who could make but little impression upon them; and by the English, who could not command their obedience. In the quarter of a century, from the Revolution of 1688, to the accession of the House of Hanover, their population had doubled. A public document prepared for the Board of Trade, gives the following returns: Whites. 375,750 Negroes. Total. 434,600 The immigration into the colonies since 1690, -a period of twenty-five years had been inconsiderable, consisting principally of negro slaves, and of Irish and German indented servants. The great majority of the present inhabitants were natives of America. The third inter-colonial war commenced in 1743, and was brought to a close by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, on the 7th of October, 1748. The first information received of it was brought by some fugitives from Causo, which place had been captured by the French of Louisbourg, in Cape Breton, and by messengers from Annapolis, stating that the place was invested by a large force headed by a priest. Relief was promptly yielded, but no sooner had the fleet sailed for Boston, than the same ecclesiastic made a second attack, that required the garrison to be so strengthened, as to be beyond the reach of anything but ships of war or a large body of regular troops. Louisbourg, which the French had fortified at a prodigious expense, was now by far the strongest post north of the Gulf of Mexico, and at the same time was situated in the most important position. It commanded the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, secured a monopoly of the fisheries, furnished in abundance the requisite supplies for the West Indies, afforded shelter and repairs for the French fleet, and was so conveniently situated for privateers, that the English commerce was almost annihilated. Some prisoners, who returned from thence on parole, suggested the idea, that a sudden, bold, and vigorous attack upon it, if attempted at once, would probably prove successful. The proposal was approved by the Governor, and submitted to the Legislature; but so formidable did the undertaking appear, that the measure was only carried by a majority of one vote. A circular, asking assistance and co-operation, was sent to the other colonies, some of whom responded to the call, and contributed more or less, according to the interest they had in navigation. Pennsylvania, which was always distinguished for tender conscience, would not raise troops for so wicked a purpose as to kill their fellow beings, but gave two thousand pounds to purchase provisions for them, lest, peradventure, they might die of famine as well as by the sword. Whitfield, then preaching in America, gave his influence in favour of the expedition, and suggested as a motto for the flag of the New Hampshire regiment, “Nil desperandum Christo duce." The enterprise, under such auspices, assumed something of the character of an anti-Catholic crusade, and one of the chaplains carried a hatchet for the purpose of hewing down the images in the French churches. The forces employed by Massachusetts to reduce the island of Cape Breton, consisted of upwards of three thousand two hundred of their own men, who were aided by five hundred from Connecticut, and three hundred from New Hampshire. In addition to these, three hundred arrived from Rhode Island, but not until the enemy had surrendered. Ten vessels, of which the two largest carried only twenty guns each, with the armed sloops of Connecticut and Rhode Island as cruisers, constituted the whole naval force, until the arrival of the troops at Causo, where they were joined by a squadron of the King's ships, under Admiral Warren. The men embarked on the 24th day of March, 1745, and being landed on the island of Cape Breton on the 30th of April, the operations were continued against Louisbourg until the 17th of June following, when it was surrendered. The New England forces lost only one hundred and one men, killed by the enemy and accidental causes, and about thirty, who died of sickness; whilst the French were supposed to have lost three hundred, who were killed within their walls. The strength of Louisbourg, which was regularly fortified and garrisoned by six hundred and fifty veteran troops, and one thousand three hundred effective men of the inhabitants; and the relative conse quence of the island, as affecting the other settlements of the contending powers, places this voluntary enterprise of New England in an important point of view. The capitulation was no sooner signed, than the Admiral, whose blunders had, in the first instance, retarded the operations, with that assumption which has ever distinguished both branches of the service, when associated with colonists, claimed the whole merit of the achievement. England, with her wonted liberality, settled the dispute between the rival commanders, by rewarding both. Elated by their success, the Provincials now offered to undertake the conquest of Canada; but the Duke of Bedford, to whom Governor Shirley's plan had been submitted, disapproved of it, as exhibiting to the colonists too plainly their own strength. He represented "how imprudent it would be to send twenty thousand colonists to plunder the Canadians, and conquer their lands (after the experience we have had of their conduct and principles), on account of the independence it might create in those provinces, when they shall see within themselves so great |