sentiments at large in my last letter; and with regard to the gallant behaviour of their troops in the late actions, I must own, I differ widely in opinion from your engineer; their retreat was a very bad one, without conduct or resolution; they could not otherwise have suffered so great a slaughter as you say they did, in the short pursuit made of them by your troops and Indians, which jumped over the barricade of your camp after them. The more I think of your situation, the more advisable I think it will be for you to proceed to Ticonderoge; as the honor of His Majesty's arms and the interest of the colonies seem to require it. The consequences, I fear, will be bad, if you do not; and I can't but hope that you will see these matters in the same light which I view them in. The weak condition which I found this place in, and our want of dry provisions, have hitherto inevitably hindered me from proceeding in the expedition under my command; but both these obstacles will, I hope, be so far surmounted in three days, as to permit me to do it. I wish you a speedy recovery of your wound, and much success; and am, Sir, your most humble servant, To Major General Johnson. W. SHIRLEY. MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL COURT TO A Representation of the Case of his Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay, contain'd in a Letter from the General Assembly to their Agent dated Boston, Septemr. 26th, 1755. We herewith transmit you an Address of the General Assembly to his Majesty upon occasion of the late Success 1 B. M., Additional Manuscript 33029, 206. A transcript is in the Library of Congress. obtain❜d by his Majesty's Colony's Forces near Lake George, in which Address we represent the present State of our Affairs, and humbly crave that relief and Assistance which his Majesty in his great Wisdom and Paternal Goodness shall be pleased to afford us: We desire this Address may be immediately presented, but as we have not sett the Importance of the late Success in the fullest Light, neither have so largely represented the present Situation of Affairs, together with our particular Services as might be necessary in order to obtain what we hope for, it is needfull that we should add something further on these Heads. The proportion of Men this Province were by Contract to employ [for the Crown Point Expedition] in conjunction with the other Colony Troops was 1200, but so much had we the Design at heart that we made an Establishment for 1500, those Troops we apprehended might be sufficient to carry our Scheme into Effect, while we concluded that the Grand Expedition on the Ohio would have drawn the chief of their Attention and Strength that way, but the unhappy Defeat of that Army gave us so great an Alarm that we Voted a reinforcement of 2800 Men; it was while these Troops were raising that the late Action happen'd. The Enemy flush'd with their Success march'd about 2000 Men with Design to attack Fort Lyman not 50 Miles from Albany, but having made their Appearance turn'd off to follow General Johnson, who they learn'd had march'd but a little before to Lake George. In their way they came up with a party of our men, detach'd by General Johnson, who being overpower'd with Numbers retreated to the Camp, which the Enemy attack'd but were defeated and pursued, the particulars of which are set forth in the General's Letter inclosed; but had not Providence turn'd the Victory in our favour, we tremble to think of the Consequence: New York and these Provinces would have laid open to their ravages, the Six Nations and other Indians lost to the English Interest, Albany could not have made a Stand, and by proceeding from thence up Mohawk river, they might possibly have cut off his Majesty's Regiments under General Shirley, then at Oswego, join'd their other Forces station'd at Cattarocky1 river, and had it in their power this Season so to have secured the great Lakes, and that part of the Country, as would have put his Majesty, or those Provinces to an Immense Charge in removing their Encroachments. But altho' the Enemy have received a very great Check by this seasonable Defeat, and the Ardour of our people is greatly heightened, we are not for all this quite out of pain as to the Success of the present Enterprize, and have much to apprehend from their future Attempts; this would not indeed be the Case had we only to deal with the Canadians and their Indian Allies, but for some time past, and at present the Treasure, and great Numbers of the regular Troops of Old France are employed against us, and this Province, upon whose Loyalty Zeal and Resolution his Majesty may place as great a Dependance as upon any other of his Provinces, have already exerted themselves in the common Cause so much beyond their Ability, that in our own Strength we can proceed but little further. Not to mention the Number of Men employed the last Year in the Kennebeck and other Services we have near 8000 Men now employed against the Enemy, which Number will appear by the following Computation, about 1500 Men of the 2000 are gone to Nova Scotia, about 1000 were encouraged