Life of William Phips, Biography · Section 11
SECT. 11.
THE Addition of this French Colony to the Engliſh Dominion, was no more than a little ſtep towards a greater Action, which was firſt in the Deſign of Sir William Phips, and which was, indeed, the Greateſt Action that ever the New-Englanders Attempted. There was a time, when the Philiſtines had made ſome Inroads and Aſſaults from the North-ward, upon the Skirts of Goſhen, where the Iſraelites had a Reſidence, before their coming out of Egypt, The Iſraelites, and eſpecially that Active Colony of the Ephraimites, were willing to Revenge theſe Injuries upon their wicked Neighbours; they preſumed themſelves Powerful and Numerous enough to Encounter the Canaanites, even in their own Country; and they formed a brisk Expedition, but came off unhappy Loſers in it; the Jewiſh Rabbins tell us, they loſt no leſs than Eight Thouſand Men. The Time was not yet come; there was more Haſt than good Speed in the Attempt; they were not enough concerned for the Counſel and Preſence of God in the Undertaking; they mainly propounded the Plunder to be got among a People, whoſe Trade was that, wherewith Beaſts enriched them; ſo the Buſineſs miſcarried. This Hiſtory the Pſalmiſt going to recite, ſays, I will utter dark Sayings of old. Now that what befel Sir William Phips, with his whole Country of New-England, may not be almoſt forgotten among the dark Sayings of old, I will here give the true Report of a very memorable Matter.
It was Canada that was the chief Source of New-England's Miſeries. There was the main Strength of the French; There the Indians were moſtly ſupplied with Ammunition; Thence Iſſued Parties of Men, who uniting with the Salvages, barbarouſly murdered many Innocent New-Enlanders, without any Provocation on the New-Engliſh part, except this, that New-England had Proclaimed King William, and Q. Mary, which they ſaid were Ʋſurpers; And, as Cato could make no Speech in the Senate, without that Concluſion, Delenda eſt Carthago; ſo it was the general Concluſion of all that Argued ſenſibly, about the ſafety of that Country, Canada muſt be Reduced. It then became the concurring Reſolution of all New-England, with New-York, to make a Vigorous Attack upon Canada at once, both by Sea and Land.
And a Fleet was accordingly fitted out from Boſton, under the Command of Sir William Phips, to fall upon Quebeque, the chief City of Canada. They waited until Auguſt for ſome Stores of War from England, whither they had ſent for that purpoſe, early in the Spring; but none at laſt arriving, and the Seaſon of the Year being ſo far ſpent, Sir William could not, without many Diſcouragements upon his Mind, proceed in a Voyage, for which he found himſelf ſo poorly provided. However, the Ships being taken up, and the Men on board, his uſual Courage would not permit him to Deſiſt from the Enterprize; but he ſet Sail from Hull near Boſton, Auguſt 9. 1690. with a Fleet of Thirty two Ships and Tenders; whereof one, called the Six Friends, carrying Fourty Four great Guns, and Two Hundred Men, was Admiral. Sir William dividing the Fleet into ſeveral Squadrons, whereof there was the Six Friends, Captain Gregory Sugars Commander, with Eleven more of the Admiral's Squadron, of which one was alſo a Capital Ship, namely, The John and Thomas, Captain Thomas Carter Commander; Of the Vice-Admirals, the Swan, Captain Thomas Gilbert Commander, with Nine more; Of the Rear-Admirals, the America-Merchant, Captain Joſeph Eldridge Commander, with Nine more; and above Twenty Hundred Men on Board the whole Fleet: He ſo happily managed his Charge, that they every one of them Arrived ſafe at Anchor before Quebeck, although they had as dangerous, and almoſt untrodden a Path, to take Ʋn-Piloted, for the whole Voyage, as ever any Voyage was undertaken with. Some ſmall French Prizes he took by the way, and ſet up Engliſh Colours upon the Coaſt, here and there, as he went along; and before the Month of Auguſt was out, he had ſpent ſeveral Days as far onward of his Voyage, as between the Iſland of Antecoſta, and the Main. But when they entred the mighty River of Canada, ſuch adverſe Winds encountred the Fleet, that they were Three Weeks diſpatching the way, which might otherwiſe have been gone in Three Days, and it was the Fifth of October, when a freſh Breeze coming up at Eaſt, carried them along by the North Shore, up to the Iſle of Orleans; and then haling Southerly, they paſſed by the Eaſt end of that Iſland, with the whole Fleet approaching the City of Quebeck. This loſs of Time, which made it ſo late before the Fleet could get into the Country, where a cold and fierce Winter was already very far advanced, gave no very good Proſpect of Succeſs to the Expedition; but that which gave a much worſe, was a moſt horrid Miſmanagement, which had, the mean while, happened in the Weſt. For a Thouſand Engliſh from New-York, and Albany, and Connecticut, with Fifteen Hundred Indians, were to have gone over-Land, in the Weſt, and fallen upon Mount-Royal, while the Fleet was to Viſit Quebeck in the Eaſt; and no Expedition could have been better laid than This, which was thus contrived. But thoſe Engliſh Companies in the Weſt, marching as far as the great Lake that was to be paſſed, found their Canoos not provided, according to expectation; and the Indians alſo were [How? God knows, and will one Day Judge!] diſſuaded from Joining with the Engliſh; and the Army met with ſuch Diſcouragements, that they returned.
