Britain in America was finally decided by the sword. The
conquering sword was that of the British Empire as a
whole. But the hand that wielded it was Pitt; the hilt was
Anson, the blade was Saunders, and the point was Wolfe.




CHAPTER V

LOUISBOURG
1758

In 1755 Wolfe was already writing what he thought were
farewell letters before going off to the war. And that
very year the war, though not formally declared till the
next, actually did break out in America, where a British
army under Braddock, with Washington as his aide-de-camp,
was beaten in Ohio by the French and Indians. Next year
the French, owing to the failure of Admiral Byng and the
British fleet to assist the garrison, were able to capture
Minorca in the Mediterranean; while their new general in
Canada, Montcalm, Wolfe's great opponent, took Oswego.
The triumph of the French fleet at Minorca made the
British people furious. Byng was court-martialled, found
guilty of failure to do his utmost to save Minorca, and
condemned to death. In spite of Pitt's efforts to save
him, the sentence was carried out and he was shot on the
quarter-deck of his own flagship. Two other admirals,
Hawke and Saunders, both of whom were soon to see service