to enlist in Governor Shirley's and Sir William Pepperrell's Regiments, and it was supposed that one or both of those regiments would have gone in the Service General Johnson's Army is now engaged in, 4300 are now in and raised for the Army under General Johnson, upwards of 500 are stationed at our Forts and Garrison Houses on the Frontiers, about 600 are employed in scouting parties and other Military Services. Above 5400 of these Troops are in the actual pay of this Government, and we must soon have a larger Number, as all the Indians on our Borders have now commenced Hostilities against us. The fortresses we have lately built and are now building for 1 Otherwise the St. Lawrence River, known also by its French names as the Iroquois or Cadaracoui at the point of outlet for Lake Ontario. our security have already consumed large sums and require further, and we have this Year, as well as formerly been at no little charge in order to engage the Six Nations to enter heartily into his Majesty's Service; but in this representation we do not design a retrospect upon former Services, it may be sufficient to declare that our late Exertions have so exhausted us that all our public Funds and Incomes are now mortgaged and anticipated, and we have been obliged to raise a Sum of Money by private Subscription for the purchase of Bread for our Forces, and to defray the Charge of transporting Provisions, Stores, etc. otherwise our Men must have been greatly distress'd, or forced to disband, but such is the present Scarcity of Specie that we should not have been able to have procured even the Sum necessary for that end, if Bills of Exchange on London had not answer'd as well in New York where Cash is plenty, as to have sent the Money for the above Uses: We think it proper to observe to You that no Expedition can be carried on by this Province but what must subject it to greater Inconveniences and Charges than it would the southern Governments, for we being no Provision Country, it is they that receive a benefit by the rise of Provisions, which such Expeditions always occasion, and our Cash must be remitted unto them for all we have Occasion for, and in the present Expedition we are under this disadvantage that all our Supplies must go by the Way of Albany, and be transported from thence to our Camp at a very great Expence, which nothing but Cash or sterling Bills will defray; but notwithstanding these very great Expences, this Province is much more distress'd by. the loss or absence of so great a Part of our labouring Inhabitants, by reason of which our Trade languishes, and Lands lye uncultivated. We have supplied for the general Good many more Men than all the other Colonies together, especially for his Majesty's Regiments, when some of them exceed this in Numbers, but this has not prevented the Governor of Halifax from sending over to us this Week about 20 recruiting Officers, who are now beating up in this and other Towns for recruits at a time when we have been obliged to impress substantial Householders for the defence of our Frontiers, and other Services, We have already sent that Province 1500 Men, but it seems 1700 more are wanted to fill up the Regiments there on that Establishment, and tho' we suppose the Order for raising the Men in America was well design'd, we are yet of Opinion, and would desire Your noticing it, that as we are a new Country, and have so much Land to be given away to Settlers, or disposed of for a trifling Consideration, the Means of Subsistence is easily come at, and every Young fellow who inclines may without one farthing venture upon a family and the Charges consequent, which in old Countries cannot be done, so that every Man gone from the Province has really carried a family with him; moreover tho' it must be acknowledged a present saving is made to the Crown of the Charge which the transporting Men would amount to, yet in the end the Nation are losers, for the Means of Subsistence lying so open to the Industrious in a new Country occasions great Multiplication of Inhabitants, and consequently so great an Increase of the Consumption of the Manufactures of Great Britain, that if this is taken into the Scale, it will certainly turn it in favour of sending over what Garrison Soldiers may be thought necessary to be kept up in America; besides our People are not calculated to be confined in Garrisons, or kept in any particular Service, they soon grow troublesome and uneasy by reflecting upon their Folly in bringing themselves into a State of Subjection, when they might have continued free and independent. We therefore depend upon Your representations that those Fortresses which may be erected for the Defence of his Majesty's Territories may be garrisoned by his Majesty's Regulars, rather than by American Troops, tho' in the Pay of the Crown. We have no inclination to compare our services with that of any other Colonies further than is necessary to sett our own Merit in a just light, and if this Comparison carries any reflection upon particular Governments we are not the faulty Causes. New York was obliged by the original Contract |