1745-1747. ACADIAN CONFLICTS. Efforts of France.--Apathy of Newcastle.--Dilemma of Acadians.--Their Character.--Danger of the Province.--Plans of Shirley.--Acadian Priests.--Political Agitators.--Noble's Expedition.--Ramesay at Beaubassin.--Noble at Grand-Pré.--A Winter March.--Defeat and Death of Noble.--Grand-Pré re-occupied by the English.--Threats of Ramesay against the Acadians.--The British Ministry will not protect them. CHAPTER XXIII. 1740-1747. WAR AND POLITICS. Governor and Assembly.--Saratoga destroyed.--William Johnson.--Border Ravages.--Upper Ashuelot.--French "Military Movements."--Number Four.--Niverville's Attack.--Phineas Stevens.--The French repulsed. CHAPTER XXIV. 1745-1748. FORT MASSACHUSETTS. Frontier Defence.--Northfield and its Minister.--Military Criticisms of Rev. Benjamin Doolittle.--Rigaud de Vaudreuil.--His Great War-Party.--He attacks Fort Massachusetts.--Sergeant Hawks and his Garrison.--A Gallant Defence.--Capitulation.--Humanity of the French.--Ravages.--Return to Crown Point.--Peace of Aix-la Chapelle. APPENDIX. A. FRANCE CLAIMS ALL NORTH AMERICA EXCEPT THE SPANISH COLONIES. B. FRENCH VIEWS OF THE SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG. C. SHIRLEY'S RELATIONS WITH THE ACADIANS. A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT. CHAPTER XV. 1697-1741. FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. FRENCH EXPLORERS.--LE SUEUR ON THE ST. PETER'S.--CANADIANS ON THE MISSOURI.--JUCHEREAU DE SAINT-DENIS.--BÉNARD DE LA HARPE ON RED RIVER.--ADVENTURES OF DU TISNÉ.--BOURGMONT VISITS THE COMANCHES.--THE BROTHERS MALLET IN COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO.--FABRY DE LA BRUYÈRE. The occupation by France of the lower Mississippi gave a strong impulse to the exploration of the West, by supplying a base for discovery, stimulating enterprise by the longing to find gold mines, open trade with New Mexico, and get a fast hold on the countries beyond the Mississippi in anticipation of Spain; and to these motives was soon added the hope of finding an overland way to the Pacific. It was the Canadians, with their indomitable spirit of adventure, who led the way in the path of discovery. As a bold and hardy pioneer of the wilderness, the Frenchman in America has rarely found his match. His civic virtues withered under the despotism of Versailles, and his mind and conscience were kept in leading-strings by an absolute Church; but the forest and the prairie offered him an unbridled liberty, which, lawless as it was, gave scope to his energies, till these savage wastes became the field of his most noteworthy achievements.