led into the ditch supposed to protect them, and cows from the
neighboring fields walked up the slope and looked down into the fort.
It was Duvivier, the captor of Canseau, who attacked Annapolis. He had
hoped much for help from the Indians and the Acadians, but, though both
seemed eager, both failed him in action. Paul Mascarene, who defended
Annapolis, was of Huguenot blood, which stimulated him to fight the
better against the Catholic French. Boston sent him help, for that
little capital was deeply moved, and so Annapolis did not fall, though
it was harassed during the whole summer of 1744; and New England; in
a fever at the new perils of war, prepared a mighty stroke against the
French.

This expedition was to undertake nothing less than the capture of
Louisbourg itself. The colonial troops had been so often reminded
of their inferiority to regular troops as fighting forces that, with
provincial docility, they had almost come to accept the estimate. It was
well enough for them to fight irregular French and Indian bands, but to
attack a fortress defended by a French garrison was something that only
a few bold spirits among them could imagine. Such a spirit, however, was
William Vaughan, a Maine trader, deeply involved in the fishing industry
and confronted with ruin from hostile Louisbourg. Shirley, the Governor
of Massachusetts, a man of eager ambition, took up the proposal and
worked out an elaborate plan. The prisoners who had been captured at
Canseau by the French and interned at Louisbourg now arrived at Boston
and told of bad conditions in the fortress. In January, 1745, Shirley
called a session of the General Court, the little parliament of
Massachusetts, and, having taken the unusual step of pledging the
members to secrecy, he unfolded his plan. But it proved too bold for the
prudent legislators, and they voted it down. Meanwhile New England trade
was suffering from ships which used Louisbourg as a base. At length
public opinion was aroused and, when Shirley again called the General
Court, a bare majority endorsed his plan. Soon thereafter New England
was aflame. Appeals for help were sent to England and, it is said,
even to Jamaica. Shirley counted on aid from a British squadron, under
Commodore Peter Warren, in American waters, but at first Warren had no
instructions to help such a plan. This disappointment did not keep New
England from going on alone. In the end Warren received instructions to
give the nec