seized the New England fishing and trading vessels, wherever they found them.

When the news of these things reached Boston, the people began to ferment in the old way. Governor Shirley was a man of great spirit. He called his Assembly together, and made the members take a solemn oath that they would not divulge what he was going to say to them. When they had taken the oath, he told them he had a plan to attack Louisburg, which he laid before them.

But the fame of the strength of the fort the French had built there had spread, and the Assembly said the scheme was too bold and could not succeed. So they all went away to their homes, thinking over the daring project of Governor Shirley, but not uttering a word about it, on account of their oath.

That night, as one of the members was offering his usual family prayer to God, he prayed that Providence would watch over the enterprise in which the men of New England might shortly embark. As soon as the prayer was over, his children and servants asked what enterprise he meant, and little by little, the secret came out.

Very soon every one in Boston knew it, and there was great commotion in the city. The people were all of one mind; they said the Governor was right, and the expedition must be sent to attack Louisburg. Then the Assembly, finding the people so resolute, agreed to it also.

Messengers were sent to all the other colonies to ask for assistance. Pennsylvania and New Jersey gave a sum of money; New York sent money, and

The

provisions, and cannon; Massachusetts, Connecticut,
New Hampshire, and Rhode Island sent men.
little army chose its own officers, all of them civil-
ians, some lawyers, some carpenters, some fishermen,
some woodsmen. The commander was a Maine
merchant, named WILLIAM PEPPERELL.

Away they went, in high spirits, and on the last day of April came in sight of Louisburg. The French tried to prevent their landing; but the New Englanders swept forward like a wave of the ocean, and the enemy fell back into the fort.

Then a bold man from New Hampshire, named VAUGHAN, marched up to the town and set fire to several stores which contained tar and pitch. So dense a smoke arose, that the French thought the whole army was coming under its cover, and they ran away from one of their batteries, which Vaughan took, with loud cheers from his men.

From

Still, it was not all as easy work as this. behind their strong walls the French never ceased to fire at the New Englanders, who were without shelter. The French had comfortable beds to sleep in, and roofs to shelter them: the New Englanders slept on the cold ground, and the dews fell so heavily that many soon died of fevers. It was desperate work, drawing up the cannon through the bogs and swamps, and the men toiled incessantly, with straps fastened round their shoulders. They knew very little, as you may fancy, of the science of war; and the French, who were soldiers by trade, thought them a very contemptible set of fellows.

They were quite sure of it when a party of New

Englanders attacked one of the batteries, and were driven back after a desperate fight, in which a great number of their men were killed.

But there was one thing which the French did not understand, and that was the untiring perseverance and dogged tenacity of their enemies. You may learn what was the spirit of the New Englanders from a letter of one of them to his wife, in which he said that Louisburg seemed almost too strong to be taken, but that he was willing to stay till God's time came to deliver it into their hands. And from his wife's answer:

"Suffer no anxious thought to rest in your mind about me. I leave you in the hand of God."

They dug trenches, and mounted their guns, and began to fire; showing pretty plainly by their attitude that they meant to succeed. A French ship of war, sailing into the port during the siege, was attacked by the New England ships, and captured. Several English ships of war sailed up about the same time, and got ready to help the land forces when the assault was made.

Before that day came, however, the French, who had quite changed their minds about the men of New England, hoisted a white flag. This was a signal of surrender; and with great shouts and cheers Pepperell's little army entered the French fort, and had the pleasure of listening to a sermon from their own Puritan preacher in the very chapel of the French Jesuits.

The news of this glorious victory set the people of New England wild with joy; and the church bells VOL. I.-O

rang all day long, and bonfires blazed merrily in every town and village.

The people of France were mightily enraged, and fitted out a great fleet of ships to retake Louisburg, and give the New Englanders a terrible lesson. But Providence did not intend they should succeed. For storm after storm burst upon them, and several ships were lost. Then a pestilence broke out on board the fleet, and day after day, nothing was so often heard as the hollow plunge of dead bodies over the side into the blue waters of the ocean. Then the commander died suddenly. His successor, heart-broken at so many disasters, went mad and stabbed himself with his own sword. Finally, a furious storm, which lasted several days, dispersed the fleet altogether.

This was a great relief to the people of New England, who had been much alarmed at the news of the French fleet coming. They said they saw in it a clear proof that the Almighty was on their side.

Now that Louisburg was theirs, they felt pretty secure against the French; and though it had cost them a great many men, and a vast sum of money to capture it, they did not grudge it in the least, and felt proud that they had taken it without help from England.

In the midst of their rejoicings, news came that the kings of England and France had made peace again; and one of the first conditions of the peace was that Louisburg should be given back to the French! You may fancy how annoyed the men of New England were, when they heard that the King of England had given back the fort they had had so

much trouble in taking. But this was the way matters were arranged at that time.

The King of England was always squabbling with the King of France, or some other king; and every now and then, when he was in the humor, he would declare war. Then, as you have heard, the settlers in the colonies, who had no interest whatever in these royal squabbles, were obliged to fight for their lives, and often saw their houses burned down, and their wives and children carried off into captivity.

After a time, when the kings were tired of the sport, peace would be made, and nobody ever asked what the colonies wanted. They were expected to fight when the King was in the war-humor; and to lay down their arms when he was in the peacehumor again, and always to look pleasant and cheerful. How comfortable it must have been to be a colonist in those days!