not
be repeated. Loudon was recalled, and to General Abercromby, the second
in command, was intrusted the charge of the forces in the colonies.
Colonel Amherst was raised to the rank of major general, and appointed
to command the expedition from England against Louisbourg, having under
him Brigadier Generals Whitmore, Lawrence, and Wolfe. Before the winter
was ended two fleets put to sea: the one, under Admiral Boscawen, was
destined for Louisbourg; while the other, under Admiral Osborne, sailed
for the Straits of Gibraltar, to intercept the French fleet of Admiral
La Clue, which was about to sail from Toulon for America.

At the same time Sir Edward Hawke, with seven ships of the line and
three frigates, sailed for Rochefort, where a French squadron with a
fleet of transports, with troops for America, were lying.

The two latter expeditions were perfectly successful. Osborne prevented
La Clue from leaving the Mediterranean. Hawke drove the enemy's vessels
ashore at Rochefort, and completely broke up the expedition. Thus
Canada, at the critical period, when the English were preparing to
strike a great blow at her, was cut off from all assistance from the
mother country, and left to her own resources.

As before, Halifax was the spot where the troops from the colonies were
to meet the fleet from England, and the troops who came out under their
convoy, and here, on the 28th of May, the whole expedition was
collected. The colonies had again been partially stripped of their
defenders, and five hundred provincial rangers accompanied the
regulars. James Walsham's corps was left for service on the frontier,
while the regiments, to which they belonged, sailed with the force
destined for the siege of Louisbourg.

This fortress stood, at the mouth of a land-locked bay, on the stormy
coast of Cape Breton. Since the peace of Aix la Chapelle, vast sums had
been spent in repairing and strengthening it, and it was, by far, the
strongest fortress in English or French America. The circuit of its
fortifications was more than a mile and a half, and the town contained
about four thousand inhabitants. The garrison consisted of the
battalions of Artois, Bourgogne, Cambis, and Volontaires Etrangers,
with two companies of artillery, and twenty-four of colonial troops; in
all, three thousand and eighty men, besides officers. In the harbour
lay five ships of the line and seven frigates, carrying five hundred
and forty-four guns, and about t