Life by Wright. Before me is the Diary of a captain or subaltern in the
army of Amherst at Louisbourg, found in the garret of an old house at
Windsor, Nova Scotia, on an estate belonging in 1760 to Chief Justice
Deschamps. I owe the use of it to the kindness of George Wiggins, Esq.,
of Windsor, N.S. Mante gives an excellent plan of the siege operations,
and another will be found in Jefferys, _Natural and Civil History of
French Dominions in North America_.

Chapter 20

1758

Ticonderoga

In the last year London called on the colonists for four thousand men.
This year Pitt asked them for twenty thousand, and promised that the
King would supply arms, ammunition, tents, and provisions, leaving to
the provinces only the raising, clothing, and pay of their soldiers; and
he added the assurance that Parliament would be asked to make some
compensation even for these.[597] Thus encouraged, cheered by the
removal of Loudon, and animated by the unwonted vigor of British
military preparation, the several provincial assemblies voted men in
abundance, though the usual vexatious delays took place in raising,
equipping, and sending them to the field. In this connection, an able
English writer has brought against the colonies, and especially against
Massachusetts, charges which deserve attention. Viscount Bury says: "Of
all the colonies, Massachusetts was the first which discovered the
designs of the French and remonstrated against their aggressions; of all
the colonies she most zealously promoted measures of union for the
common defence, and made the greatest exertions in furtherance of her
views." But he adds that there is a reverse to the picture, and that
"this colony, so high-spirited, so warlike, and apparently so loyal,
would never move hand or foot in her own defence till certain of
repayment by the mother country."[598] The groundlessness of this charge
is shown by abundant proofs, one of which will be enough. The Englishman
Pownall, who had succeeded Shirley as royal governor of the province,
made this year a report of its condition to Pitt. Massachusetts, he
says, "has been the frontier and advanced guard of all the colonies
against the enemy in Canada," and has always taken the lead in military
affairs. In the three past years she has spent on the expeditions of
Johnson, Winslow, and Loudon L242,356, besides about L45,000 a year to
support the provincial government, at the same time maintaining a number
of f