terrupted war abroad. The peace that was
patched up at Aix-la-Chapelle was evidently a peace that could not
last--that was not meant to last. If no other European power would
have broken it, England herself probably would, for the arrangements
were believed at home to be very much to her disadvantage, and were
highly unpopular. But there was no need for England to begin. The
Family Compact was in full force. The Bourbons of France were
determined to gain more than they had got; the Bourbons of Spain were
eager to recover what they had lost. The genius and daring of
Frederick of Prussia were not likely to remain inactive. As we have
seen, the war between England and France raged on in India without
regard to treaties and truces on the European continent. There was, in
fact, a great trial of strength going on, and it had to be fought out.
England and France had yet another stage to struggle on as well as
Europe and India. They had the continent of North America. There were
always some disputes about boundaries going on there; and a dispute
concerning a boundary between two States which are mistrustful of one
another is like a flickering flame close to a train of gunpowder. The
renewal of war on the Continent gave for the first time its full chance
to the {281} genius of William Pitt as a great war minister. The
breaking out of war in North America established England as the
controlling power there, and settled forever the pretensions of France
and of Spain. It is not necessary for us in this history to follow the
course of the continental wars. The great results of these to England
were worked out on other soil.

{282}

CHAPTER XL.

CANADA.

[Sidenote: 1756--The struggle for Canada]

We have seen that, when the young Duke of Cumberland, after the battle
of Culloden, was earning his right to the title of "Butcher," one
English officer at least had the courage to protest by his actions
against the atrocities of the English general. That soldier was James
Wolfe, then a young lieutenant-colonel, who had served his
apprenticeship to arms in the Low Countries in the war of the Austrian
Succession, and earned by his courage and his abilities an honorable
name. He was destined to make that name famous by the part he was to
play in the events that were taking place in Canada. The red-haired,
unattractive soldier, whose cold and almost repellent manner concealed
some of the highest qualities, was fated