Читать книгу Canada and its Provinces - Various - Страница 19

Table of Contents

De Callières, who had succeeded Frontenac as governor in 1698, died in 1703. The Marquis de Vaudreuil was then appointed governor. Vaudreuil had come to Canada in 1687, and had married a Canadian wife. Their son was destined to be the last of the governors of New France. Before his appointment as governor of the colony Vaudreuil had been governor of Montreal. He proved to be a popular and successful administrator.

The treaty of peace with the Iroquois was scarcely concluded when the War of the Spanish Succession once more shattered the perpetual peace so lately established between the powers of Europe. In practically all the earlier operations in America, the French, owing to their military training and constant preparation for war, were almost uniformly successful. In the end, however, the superior resources of the English, to the accumulation of which they chiefly devoted their energies, and the rapidity with which they adjusted themselves to military conditions when necessary, enabled them to gain the ultimate advantage. The operations of this war, which closed with the Treaty of Utrecht, illustrate a world-principle, namely, the ultimate triumph of industrialism over militarism.

In the early stages of the war the French were successful. This aroused the English colonies, supported by the mother country, to put forth their reserved strength. Acadia, at first so ably defended, was afterwards lost through the capture of Port Royal by the English in 1710. The superior resources of the English power could not be offset by military efficiency or the personal capacity of those defending the French dominions.

During this struggle the political and economic progress of Canada was virtually paralysed, but the dominant influence which the French had gained over the Indians around the Great Lakes was very evident. The Iroquois, for the most part, held firmly to their position of neutrality, and the attempt of the English with a few of the western Indians to take possession of Detroit was decisively defeated.

During the last few years, before the Treaty of Utrecht was concluded, the colony was entirely absorbed in preparations for defence against threatened attacks from the English by sea and land. The destruction of the English fleet saved Canada from invasion by sea, and the land forces, intended to supplement the efforts of the fleet, retired to Albany. As we have seen, however, the reserve power of England, owing to her ever-extending commercial resources, gave her a preponderating influence during the closing period of the war. This was fully reflected in the treaty which once more interrupted the struggle with France.