Albert Bushnell Hart

“ Then in 1754 came the great struggle of the French and Indian War, in which the English attacked the French on the upper Ohio, on Lake Ontario, at Louisburg, and finally at Quebec, all with triumphant success. The Canadian French were outnumbered five or six times to one in America, and their home government had its hands full with European and naval wars, and could not help them. ”

“ Our answer is that, in no case, could we exhaust a subject in a single number, and, in most cases we would exhaust the reader. We give as much on any subject as will interest the reader, and as much as he can conveniently retain in mind. ”

“ Europeans were not particularly gentle in their warfare. The early colonies were planted when the Thirty Years’ War was raging in Germany, a war in which the unoffending peasants expected both sides to rob them of their little property, and then to torture them because they had no more to give. The Indians were not the only race that found pleasure in inflicting awful suffering on other human beings. ”

“ Quebec was a battle that makes a man glad of being what he is, whether French or English.
DEATH OF GENERAL WOLFE
When Quebec was captured from the French by the English under General Wolfe, the commanders on both sides were killed. General Montcalm was in command of the French forces. From the painting by Benjamin West.
Four years earlier the French took their chance to defeat an army and kill a British general. Somebody has said that it was a hard fate for a brave military officer to go down to history known only through “Braddock’s Defeat.” ”

“ General Braddock marched his army through the wilderness as though he were on a parade ground in Europe. To this lack of caution was due in great measure his defeat.
THE INDIAN’S FATE
“If the pitcher fall on the rock, the pitcher shall be broken; and if the rock fall on the pitcher, the pitcher shall be broken.” So runs the Eastern proverb, and it applies to the fate of the Indian throughout the wars of the French and English. Every time an Indian tribe fought with either side it was sharpening an arrow that would be directed against itself. ”

“ When Stanley crosses the Dark Continent, or Amundsen penetrates the White Continent, he carries great quantities of stores with him; but Champlain, and Marquette, and La Salle went light. The Frenchmen paddled their canoes along with their Indian friends, lived on game and Indian corn, found much to engage and interest them, and were always ready for a joyous fight. Frenchmen know how to draw the pleasures of life out of unpromising surroundings.
FOUNDING OF QUEBEC
The French made their first permanent settlement at Quebec in 1608; but the English had then been in Jamestown a year. ”

“ But in war, as in the chivalric game of football, when you cannot break through the center, you play round the ends. Hence in every one of the six regular wars, besides various local squabbles, there was always fighting between French and English in Nova Scotia, or the Islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or along that river. In 1613 the English captured Port Royal on the Bay of Fundy, and again in 1690 and 1710,—it became almost a habit,—in 1670 they broke into Hudson Bay; in 1745 and 1758 they mastered Louisburg; and in 1759 took Quebec. ”

“ Anthony, which unfortunately were not at that time subject to conservation; first to navigate the Mississippi; first to see the Rocky Mountains; first to cross from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay. What a fate, to be the star actors in so many first performances, and then not to appear at all in the last act! What a destiny for the earliest explorers of our country!
One reason why the French secured early control of the interior was that they had an astonishing gift of living on the country. ”

“ La Salle finally saw, however, that he must give up his plan of finding a route to China, and in 1677 he replaced it with one intended to colonize the whole interior of the United States for France. He was convinced that the Mississippi River flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and he intended to build forts all along its banks, and thus hold it open for French settlers and traders. He believed that he could bring practically one-half of France over to live in the new country. ”

“ It was really a French officer with a band of French and Indians at his back. Feeling that they were doomed to defeat, the French had determined as a last resort to sally out from Fort Duquesne and give battle to the English in the woods.
As soon as the French officer saw the British he stopped and waved his hat. The French and Indians immediately disappeared into the bushes and opened fire on the English troops. The red coats of Braddock’s men made a fine target. They tried to return the enemy’s fire; but there was no foe to be seen. They stood their ground bravely for a time ”

“ LA SALLE
CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG
DEERFIELD MASSACRE
CAPTURE OF QUEBEC
BRADDOCK’S DEFEAT
PONTIAC WAR
By ALBERT BUSHNELL HART
Professor of Government, Harvard University
The whole round world is now open. Gone is the pleasure of finding new lands, sighting strange mountains, floating down mysterious rivers, and meeting unknown races of men. After Mt. Everest is climbed by some daring mountaineer, and after an airship lands on the highest peak of Mt. McKinley, what will be left for the seeker of novelty? ”

“ It is most interesting in our work to note the desire shown by readers for certain subjects, and the demand for back numbers. In a plan of this sort back numbers are just as valuable as forthcoming numbers, and as the weeks go by the store of valuable material increases in volume. ”

“ BRADDOCK’S GRAVE
Near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, one mile east of Chalk Hill, beside the National Pike, lie the remains of General Edward Braddock. They are said to have been reinterred at this place in 1824.
PONTIAC
The chief of the Ottawas. In April, 1769, he was murdered, when drunk, at Cahokie (nearly opposite St. Louis) by a Kaskaskia Indian, bribed by an English trader. He was buried near the St. Louis fort.
For a long time the Indian astutely played off one foreign nation against the other ”

“ He was a shy, proud, and reserved man, loved by a few intimate friends, and greatly liked and respected by the Indians.
La Salle was born in Rouen (roo ́-ohng) , France, on November 22, 1643. He came of a good burgher family. He taught in the Jesuit schools during his early life; but in 1666 went to Canada to make his fortune. It was then that La Salle had the first of his great visionary schemes. He planned to discover a way to China across the American continent. That does not sound so impossible now ”

“ They are: Make your matter simple, make it interesting, be sure that it is correct and authoritative, and last, don’t give too much at a time. The mental fare that you serve to your many readers should be frugal. ”