nistry which had appointed such incapables to command.
A change of ministry was loudly demanded, and most fortunately for
the honor of the British arms, and for the salvation of the colonies,
there was a change. The great Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, was the
Palmerston of that day. Placed at the head of the administration,
he breathed into the British Councils a new soul. He revived the
energies of the colonies. He gave new life to dependencies, whose
loyalty was weakened, and whose means were exhausted by a series of as
ill-contrived and unfortunate expeditions as were ever attempted. He
addressed circulars to the colonial Governors, assuring them of the
determination of the ministry to send a large force to America, and
called upon the colonies to raise as many troops as possible, and to
act promptly and liberally in furnishing the requisite supplies. The
colonies nobly responded. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New England
unitedly raised 15,000 men, who were ready to take the field in May. An
expedition to Louisbourg, a second to Ticonderoga, and a third against
Fort du Quesne were determined upon. The tide of success was on the
turn. Admiral Boscawen, with a fleet of twenty ships of the line,
eighteen frigates, and an army of fourteen thousand men, under the
command of General Amherst, his second in command being General Wolfe,
sailed from Halifax, for Louisbourg, on the 28th of May. Louisbourg
resisted vigorously, but on the 26th of July this important fortress
was a second time in the possession of Great Britain. 5,735 men, 120
cannon, 5 ships of the line, and 4 frigates were captured. Isle Royal
and St. John's, with Cape Breton, fell, also, into the hands of the
English. Against Ticonderoga the English were not so successful. This
central expedition was conducted by General Abercrombie, who had
succeeded Lord Loudon as Commander-in-Chief in America, that nobleman
having returned home. He had with him 16,000 men and a formidable train
of artillery. Ticonderoga was only garrisoned by 3,000 French. The
passage of Abercrombie across Lake Champlain was only a little less
splendid than that of the British and French armies over the Black Sea,
from Varna to Eupatoria, in September, 1854. The morning was remarkably
bright and beautiful, and the fleet moved with exact regularity, to the
sound of fine martial music. The ensigns waved and glittered in the
sunbeams, and the anticipation of future triumphs shone in every eye