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A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

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206 WAR AND POLITICS. [1740-1747.them from sid<strong>in</strong>g with the English, who on theirpart regarded them astheir Indians, <strong>and</strong> were satisfiedwith noth<strong>in</strong>g less than active alliance.When Shirley's plan for the <strong>in</strong>vasion <strong>of</strong> Canadawas afoot, Cl<strong>in</strong>ton, governor <strong>of</strong> New York, withmuch ado succeeded <strong>in</strong> conven<strong>in</strong>g the deputies <strong>of</strong>the confederacy at Albany, <strong>and</strong> by d<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> speeches<strong>and</strong> presents <strong>in</strong>duced them to s<strong>in</strong>g the war-song <strong>and</strong>take up the hatchet for Engl<strong>and</strong>. The Iroquois weredisgusted when the scheme came to nought, theirwarlike ardor cooled, <strong>and</strong> they conceived a lowop<strong>in</strong>ion <strong>of</strong> English prowess.The condition <strong>of</strong> New York as respects militaryefficiency was deplorable.She was divided aga<strong>in</strong>stherself, <strong>and</strong>, as usual <strong>in</strong> such cases, party passionwas stronger than the dem<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> war. The prov<strong>in</strong>cewas <strong>in</strong> the midst <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> those disputes withthe representative <strong>of</strong> the Crown, which, <strong>in</strong> one degreeor another, crippled or paralyzed the military activity<strong>of</strong> nearly all the British colonies. Twenty years ormore earlier, when Massachusetts was at blows withthe Indians on her borders, she suffered from thesame disorders ;<strong>of</strong>but her governor <strong>and</strong> Assembly wereone m<strong>in</strong>d as to urg<strong>in</strong>g on the war, <strong>and</strong> quarrelledonly on the questions <strong>in</strong> what way <strong>and</strong> under whatcomm<strong>and</strong> it should be waged. But <strong>in</strong> New Yorkthere was a strong party that opposed the war, be<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> the contrab<strong>and</strong> trade long carried onwith Canada. Cl<strong>in</strong>ton, the governor, had, too, anenemy <strong>in</strong> the person <strong>of</strong> the chief justice, James de

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