from Nantucket, under convoy of a British warship, to attempt the conquest of Acadia. The French at Port Royal were prepared for them, and the expedition was a failure.

In 1710, the New England colonies, still determined to punish an enemy which had waged such a cruel and barbarous warfare, fitted out, at the joint expense of the New England colonies and New York and New Jersey, another expedition, which sailed from Boston with a fleet from England under command of Colonel Nicholson. The fleet, consisting in all of thirty-six vessels, early in September anchored before Port Royal. A few cannon shots were exchanged, some troops were landed and began to invest the place, when, on the 13th of October, it was surrendered to the English, and the name of the town and fort changed from Port Royal to Annapolis, in honor of Queen Anne. Acadia was annexed to the realm of Great Britain, under the title of Nova Scotia or New Scotland. The British flag has waved perpetually over that fortress from that day to this.

Hastening to England with the good news, Nicholson urged the conquest of Canada. The people of the province of New York, though shielded from French and Indian invasions from Canada by the powerful Five Nations, which formed an impassable barrier to them, favored the

project, because they looked with concern upon the progress of French dominion in the west, its arms reaching from the great lakes on the north toward others extending from the gulf of Mexico on the south. The French, at this time claiming all the region in the valley of the Mississippi to the South Sea, named the country Louisiana in honor of their king, and began preparations for the establishment of a great empire there.

New York and New Jersey, as well as Pennsyl vania and Maryland, were naturally alarmed by the encroachments of the French, and the New York legislature sent a memorial to the queen on the subject, by the hand of Colonel Schuyler, who was accompanied to England by sachems of the Five Nations, as representatives of the Iroquois confederacy.

In London, these "dusky kings," as they were called, drew great multitudes of wondering gazers. Though the Indian of North America had been a frequent visitor to the courts of Europe, the aborigine had not, nor has he even to this day, ceased to be a wonder to the civilized world. Multitudes followed the sachems wherever they went, and the print shops soon exhibited engravings of their portraits. They were awkward in English small-clothes of black and scarlet mantles trimmed with gold lace, in which they were clad,

preferring the scanty wardrobe of their forest homes. They were shown the glory of the kingdom and entertained at sumptuous banquets by the principal nobility of the realm. They witnessed armies in review and went aboard some of the great ships of the royal navy, and at the London theatres were entertained by the best productions of the stage. In the state carriage, drawn by six horses, they were conveyed to the court, and held an audience with the queen; and, before their departure, they addressed to her majesty and to the lords of the privy council, letters bearing their signatures in the form of rude pictures of the wolf, the bear and the tortoise their respective totems or tribal arms-in which they promised perpetual friendship and alliance with the English, which covenant they confirmed by the presentation of belts of wampum, their tokens of fidelity. In company with Schuyler and Colonel Nicholson, they returned to America in the ship Dragon and arrived in Boston in 1711. They had seen evidences of the amazing strength, power and glory of Great Britain, which made a deep and abiding impression upon the embassadors and their countrymen, and they avowed their readiness to aid in the conquest of Canada.

The war was now assuming gigantic proportions. An expedition for the conquest of Canada was

planned by Henry St. John, afterward Lord Bolinbroke, the friend of Pope and Swift, the brilliant orator and conversationalist and the popular but unscrupulous secretary of war under Queen Anne. The preparations were on a grand scale, and the Canadians trembled at the powerful demonstration being made by the English.

Fifteen ships of war, forty transports and six store-ships were placed under the command of Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker, and, with marines and battalions of veteran soldiers, they sailed for America and arrived at Boston in June, 1711. The New England colonies promptly raised a provincial force, and the ships sailed for Quebec on the tenth of August, bearing about seven thousand troops. Among the Americans to enlist in this enterprise was Elmer Stevens, who had been raised to the rank of lieutenant. Elmer was a brave, dashing young man, who had honestly and fairly won the honors he claimed.

When the New England privateers waited on Admiral Walker and offered their services, the admiral said:

"Send one of your best sailors aboard my ship. I want to consult with him.”

They chose Lieutenant Stevens.

"You will remain on my ship as pilot," said the admiral.

Elmer felt elated at the honor conferred on him and proceeded to give the admiral all the information necessary concerning the dangerous coast they were approaching, and warned him against the dread fogs which so often render navigation perilous.

While this formidable naval force was massing against Canada, other colonies had formed a provincial army for the capture of Montreal and the holding of the region of the upper St. Lawrence. These were under the command of Nicholson, who held a general's commission and marched from Albany on the Hudson, on the same day the fleet left Boston. They were four thousand in number and were chiefly furnished by New York and Connecticut. Six hundred of them were warriors of

the Five Nations.

Reports of the movements were not long in reaching the ears of Governor Vaudreuil at Montreal, who immediately dispatched Jesuit missionaries and other agents to secure Indian allies, and then hastened to Quebec to prepare for the invaders. It was during his stay at Quebec, preparing for the defence of that city, that he received his visit from Monsieur De Vere and his daughter, as recorded in the preceding chapter. Every galley slave in the dominion and every able-bodied man, even women, worked on the forts.