gs and also much of its culmination here. The
efforts made by the young British colonies, and by the mother country,
England, were colossal, and the battles were great for the time. To the
colonies, and to those in Canada as well, the campaigns were a matter of
life or death. For the English colonies the war, despite valor and
heroic endurance, had been going badly in the main, but now almost all
felt that a change was coming, and it seemed to be due chiefly to one
man, Pitt. It was Napoleon who said later that "Men are nothing, a man
is everything," but America, as well as England, knew that in the Seven
Years' War Pitt, in himself, was more than an army--he was a host. And
America as well as England has known ever since that there was never a
greater Englishman, and that he was an architect who built mightily for
both.

The future was not wholly veiled to Robert as he looked down anew upon
the glittering waters of Andiatarocte. He had come in contact with the
great forces that were at work, he had vision anew and greater vision,
and he knew the gigantic character of the stakes for which men played.
If the French triumphed here in America, then the old Bourbon monarchy,
which Willet told him was so diseased and corrupt, would appear
triumphant to all the world. It would invent new tyrannies, the cause
of liberty and growth would be set back generations, and nobody would be
trodden under the heel more than the French people themselves. Robert
liked the French, and sometimes the thought occurred to him that the
English and Americans were fighting not only their own battle but that
of the French as well.

He knew as he stood with Willet and Tayoga looking at Lake George that
the great crisis of the war was at hand. All that had gone before was
mere preparation. He had felt the difference at once when he came back
from his island. The old indecision, doubt and despondency were gone;
now there was a mighty upward surge. Everybody was full of hope, and the
evidence of one's own eyes showed that the Anglo-American line was
moving forward at all points. A great army would soon be converging on
Ticonderoga, where a great army had been defeated the year before, but
now there would be no Montcalm to meet. He must be in Quebec to defend
the very citadel and heart of New France against the army and fleet of
Wolfe. The French in Canada were being assailed on all sides, and the
decaying Bourbon monarchy could or would send no help.