The Life of George Washington - John Marshall

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praised, I will die in peace."

      In this canvas, painted in 1771, West departed from the venerated custom of clothing pictorial characters in Greek or Roman costume. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who had endeavored to dissuade him, later said, "I retract my objections. I foresee that this picture will not only become one of the most popular, but will occasion a revolution in art."

      The joy diffused throughout the British dominions by this splendid conquest, was mingled with a proud sense of superiority which did not estimate with exact justice, the relative means employed by the belligerents. In no part of those dominions was this joy felt, in a higher degree, or with more reason, than in America. In that region, the wars between France and England had assumed a form, happily unknown to other parts of the civilised world. Not confined, as in Europe, to men in arms; women and children were its common victims. It had been carried by the savage to the fire side of the peaceful peasant, where the tomahawk and scalping knife were applied indiscriminately to every age, and to either sex. The hope was now fondly indulged that these scenes, at least in the northern and middle colonies, were closed for ever.

      The colonies of South Carolina and Georgia had been entirely exempted from the sharp conflicts of the north. France having been unable to draw Spain into the war, their neighbours in Florida remained quiet; and the Indians on their immediate frontiers were in the English interest. As the prospect of establishing peace in the north seemed to brighten, this state of repose in the south sustained a short interruption.

      When the garrison of fort Du Quêsne retired down the Ohio into Louisiana, the French employed their address in the management of Indians, to draw the Cherokees from their alliance with Great Britain. Their negotiations with these savages were favoured by the irritations given to their warriors in Virginia, where they had been employed against the French, and the Indians in the French interest.

      Their ill humour began to show itself in 1759. Upon its first appearance, governor Lyttleton prepared to march into their country at the head of a respectable military force. Alarmed at these hostile appearances, they dispatched thirty-two of their chiefs to Charleston, for the purpose of deprecating the vengeance with which their nation was threatened. Their pacific representations did not arrest the expedition. The governor not only persisted in the enterprise, but, under the pretext of securing the safe return of the Indian messengers, took them into the train of his army, where they were, in reality, confined as prisoners. To add to this indignity, they were, when arrived at the place of destination, shut up together in a single hut.

      Notwithstanding the irritation excited by this conduct, a treaty was concluded, in which it was agreed that the chiefs detained by the governor should remain with him as hostages, until an equal number of those who had committed murder on the frontiers, should be delivered in exchange for them; and that, in the meantime, the Indians should seize and deliver up every white or red man coming into their country, who should endeavour to excite them to war against the English. After making this accommodation, the governor returned to Charleston, leaving his hostages prisoners in fort Prince George.

      Scarcely had the army retired, when the Cherokees began to contrive plans for the relief of their chiefs. In an attempt to execute these plans, they killed the captain of the fort and wounded two officers. Orders were immediately given to put the hostages in irons; an indignity so resented by these fierce savages, that the first persons who attempted to execute the orders were stabbed. The soldiers enraged at this resistance, fell on the hostages and massacred them.

      War with the southern Indians.

      Inflamed to madness by this event, the whole nation flew to arms; and, according to their established mode of warfare, wreaked their fury on the inhabitants of the country in indiscriminate murder.

      Mr. Bull, on whom the government of the province had devolved, represented the distresses of South Carolina in such strong terms to general Amherst, that colonel Montgomery was ordered into that colony with a detachment of regular troops. He arrived in April; but, as all the forces would be required in the north, in order to complete the conquest of Canada, he was directed to strike a sudden blow, and to return to New York in time for the expedition against Montreal.

      The utmost exertions were made by the colony in aid of colonel Montgomery, and he entered the Cherokee country with all the forces that could be collected. Their lower towns were destroyed; Battle near Etchoe.but, near the village of Etchoe, the first of their middle settlements, in an almost impenetrable wood, he was met by a large body of savages, and a severe action ensued. The English claimed the victory, but without much reason. They were so roughly handled, that colonel Montgomery withdrew his army, and retired to fort Prince George, at which place he prepared to embark for New York.

      The consternation of the province was the greater, as serious fears were entertained that the Creeks and Choctaws, might be induced by the French to join the Cherokees. Colonel Montgomery was pressed in the most earnest manner, not to leave the province; and was, with difficulty, prevailed on to permit four companies to remain, while, with the main body of his detachment, he returned to New York.

      1761

      Mean while, the war continued to rage. The savages surrounded fort Loudoun; and the garrison amounting to four hundred men, was compelled by famine to surrender, on condition of being permitted to march into the settlements. The Indians, who regard conventions no longer than they are useful, attacked the garrison on its march, killed a number, and made the residue prisoners. Carolina again applied to general Amherst for assistance, who having completed the conquest of Canada, had leisure to attend to the southern colonies. Late in May, a strong detachment, commanded by colonel Grant, arrived at fort Prince George; and the colony raised a body of provincials, and of friendly Indians, to join him.

      It was not in America only that the vigour presiding in the councils of Britain shed lustre on the British arms. Splendid conquests were also made in Asia and Africa; and in Europe, her aids of men and money enabled the greatest monarch of his age to surmount difficulties which only Frederick and Mr. Pitt could have dared to encounter.

      1762

      At length, Spain, alarmed at the increase of British power in America, and apprehensive for the safety of her own dominions, determined to take part against Great Britain; and, early in the year 1762, the two crowns declared war against each other. It was prosecuted, on the part of Great Britain, with signal success; and, in the course of the year, Martinique, Granada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and all the Caribbee Islands were wrested from France; and the very important city of Havanna, which in a great degree commands the gulf of Mexico, was taken from Spain.

      This course of conquest, which no force in possession of France and Spain seemed capable of checking, while any of their distant possessions remained to be subdued, was arrested by preliminary articles of peace signed at Paris.

      By this treaty, his Christian Majesty ceded to Britain, all the conquests made by that power on the continent of North America, together with the river and port of Mobile; and all the territory to which France was entitled on the left bank of the Mississippi, reserving only the island of New Orleans. And it was agreed that, for the future, the confines between the dominions of the two crowns, in that quarter of the world, should be irrevocably fixed by a line drawn along the middle of the Mississippi, from its source as far as the river Iberville, and thence, by a line drawn along the middle of that river, and of the lakes Maurepas and Pont Chartrain.

      The Havanna was exchanged with Spain for the Floridas. By establishing these great natural boundaries

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