[Footnote 161: " ... Such is the state of the governments, that there can not on the continent be produced an instance of the governors being able to carry his majesty's instructions into execution where the people have disputed them, nor has all the power that the crown has thought fit to add been able to support such; but the people have constantly maintained themselves in their claims."--_Letter from Governor Pownall to the Earl of Loudon, Boston, November 28th, 1757._] [Footnote 162: "Each English colony in North America is independent of the other, and each has its proper laws and coins, and may be looked upon in several lights as a state by itself. From hence it happens that, in time of war, things go on very slowly and irregularly here, for not only the sense of one province is sometimes directly opposite to that of another, but frequently the views of the governor and those of the Assembly of the same province are quite different, so that it is easy to see that, while the people are quarreling about the best and cheapest method of carrying on the war, an enemy has it in his power to take one place after another. It has commonly happened, that while some provinces were suffering from their enemies, the neighboring ones were quiet and inactive, as if it did not in the least concern them. They have frequently taken up two or three years in considering whether they should give assistance to an oppressed sister colony, and sometimes they have expressly declared themselves against it. There are instances of provinces who were not only neuter in these circumstances, but who carried on a great trade with the power which at that very time was attacking and laying waste some other provinces."--Kalm, in Pinkerton, vol. xiii., p. 461.] [Footnote 163: "L'état étoit alors dans une situation peu favorable, et le ministre, M. de Berryer, répondit aux instances de M. de Bougainville en disant, 'Quand le feu est à la maison on ne s'occupe pas des écuries.' 'On ne dira pas du moins, monsieur, que vous parlez comme un cheval,' répondit Bougainville. C'est lui-même qui nous a raconté cette anecdote, en ajoutant qu'il alla aussitôt faire sa cour à Madame de Pompadour, qui apaisa le ressentiment du ministre."--_Biographie Universelle_, art. Bougainville.] [Footnote 164: "Le Marquis de Montcalm, à la vie duquel étoit attachée la conservation du Canada, avoit défendu cette colonie par des prodiges de valeur, pris le fort St. George (Fort William Henry), et battu vingt-mille Anglais à Ticonderoga. Mais nul secours ne lui étoit envoyé; on étoit forcé de prévoir qu'il succumberoit bientôt."--_Histoire de France pendant le Dix-huitième Siècle_, par Charles Lacretelle, tom. iii., p. 345.]