Had this Weſtern Army done but ſo much as continued at the Lake, the Diverſion thereby given to the French Quartered at Mount-Royal, would have rendered the Conqueſt of Quebeck ca…e and certain; but the Governour of Canada being Informed of the Retreat made by the Weſtern-Army, had opportunity, by the croſs Winds that kept back the Fleet, unhappily to get the whole Strength of all the Country into the City, before the Fleet could come up unto it. However, none of theſe Difficulties hindred Sir William Phips from ſending on Shoar the following Summons, on Monday, the Sixth of October.
Sir William Phips Knight, General and Commander in Chief, in and over Their Majeſties Forces of New-England, by Sea and Land;
To Count Frontenac, Lieutenent-General and Governour for the French King, at Canada; or in his Abſence to his Deputy, or Him, or Them, in Chief Command at Quebeck.
THE War between the Two Crowns of England and France, doth not only ſufficiently Warrant, but the Deſtruction made by the French and Indians, under your Command and Encouragement, upon the Perſons and Eſtates of Their Majeſties Subjects of New-England, without Provocation on their part, hath put them under the Neceſſity of this Expedition, for their own Security and Satisfaction. And although the Cruelties and Barbarities uſed againſt them, by the French and Indians, might upon the preſent Opportunity, prompt unto a ſevere Revenge, yet being deſirous to avoid all Inhumane and Unchriſtian-like Actions, and to prevent ſhedding of Blood, as much as may be;
I the aforeſaid Sir William Phips, Knight, do hereby, in the Name, and in the Behalf of Their Moſt Excellent Majeſties, William and Mary, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith; and by Order of Their ſaid Majeſties Government of the Maſſachuſet-Colony, in New-England, Demand a preſent Surrender of your Forts and Caſtles, undemoliſhed, and the King's, and other Stores unimbezzelled, with a ſeaſonable Delivery of all Captives; together with a Surrender of all your Perſons and Eſtates, to my Diſpoſe: Upon the doing whereof you may expect Mercy from me, as a Chriſtian, according to what ſhall be found for Their Majeſties Service, and the Subjects Security. Which if you Refuſe forth-with to do. I am come provided, and am Reſolved by the help of God, in whom I truſt, by Force of Arms, to Revenge all Wrongs and Injuries offered, and bring you under Subjection to the Crown of England; and when too late, make you wiſh, you had accepted of the Favour tendered.
Your Anſwer Poſitive in an Hour, returned by your own Trumpet, with the Return of mine, is Required, upon the Peril that will enſue.
The Summons being Delivered unto Count Frontenac, his Anſwer was;
That Sir William Phips, and thoſe with him, were Hereticks, and Traitors to their King, and had taken up with that Ʋſurper, the Prince of Orange, and had made a Revolution, which if it had not been made, New-England and the French had been all One; and that no other Anſwer was to be expected from him, but what ſhould be from the Mouth of his Cannon.
