Nova Scotia and in the West Indies;
assistance sometimes given for forts on the exposed New York or Carolina
frontier. But the expense was slight indeed: in 1783 the total amount
appropriated for defending the continental colonies, exclusive of Nova
Scotia and not counting money for Indian presents, was L10,000; in 1743,
it was L25,000. And the war which opened in 1743 demonstrated that a
government which neglected defense in time of peace could scarcely
provide it in time of war. The New England frontier was once more
devastated by pillage and massacre; and Philip Schuyler, to the high
disgust of his Iroquois allies, was forced to abandon and burn Fort
Saratoga for lack of supplies to maintain it. Yet New England farmers
made possible the capture of Louisburg, and the colonies together raised
nearly eight thousand troops to cooeperate, in the conquest of Canada,
with the fleet and army which the Duke of Newcastle promised but never
sent. Massachusetts was, indeed, generously repaid for the heavy expense
which she incurred; but two hundred and seventeen chests of Spanish
dollars and one hundred barrels of copper coin, sufficient to restore
her credit, were scarce full return for the restoration of Louisburg to
France after the war was over.

With how much ease, during the six years that followed the Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, might the English and colonial Governments have
prevented the worst horrors of the French and Indian War! Deprived of
her Indian allies, Canada would scarce have been a danger; and at no
time were the Indians better disposed toward the English. "All I can
say," Celoron de Bienville announced when he returned from the Ohio in
1750, "is that all the nations of these countries are very ill-disposed
toward the French, and devoted to the English." And in the next year
Pere Piquet complained that Oswego "not only spoils our trade, but puts
the English into communication with a vast number of our Indians far and
near. It is true that they like French brandy better than English rum;
but they prefer English goods to ours, and can buy for two beaver skins
at Oswego a better silver bracelet than we sell at Niagara for ten."
Strongly garrisoned forts at Albany, at Oswego, and on the Ohio would
have transformed this friendly disposition into a firm alliance. But
there was little loyalty in the red man's heart for an unmilitary
people; and cheap goods, however they might win the Indian in time of
peace, made but