CHAPTER II.

Lord Loudoun arrived in New York in July, 1756. He remained in America until March, 1758.* Franklin has stated in his autobiography + that Loudoun was recalled owing to the fact that Pitt never heard from him and could not learn what he was doing. Such was by no means the cause why Loudoun was ordered to return to England: there has seldom been so voluminous a writer of dispatches or a more patient and careful correspondent with a minister. The fault of Loudoun's character was, that he was deficient in resources, and that he looked upon as insuperable the difficulties which could have been overcome by boldness, tact, and judgment. His letters shew that by nature he was desponding, and that he was impressed by the gloomy side of any event, foreboding failure where a more sanguine temperament would have looked for success. He was without the

Ante vol. III., p. 558. He arrived on the 23rd. Webb and Abercrombie had preceded him on the 7th of June. [Can. Arch., vol. 83.1, p. 11, A. & W. I.] [Vol. I., p. 219, Ed. 1844.] "When in England I understood that Mr. Pitt, afterwards lord Chatham, gave it as one reason for removing the general, and sending generals Amherst and Wolfe, that the minister never heard of him, and could not know what he was doing" (sic). This statement is another proof of the unreliability of Franklin's narrative. In this case he is doubly incorrect, for Loudoun was replaced by Abercrombie, and not by Amherst. In his complaint of his detention at New York when about sailing for England, he also misrepresents the cause when attributing it to Loudoun's irresolution. There was a general embargo on all vessels [London Magazine, 1757, p. 256] so that intelligence of the proposed expedition should not be carried to the enemy. No one could have chafed more from the want of news of Holbourne's fleet than Loudoun himself. It was the want of knowledge concerning the naval force, with which he had to co-operate, which paralyzed him. The fact at the time Franklin, from his political position, must have known. It is charitable to suppose that Franklin's memory failed him when writing at the age of eighty-one. The embargo was removed on the departure of Loudoun.

The letters of Loudoun are to be found in volumes Can. Arch., 82-86, A. & W. I., seven in number; some of the years consisting of two parts.

1756]

FILIUS GALICÆ.

21

elastic moral courage which rebounds from " fortune's blows" with renewed strength, and in no way possessed the statesmanship which discovers the means to an end. Consequently he failed to form a just opinion of the condition of the British provinces, and his whole career was one of failure. He was conscientious in the performance of his duties, was painstaking and industrious. There is no accusation against him of corruption. Being surrounded by advisers of the same mental calibre as himself, the defects of his character had full sway.

An event happened as Loudoun was leaving England which to this day remains unexplained. It was not publicly made known, consequently no allusion is found to it, even by modern writers. At the time it caused serious anxiety in London, and active efforts were quietly made to discover the writer. Early in March, 1756, some letters received by vessels which had sailed from New York, for some cause attracted the attention of the authorities, and they were opened. They were found to contain communications addressed to the duc de Mirepoix, signed "Filius Galicæ," with a request that the answer was to be left at a coffee-house in New York, directed to "Mr. Pierre Fidel until asked for." The writer stated that he was French by birth, and secretly a Roman catholic; he offered his services to aid in enlisting men to join the French, among the Germans and the Irish catholics in Pennsylvania. He speaks of himself as occupying a high position, and makes allusion to his aide-de-camp, as if a general officer. In the first letters he affirms that three officers were acting with him, subsequently that ten had accepted his views. With great professions of devotion to the interests of the king of France, he asked that money should be sent him to carry out his plans. A small sum was by no means embraced, for he undertook to assure to the French the territory west of Virginia and Pennsylvania, asserting that he was in a position of trust and importance, and had the power to fulfil his engagements. He wrote that

This correspondence is contained in Can. Arch., Series A. & W. I., vol. 81, marked "Secret and Miscellaneous." The letter alluded to is dated the 1st of March, 1756, and is to be found on pp. 48-53.

he had levied 10,000 men, nominally for the service of the British, on whom he could depend; that at his bidding they would all take the other side; he trusted to raise the number to 15,000. "I am not now," he continues, "under the least. concern in case any of my letters to yr. gr. [your grace] should be inspected that it could be a prejudice to me, for I am from my behaviour among ye English here, in that Vogue among them that I should not in ye Least be suspected I

could deny them." He dwelt upon the fact that the Irish Roman catholics were dissatisfied; and many of the Germans of the Roman catholic faith would by preference serve the king of France; as for the heretics he lived among, they minded no other religion than that of getting money, and they were indifferent as to the government they lived under if they could retain their property.