General Phips, now ſaw, that it muſt coſt him Dry Blowes, and that he muſt Roar his Perſwaſions out of the Mouths of Great Guns, to make himſelf Maſter of a City, which had certainly Surrender'd it ſelf unto him, if he had arrived but a little ſooner, and Summon'd it before the coming down of Count Frontenac with all his Forces, to command the oppreſſed People there, who would have been, many of them, gladder of coming under the Engliſh Government. Wherefore on the Seventh of October, the Engliſh, that were for the Land-Service, went on Board their leſſer Veſſels, in order to Land; among which there was a Bark, wherein was Captain Ephraim Savage, with ſixty Men, that ran a Ground upon the North-Shoar, near two Miles from Quebeck, and could not get off, but lay in the ſame Diſtreſs that Scaeva did, when the Britans poured in their Numbers upon the Bark, wherein he, with a few more Soldiers of Caeſar's Army, were by the diſadvantage of the Tide, left aſhoar: The French, with Indians, that ſaw them ly there, came near, and Fired thick upon them, and were bravely Anſwered; and when two or three Hundred of the Enemy, at laſt planted a Field-Piece againſt the Bark, while the Wind blew ſo hard, that no help could be ſent unto his Men, the General Advanced ſo far, as to Level two or three great Guns, conveniently enough to make the Aſſailants Fly; and when the Flood came, the Bark happily got off, without the hurt of one Man aboard. But ſo violent was the Storm of Wind all this Day, that it was not poſſible for them to Land, until the Eighth of October; when, the Engliſh counting every Hour to be a Week, until they were come to Battle, vigorouſly got aſhoar, deſigning to enter the Eaſt-end of the City. The Small-Pox had got into the Eleet, by which Diſtemper prevailing, the number of Effective Men which now went aſhoar, under the Command of Lieutenant General Walley, did not amount unto more than Fourteen Hundred; but Four Companies of theſe were drawn out as Forlorns, whom, on every ſide, the Enemy fired at; nevertheleſs, the Engliſh Ruſhing with a ſhout, at once upon them, cauſed them to Run, as faſt as Legs could carry them: So that the whole Engliſh Army, expreſſing as much Reſolution as was in Caeſar's Army, when they firſt landed on Britai…, in ſpight of all oppoſition from the Inhabitants, marched on until it was dark, having firſt killed many of the French, with the loſs of but four Men of their own; and frighted about ſeven or eight Hundred more of the French from an Ambuſcado, where they lay ready to fall upon them. But ſome thought, that by ſtaying in the Valley, they took the way never to get over the Hill: And yet for them to ſtay where they were, till the ſmaller Veſſels came up the River, before them, ſo far as by their Guns to ſecure the Paſſage of the Army, in their getting over, was what the Council of War had ordered. But the Violence of the Weather, with the General's being ſooner plunged into the heat of Action than was intended, hindred the ſmaller Veſſels from attending that Order. And this Evening, a French Deſerter coming to them, aſſured them, that Nine Hundred Men were on their March from Quebeck to meet them, already paſſed a little Rivulet that lay at the end of the City, but ſeeing them Land ſo ſuddenly, and ſo valiantly run down thoſe that firſt Encountred them, they had Retreated: Nevertheleſs, That Count Frontenac was come down to Quebeck, with no fewer than Thirty Hundred Men to defend the City, having left but fifty Souldiers to defend Mount Real, becauſe they had underſtood, that the Engliſh Army on that ſide, were gone back to Albany. Notwithſtanding this diſpiriting Information, the common Souldiers did with much vehemency Beg and Pray, that they might be Led on, profeſſing, that they had rather loſe their Lives on the ſpot, than fail of taking the City; but the more wary Commanders, conſidered how raſh a thing it would be, for about Fourteen Hundred Raw Men, tired with a long Voyage, to aſſault more than Twice as many Expert Souldiers, who were Galli in ſuo ſterquilinio, or Cocks Crowing on their own Dunghil. They were, in truth, now gotten into the grievous Caſe, which Livy deſcribes, when he ſays, Ibi grave eſt Bellum gerere, ubi non conſiſtendi aut procedendi locus; quocunque aspexeris Hoſtilia ſunt omnia; Look on one ſide or 'tother, all was full of Hoſtile Difficulties. And indeed, whatever Popular Clamour has been made againſt any of the Commanders, it is apparent, that they acted conſiderately, in making a Pauſe upon what was before them; and they did a greater kindneſs to their Souldiers than they have ſince been thanked for. But in this time, General Phips and his Men of War, with their Canvas, Wings, flew cloſe up unto the Weſt-end of the City, and there he behaved himſelf with the Greateſt Bravery imaginable; nor did the other Men of War forbear to follow his brave Example: who never diſcovered himſelf more in his Element, than when (as the Poet expreſſeth it,)
The Slaughter-Breathing Braſs grew hot, and ſpoke
In Flames of Lightning, and in Clouds of Smoke:
He lay within Piſtol-ſhot of the Enemies Cannon, and beat them from thence, and very much Batter'd the Town, having his own Ship ſhot through in an hundred places, with four and twenty Pounders, and yet, but one Man was killed, and only two mortally wounded aboard him, in this hot Engagement, which continued the greateſt part of that Night, and ſeveral hours of the Day enſuing. But wondring, that he ſaw no Signal of any Effective Action aſhoar, at the Eaſt end of the City, he ſent that he might know the condition of the Army there; and received Anſwer, That ſeveral of the Men were ſo frozen in their Hands and Feet, as to be diſabled from ſervice, and others were apace falling ſick of the Small-Pox. Whereupon he order'd them on Board immediately to refreſh themſelves, and he intended then, to have renew'd his Attack upon the City, in the Method of Landing his Men in the face of it, under the ſhelter of his Great Guns; having to that purpoſe, provided alſo, a conſderable number of well-ſhaped Wheel-Barrows, each of them carrying Two Petarraro's a piece, to March before the Men and make the Enemy fly, with as much Contempt as overwhelmed the Philiſtines, when undone by Foxes with Torches in their Tails; (remembred in an Anniverſary Diverſion, every April, among the Ancient Romans, taught by the Phenicians.)
