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He fought bravely to drive the French from the valley of the Ohio, and saved the army in the battle near Fort Du Quesne. General Gage had been with him in that engagement, but now they would command opposing armies.
To-day they stopped the old Comptesse du Quesne and her jewels, at the Barrière; to-morrow, with their long needles, they riddled a package of lace destined for the Duchess of X. herself; the Secret Service was doubled; and to crown all, a splendid new star of the testy Prince de Ligne was examined and proclaimed to be paste, the Prince swearing vengeance, if he could discover the cause, while half Paris must have been under arrest.
The reader will, no doubt, be surprised to find this harangue abound with harshness of period and inelegancy of expression; he will wonder that, in particularizing the successes of the year in America, no mention is made of the reduction of fort Du Quesne on the river Ohio; a place of great importance, both from its strength and situation, the erection of which had been one great motive to the war between the two nations; but he will be still more surprised to hear it declared from the throne, that the operations, both by sea and in America, had derived the most evident advantage from the war in Germany.
To this spirited intimation the officer replied, that it was not his province to specify the evidence, and demonstrate the right of the king his master to the lands situated on the river Ohio; but he would transmit the letter to the marquis du Quesne, and act according to the answer he should receive from that nobleman.
Does your honour remember the morning we had the affair near Fort du Quesne?" "You mean Braddock's defeat, I suppose, Joyce?" "I call nothing a defeat, captain Willoughby. We were roughly handled that day, sir; but I am not satisfied it was a defeat. It is true, we fell back, and lost some arms and stores; but, in the main, we stuck to our colours, considering it was in the woods.
The two northern expeditions, though not so disastrous as that against fort Du Quêsne, were neither of them successful. That against Crown Point was so retarded by those causes of delay to which military operations conducted by distinct governments are always exposed, that the army was not ready to move until the last of August.
That unsuccessful expedition was the commencement of the great colonial contest in which Canada was conquered. Early in 1755, General Braddock was sent to America to commence offensive operations. The colonies coöperated, and three expeditions were planned; one to attack Fort Du Quesne, a second to attack Fort Niagara, and a third to attack Crown Point.
Braddock, in proceeding against Fort du Quesne, with upwards of 2,200 men, one thousand of which were regulars, suffered himself to be surprised by only five hundred French and Indians, had five horses killed under him, was himself mortally wounded, and his troops were defeated.
The difficulties of obtaining wagons, and other necessary supplies for the expedition, and delays occasioned by opening a road through an excessively rough country, excited apprehensions that time would be afforded the enemy to collect in such force at fort Du Quêsne, as to put the success of the enterprise into some hazard.
The naval armaments of Britain had intercepted the reinforcements designed by France for her colonies; and the pressure on Canada was such as to disable the governor of that province from detaching troops to fort Du Quesne. Without the aid of these causes, the extraordinary and unaccountable delays of the campaign must have defeated its object.
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