What was of importance was the correct and even able narrative given of public affairs; it was plain that it could only have been written by one well informed, and a keen observer. Some steps taken by Shirley which had not been reported in England were described; on inquiry the statement was found to be correct. Two of the letters were enclosed to a Mr. Gamble, of Londonderry, by one signing himself "James Allen," asking that they might be forwarded to France; an ordinary reason for writing them being assigned. Gamble's suspicions must have been awakened for he opened the first letter, and through his brother in Dublin, sent it to the duke of Devonshire, then lord-lieutenant, and by the latter it was submitted to lord Halifax.

Although the writer represented that he was of French descent, there was no trace of any French idiom in his language, and from some peculiarity of expression the belief was entertained that he was an Irishman. Even if the object was alone to obtain money, and the power of fulfilling his disloyal promises was limited, the offer of his service as a spy and a partizan still remained, and the presence of a person possessing ability exercising this infamous calling, in a position where information could be obtained and where no suspicion was

1756]

GEORGE CROGHAN.

23

felt, was fraught with danger. Inquiry must early have established that the account given by the writer of his position and influence was not only exaggerated but unwarrantable. There was no such person as he claimed to be. On the other hand he had misrepresented the sentiments of the population, which for his own purpose he described as disloyal. As the letters are read at this date it is not difficult to conclude that they were written to obtain money for the writer's benefit: a systematic fraud. At the time this opinion could not be so easily formed. It was plain that no one could have communicated the information, startling from its correctness, without holding some prominent office. One curious circumstance is that no attempt was made to send the letters through Canada. It suggests that the writer knew no one he could trust, and that he felt the danger of so acting. His cunning enabled him to defy detection. In spite of the caution with which the inquiry was made, no proof was obtained to establish his identity. No person of the name of "James Allen" was known in Philadelphia but strong suspicions were entertained as to the authorship. Fox wrote to the duke of Devonshire. "One captain George Croghan, an intriguing, disaffected person and Indian trader was very much suspected."* Thus the matter ended. In 1756 Croghan was employed by the province of Pennsylvania in raising men for the protection of the western frontier. In July he threw up his commission; the reason has been given that he was dissatisfied with the treatment he received. It is not improbable that the suspicions entertained with regard to him were in some way made apparent. several months the intercepted communication caused perplexity in London, and to the officers charged in investigating their character. Loudoun, Webb and sir Charles Hardy received instructions on the subject; and however cautiously their inquiries were made it is probable that they could not be kept entirely secret. It must, however, have been soon. apparent that no such disaffection existed, as described, and

* Can. Arch., Series A. & W. I., 81, p. 54.

For

that the writer, except in his individual character. was powerless for evil.*

Loudoun early formed the conviction that it was not possible to resist the sudden inroads into British territory of Canadian and Indian parties. In his view the true policy was to assail Quebec with an irresistible force, as its loss would paralyze the whole province. It was the course fecommended in his despatches, and it obtained support in London. In consequence the troops were kept in readiness to be moved to New York for embarkation on the arrival of the fleet. The garrisons of forts Edward and William Henry were reduced in strength, and there were no reinforcements in the field available to sustain them. The fort at lake George was therefore at the mercy of a powerful expedition from Ticonderoga, and the extent to which the frontier had been left was only too well known in Montreal.+

Loudoun had succeeded Shirley in command, and in his reports to the home government he cast the blame of the bad condition of the province on his predecessor. Shirley is one of those characters, concerning which there has been difference. of opinion; but the fact is incontrovertible that he undertook executive duties for which he was unfit, and disorder was the consequence of his leadership. The success of the expedition against Louisbourg has obtained for him great consideration; but in the narrative of that event the prominent part taken by the British navy is generally put out of view, and success always covers many faults. Fortunately on that occasion,

*

Croghan, on arriving from Ireland, settled on the Susquehanna, and eventually became an Indian trader in the neighborhood of the western part of lake Erie. I have alluded to his presence in the Ohio, at the period of de Céloron's expedition. [Vol. III., p. 447.] On leaving the service of Pennsylvania he joined sir William Johnson on the Mohawk, and worked under his orders. Eventually he was appointed by Johnson deputy agent in charge of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Indians. Croghan lived until 1782. In the revolutionary war he seems, in the first instance, to have adhered to the royalist cause; subsequently he appears as a supporter of the revolutionary party.

The French minister as early as the 28th of February notified de Vaudreuil of the proposed attack against Louisbourg. The letter was acknowledged from Canada on the 12th of July. N. Y. Doc., X., p. 584.