defenceless frontiers in 1690, and continued until the 10th day of December, 1697, when the peace of Ryswick was proclaimed at Boston.* The territory claimed by the French on this continent confined the English plantation to a strip of land of unequal width on the sea-coast. Asserting the Kenebec to be their boundary between them and Massachusetts, they held the whole Eastern coast, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, St. John (now Prince Edward's Island), Newfoundland, Labrador, and Hudson's Bay, while, on the other hand, they main

tained that they were

Vermont, to more than

entitled to a moiety of

half of the province of

New York, to the whole valley of the Mississippi, and to Texas, as far as Rio Bravo del Norte. Knowing their own weakness, they proposed, at the commencement of hostilities, to prolong the peace then subsisting in America; an offer which William promptly rejected. But nothing seemed to be severer in the fortune of the British colonies, than that after they had purchased or conquered their territory, unaided

* The treaty was signed on the 1st of September.

by foreign interference, their peace, which was the natural effect of their exertions, should be subject to be disturbed by the broils of the parent countries; and that after the bravery of their people had relieved them from the natural strength of the Aboriginals, they should be destined to be attacked again by their old enemies, inspired and aided by auxiliary forces of Europeans.

The total population of the English colonies, at the commencement of hostilities, might have amounted to two hundred thousand; but half at least of it south of the Delaware, and far removed from the scene of action, took no part in the struggle, beyond voting some small sums for the aid of New York. At a first view of the relative strength of these rival countries, it would appear that the provincials were an overmatch for their Gallic neighbours; but the military enterprise and ardour of the latter, were aided by a decision natural to the character of the nation, and resulting from the despotism of their monarchy. Their religion, or rather their priests, subserved the cause of their government with all the arts and influence of a system

too long* devoted more to human than spiritual purposes. The rulers of the mother country, and all the colonists, had but one object. No encroachments upon charter privileges, no resistance to the exercise of disputed prerogative, and no division of the Established Church, relaxed the common ardour for the glory of the monarchy. However despotic the government of France might have been in Canada, it was paternal, alike calculated to secure the interests, and win the affections of the people. The administration of its affairs was entrusted to a Governor, an Intendant, and a Royal Council. The former was invested with a great deal of power, which, however, on the side of the Crown, was checked by the Intendant, who had the care of the King's rights, and whatever related to the revenue; and on the side of the people, it was restrained by the Royal Council, whose office it was to see that the people were not oppressed by the one, nor defrauded by the other; and they were all checked by the constant and jealous eye, which the government

* Minot.

at home kept over them. The officers at all the ports of France were charged,* under the severest penalties, to interrogate all captains of ships, coming from the colonies, concerning the reception they met at the ports they were bound to; how justice was administered, and what charges were imposed on them. The passengers, and even the sailors, were examined upon these heads; and a verbal process of the whole was formed, and transmitted with all speed to the Admiralty. Complaints were encouraged, but a difference was made between hearing an accusation, and condemning upon it. Unlike the practice in the British provinces at that time, the salaries of all the officers were defrayed from the treasury of France. The local authorities derived great strength, in addition to a complete control of the people, from the affections of the savages, whose character they understood, and whose regard they knew how to win, better than the English. They were fraternized by an assimilation of manners, of families, and of worship. When the French

* British Settlements in America.

planted a military post, it was not merely by a garrison, but they naturalized the place by a domestic neighbourhood, and a numerous population. This mixture with the natives gave them an ascendancy in their councils and enterprises. When they levied war, they drew down the savage the frontier of the enemy; savage tribe upon

and after exercising their usual barbarities, commonly retreated too soon for successful pursuit.

The English provincials were soon made sensible of the evils resulting from the unwise rejection of neutrality by the King. Count Frontenac, who had recently returned from France, with reinforcements, dispatched three marauding parties to fall upon the defenceless frontiers, and their unsuspecting inhabitants. As it is not my intention to enter into any details of these wars, I shall here describe the havoc committed by their detachments, in order to convey to the reader some idea of the barbarous and horrible warfare carried on by the colonies of the two most enlightened nations in the world.

The first party consisted of one hundred and