ance declared war on
England and began what in Europe was called the "War of the Austrian
Succession"; but in our country it was known as "King George's War,"
because George II. was then King of England. The French, with their
usual promptness, rushed down and burned the little English post of
Canso, in Nova Scotia, carried off the garrison, and attacked Annapolis,
where they were driven off. That Nova Scotia could be saved, seemed
hopeless. Nevertheless, Governor Shirley of Massachusetts determined to
make the attempt, and that the King might know the exact situation he
sent to London, with a dispatch, an officer named Captain Ryal, who had
been taken prisoner at Canso and afterwards released on parole.[2]

[Footnote 2: The reception of that officer well illustrates the gross
ignorance of America and American affairs which then existed in England.
When the Duke of Newcastle, who was prime minister, read the dispatch,
he exclaimed: "Oh, yes--yes--to be sure. Annapolis must be
defended--troops must be sent to Annapolis. Pray where is Annapolis?
Cape Breton an island! Wonderful! Show it me on the map. So it is, sure
enough. My dear sir [to Captain Ryal], you always bring us good news. I
must go and tell the King that Cape Breton is an island."]

Although Shirley applied to the King for help with which to defend Nova
Scotia, he knew full well that the burden of defense would fall on the
colonies. And with that determination and persistence which always
brings success he labored hard to persuade New Hampshire, Connecticut,
and Rhode Island to join with Massachusetts in an effort to capture
Louisburg. It would be delightful to tell how he overcame all
difficulties; how the young men rallied on the call for troops; how at
the end of March, 1745, 4000 of them in a hundred transports and
accompanied by fourteen armed ships set sail, followed by the prayers of
all New England, and after a siege of six weeks took the fortress on the
17th of June, 1745. But the story is too long.[1] It is enough to know
that the victory was hailed with delight on both sides of the Atlantic,
but that when peace came, in 1748, the British government was still so
blind to the struggle for North America which had been going on for
fifty years, that Louisburg was restored to the French.

[Footnote 1: Read Samuel Adams Drake's _Taking of Louisburg_; Parkman's
_A Half-century of Conflict_, Vol. II., pp. 78-161.]

%76. The French on the Allegheny River