to insist upon the following: "No aid, tax, taillage, assessment, custom, loan, benevolence, or imposition whatever, shall be laid, assessed, imposed, or levied, on any of their Majesty's subjects or estates, on any pretense whatsoever, but by the aid and consent of the Governor, Council, and Representatives of the people assembled in General Court." This law, on the advice of Lord Chief Justice Holt, was disallowed by the king, because it contained what none of his predecessors had ever conferred. A criminal code was also compiled, and passed by the Legislature, that was in the same manner disapproved, since it was thought to have been borrowed too much from the Jewish system to be consistent with the jurisprudence of England. Another law, "for securing the liberty of the subject," by extending the Habeas Corpus Act, was rejected, as Somers and other Whigs insisted it had not yet been extended to the colonies. Few of the acts of that session, had the good fortune to please the statesmen of England, since they thought it of importance to oppose the progress of any innovation.

In the first House convened under the new charter, a broad line of demarkation was observable among the representatives; the friends of British connection and Loyalists on the one hand, honest Republicans, unprincipled demagogues, and bigoted sectarians on the other. Such as were for limiting the prerogative, securing the dependence of the governor, and maintaining the supremacy of the colonial Legislature, naturally won the hearts. of the people, and received their confidence in proportion to their zeal; while those who thought rights and duties reciprocal, saw no danger in a limited monarchy, and were attached from principle and feeling to the parent country, subjected themselves to the reproach of cowardice, obsequiousness, and self-interested motives.

To the same period may be traced that favorite but fatal policy of the Home Government, of attempting to concilitate those in opposition, at the expense of the feelings, the rights, and just claims of its true friends; of refusing reasonable concessions, until compelled by popular movement to grant more than was at first demanded, whereby the grace of justice or liberality was merged in the triumph of a forced surrender, and of treating both classes with an indifference or contempt, that aroused the implacable

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