ake it by assault, leave a
garrison there, and march to Boston, laying waste all the towns and
villages by the way; after destroying Boston, the army must march for
New York, while the fleet follows along the coast. "Nothing could be
easier," says the writer, "for the road is good, and there is plenty of
horses and carriages. The troops would ruin everything as they advanced,
and New York would quickly be destroyed and burned."[1]

Another plan, scarcely less absurd, was proposed about the same time by
the celebrated Le Moyne d'Iberville. The essential point, he says, is to
get possession of Boston; but there are difficulties and risks in the
way. Nothing, he adds, referring to the other plan, seems difficult to
persons without experience; but unless we are prepared to raise a great
and costly armament, our only hope is in surprise. We should make it in
winter, when the seafaring population, which is the chief strength of
the place, is absent on long voyages. A thousand Canadians, four hundred
regulars, and as many Indians should leave Quebec in November, ascend
the Chaudiere, then descend the Kennebec, approach Boston under cover of
the forest, and carry it by a night attack. Apparently he did not know
that but for its lean neck--then but a few yards wide--Boston was an
island, and that all around for many leagues the forest that was to have
covered his approach had already been devoured by numerous busy
settlements. He offers to lead the expedition, and declares that if he
is honored with the command, he will warrant that the New England
capital will be forced to submit to King Louis, after which New York can
be seized in its turn.[2]

In contrast to those incisive proposals, another French officer breathed
nothing but peace. Brouillan, governor of Acadia, wrote to the governor
of Massachusetts to suggest that, with the consent of their masters,
they should make a treaty of neutrality. The English governor being
dead, the letter came before the council, who received it coldly.
Canada, and not Acadia, was the enemy they had to fear. Moreover, Boston
merchants made good profit by supplying the Acadians with necessaries
which they could get in no other way; and in time of war these profits,
though lawless, were greater than in time of peace. But what chiefly
influenced the council against the overtures of Brouillan was a passage
in his letter reminding them that, by the Treaty of Ryswick, the New
England people had no r