vi                   Preface.

       sent out Major-General Amherst and Brigadier-General Forbes, con

       tinuing Abercromby in his subordinate command.

         Loudoun's career had been so signal a failure that he is usually

       represented by historians as not merely incapable, but as ridiculous.

       From this correspondence, however, it will be seen that such was by no

       means the opinion held of him by his brother officers, and his recall was

       much regretted. No doubt he had immense difficulties to contend

       with, and a brilliant antagonist for whom he was no match; and perhaps

       posterity has judged him too harshly.

         Pitt's plan was that Amherst should operate against Louisbourg,

       Abercromby against Crown Point, and Forbes against Fort Du Quesne.

         In July, 1758, Abercromby with a force of 15,000 men floated down

       Lake George to Ticonderoga, where Montcalm was strongly intrenched;

       but the attempt failed and the English retired with heavy loss.

         In August General Bradstreet attacked Fort Frontenac, which surren

       dered, giving the English the control of Lake Ontario.

         Amherst's operations were still more successful. In June he invested

       Louisbourg with a force of over 1 2,000 men, Admiral Boscawen

       co-operating with a fleet, and the place surrendered in July.

         The loss of Fort Frontenac and of the fleet on Ontario had cut off

       the supplies of Fort Du Quesne, whence most of the garrison had been

       withdrawn to assist in the northern campaign. Forbes was suffering

       from what proved to be a fatal attack of dysentery; but he advanced

       against it, though he had to be carried in a litter. Rejecting Braddock's

       old road, he had a new route surveyed and opened, along which he

       proceeded slowly and cautiously, fortifying posts as he went. In

       October, as his advanced parties drew near the fort, the French aban

       doned it, blowing up the magazine. Forbes then returned to Phila

       delphia, where he soon after died. Brigadier Stanwix was sent to Fort

       Du Quesne, where he erected a stockade, which he called Fort Pitt.

         Fort Niagara soon after surrendered to a force under Sir William

       Johnson, and all the west of Canada was now controlled by the British.

         In June, 1759, Amherst, who had been made commander-in-chief,

       moved against Crown Point and Ticonderoga, both which fortresses

       the French abandoned without resistance.

         The operations in the northeast were now resulting brilliantly for the

       British arms. Quebec surrendered in September, 1759, and Amherst,

       bringing a powerful force down the St. Lawrence in the next year, laid

       siege to Montreal, which capitulated on Sept. 8, 1760, and all Canada

       passed under British rule.

         Though the shifting of the theatre of war to the northward relieved

       Sharpe of his anxiety for the Maryland border-settlements, yet he had

       plenty of other troubles to worry him, and of these one of the most

       annoying was the behavior of the Lower House of Assembly. The rise

       of a factious party and its attitude have been alluded to in the preface

       to the preceding volume. Though they pretended a zeal for popular

       liberty, their actions hardly justify such a pretension, and it is evident