f food was
enormously high; and the fur trade was rapidly declining.
Notwithstanding this, the Intendant, Bigot, shipped off large
quantities of wheat to the West Indies, on his own account. The Marquis
de Vaudreuil de Cavagnac sanctioned the avaricious exactions and
dealings of Bigot. Practices the most dishonest and demoralizing were
winked at or excused. The Governors positively enriched themselves on
the miseries of the governed. A high standard value was given to grain
in store. It was studiously reported that the farmers were hoarding up
their stocks, and prejudice was so excited against them, that it was no
difficult matter to confiscate their corn, on pretence that it was
absolutely necessary for the city and the troops. De Cavagnac and Bigot
bought cheaply and sold extravagantly dear. As the Russian officials
cheat the Russian government, so did the French officials cheat both
the people and the government of France. But it was little wonder. The
Governor had only a salary of L272 sterling, out of which he was
expected to clothe, maintain, and pay a guard for himself, consisting
of two sergeants and twenty-five soldiers, furnishing them with firing
in winter, and other necessary articles. A Governor was compelled to
trade to be on a pecuniary level with the merchant.

[3] Now called Pittsburg, and the chief manufacturing town in the
United States.

The hostilities between the colonists of English and French extraction
for the two preceding years had been carried on, without any formal
declaration of war. It was not until June, 1756, that war was declared
by Great Britain against France, and operations were determined upon on
a large scale. Lord Loudon was appointed Commander in Chief of the
English forces in America, and General the Marquis de Montcalm was
appointed Generalissimo in Canada, in room of Dieskau, who was disabled
at Lake George. The English commander matured a plan of campaign,
formed by his _locum tenens_, General Abercrombie, which embraced an
attack upon Niagara and Crown Point, still in possession of the French,
the former being the connecting link in the line of fortifications
between Canada and Louisiana, and the latter commanding Lake Champlain,
and guarding the only passage at that time to Canada. Loudon was as
hesitating and shiftless, as Abercrombie had been an improvident
commander. The expedition against Crown Point was unaccountably
delayed. General Winslow, at the head