While the Meaſures to be further taken, were debating, there was made an Exchange of Priſoners, the Engliſh having taken ſeveral of the French in divers actions, and the French having in their Hands divers of the Engliſh, whom the Indians had brought Captives unto them. The Army now on Board, continued ſtill Reſolute and Couragious, and on fire, for the Conqueſt of Quebeck, or if they had miſſed of doing it by ſtorm, they knew that they might, by poſſeſſing themſelves of the Iſle of Orleans, in a little while, have ſtarved them out. Incredible Damage they might indeed, have done to the Enemy, before they Embarked, but they were willing to preſerve the more undefenſible parts of the Country, in ſuch a condition, as might more ſenſibly encourage the Submiſſion of the Inhabitants, unto the Crown of England, whoſe Protection was deſired by ſo many of them. And ſtill they were loth to Play for any leſſer Game than the immediate Surrender of Quebeck it ſelf. But e're a full Council of War could conclude the next ſteps to be taken, a violent Storm aroſe, that ſeparated the Fleet, and the Snow and the Cold became ſo extreme, that they could not continue in thoſe Quarters any longer.
Thus, by an evident Hand of Heaven, ſending one unavoidable Diſaſter after another, as well-formed an Enterprize, as perhaps was ever made by the New-Englanders, moſt unhappily miſcarried; and General Phips underwent a very mortifying Diſappointment of a Deſign, which his Mind was, as much as ever any, ſet upon. He arrived Nov, 19. at Boston, where, although he found himſelf, as well as the Publick, thrown into very uneaſie circumſtances, yet he had this to comfort him, That neither his Courage, nor his Conduct could reaſonably have been Taxed, nor could it be ſaid that any Man could have done more than he did, under ſo many Embaraſſments of his Buſineſs, as he was to fight withal. He alſo relieved the uneaſineſs of his Mind, by conſidering, that his Voyage to Canada, diverted from his Country an Horrible Tempest from an Army of Boſs-Lopers, which had prepar'd themſelves, as 'tis affirmed, that Winter, to fall upon the New-Engliſh Colonies, and by falling on them, would probably have laid no little part of the Country deſolate. And he further conſidered, That in this matter, like Iſrael engaging againſt Benjamin, it may be, we ſaw yet, but the beginning of the matter: And that the way to Canada now being learnt, the foundation of a Victory over it might be laid, in what had been already done. Unto this purpoſe likewiſe, he was heard ſometimes applying the Remarkable Story, reported by Bradwardine.
There was an Hermit, who being vexed with blaſphemous Injections about the Juſtice and Wiſdom of Divine Providence, an Angel in Human Shape, invited him to Travel with him, That he might ſee the hidden Judgments of God. Lodging all Night at the Houſe of a Man, who kindly entertain'd them, the Angel took away a valuable Cup from their Hoſt, at their going away in the Morning, and beſtowed this Cup upon a very wicked Man, with whom they Lodged the Night enſuing. The third Night they were moſt lovingly Treated, at the Houſe of a very Godly Man, from whom, when they went in the Morning, the Angel meeting a Servant of his, threw him over the Bridge into the Water, where he was drowned. And the Fourth, being in like manner, moſt courteouſly Treated, at the Houſe of a very Godly Man, the Angel before Morning, did unaccountably kill his only Child. The Companion of the Journey, being wonderfully offended at theſe things, would have left his Guardian. But the Angel then thus addreſſed him, Ʋnderstand now, the ſecret Judgments of God! The first man that entertained us, did inordinately affect that Cup, which I took from him; 'twas for the advantage of his interiour, that I took it away, and I gave it unto the impious man, as the preſent reward of his good Works, which is all the reward that he is like to have. As for our Third Host, the Servant which I ſlew, had formed a bloody Deſign, to have ſlain his Master, but now, you ſee, I have ſaved the Life of the Master, and prevented ſomething of growth unto the eternal puniſhment of the Murderer. As for our Fourth Host, before his Child was Born unto him, he was a very liberal and bountiful Perſon, and he did abundance of good with his Estate; but when he ſaw he was like to leave ſuch an Heir, he grew covetous; wherefore the Soul of the Infant is Tranſlated into Paradiſe, but the occaſion of ſin is, you ſee, mercifully taken away from the Parent.
Thus General Phips, though he had been uſed unto Diving in his time, would ſay, That the things which had befallen him in this Expedition, were too deep to be Dived into!