cey at its head, had
won over Sir Charles Hardy, the new governor of New York, and had
painted Shirley's conduct in such colors that the Ministry removed him.
It was essential for the campaign that a successor should be sent at
once, to form plans on the spot and make preparations accordingly. The
Ministry were in no such haste. It was presently announced that Colonel
Daniel Webb would be sent to America, followed by General James
Abercromby; who was to be followed in turn by the Earl of Loudon, the
destined commander-in-chief. Shirley was to resign his command to Webb,
Webb to Abercromby, and Abercromby to Loudon.[390] It chanced that the
two former arrived in June at about the same time, while the Earl came
in July; and meanwhile it devolved on Shirley to make ready for them.
Unable to divine what their plans would be, he prepared the campaign in
accordance with his own.

[Footnote 390: _Fox to Shirley, 13 March, 1756. Ibid., 31 March, 1756.
Order to Colonel Webb, 31 March, 1756. Order to Major-General
Abercromby, 1 April, 1756. Halifax to Shirley, 1 April, 1756. Shirley to
Fox, 13 June, 1756._]

His star, so bright a twelvemonth before, was now miserably dimmed. In
both his public and private life he was the butt of adversity. He had
lost two promising sons; he had made a mortifying failure as a soldier;
and triumphant enemies were rejoicing in his fall. It is to the credit
of his firmness and his zeal in the cause that he set himself to his
task with as much vigor as if he, and not others, were to gather the
fruits. His chief care was for his favorite enterprise in the direction
of Lake Ontario. Making Albany his headquarters, he rebuilt the fort at
the Great Carrying Place destroyed in March by the French, sent troops
to guard the perilous route to Oswego, and gathered provisions and
stores at the posts along the way.

Meanwhile the New England men, strengthened by the levies of New York,
were mustering at Albany for the attack of Crown Point. At the end of
May they moved a short distance up the Hudson, and encamped at a place
called Half-Moon, where the navigation was stopped by rapids. Here and
at the posts above were gathered something more than five thousand men,
as raw and untrained as those led by Johnson in the summer before.[391]
The four New England colonies were much alike in their way of raising
and equipping men, and the example of Massachusetts may serve for them
all. The Assembly or "General Court"