Happy coincidence that enables the historian to combine both,—that bids him, as he writes of Minden, write also of Phillips, who was the head, and Macbean, who was the hand, of the corps on that proud day; and as he tells of the wet and miserable trenches at Belleisle, with the boom of its incessant bombardment, tell also of him, the brave, the learned Desaguliers, wounded, yet ever at his post! But is this all? The Seven Years' War, without America having a chapter given—America, which was the cradle of the war, as it was the scene of its greatest triumphs! Where shall we turn to choose on that continent some scene which shall be noble and pleasant to tell, and shall not wander from the purpose of this work? The mind clings instinctively to Wolfe, eager to narrate something of the Regiment's story over which his presence shall shed a lustre, in memory as in life. Quebec is eagerly studied, reluctantly laid aside, for on that sad and glorious day only a handful of Artillerymen mustered on the Plains of Abraham. So the student wanders backward from that closing scene, and on the shores of that bay in Cape Breton where Louisbourg once stood in arms, he finds a theme in which Wolfe and this Regiment, whose history he fain would write, were joint and worthy actors. And what prouder comrade could one have than he who was the Washington of England in bravery, in gentleness, in the adoration of his men? These three episodes of the war, therefore, have been selected for separate mention. In the present chapter the general outline of the war will be glanced at, and domestic occurrences in the Regiment described. The Seven Years' War owed its immediate origin to the quarrels in America between England and France. Under the impression that the time was favourable for recovering Silesia, which had been awarded to Prussia at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Austria secured Russia, Saxony, and Sweden as allies, and ultimately France; while Prussia obtained the alliance of England. The commencement of the war was unfavourable to England. Minorca and Hanover fell into the hands of the French, and remained so until the end of the war. But they were avenged by the victories of the British troops under Prince Ferdinand at Crevelt and Minden; and by the victories of the King of Prussia over the Austrians at Prague and Rosbach. The capture of Belleisle by the English compensated, to a certain extent, for the loss of Minorca. The capture of Louisbourg, Quebec, Montreal, and ultimately the whole of Canada, added lustre to the English arms in the West, as that of Pondicherry did in the East; while even Africa contributed its share to English triumph, in the capture of Senegal from the French.