Meantime Montcalm had again displayed his activity; and while Loudoun was engaged in his abortive attempts on Louisburg, the colonies received a severe blow by the loss of Fort William Henry. Towards the end of 1756, the French had made an attack upon this fort, but had been repulsed. Throughout the following July, Montcalm massed his troops at Ticonderoga, and with Lévis, his second in command, and La Corne, a noted Canadian irregular, arrived before Fort William Henry on the 4th August. General Webb ought to have pushed forward to its relief, but he felt himself too weak to cope with Montcalm's army of regulars and Indian allies. For four days the defenders made a gallant struggle; and on August 9th only capitulated on the terms of safe-conduct to Fort Edward. The Indians refused to recognise those terms, and fell upon the English. A massacre ensued, horrible in character and of revolting details, though possibly these may have been exaggerated by lapse of years. It is thought that Montcalm and Lévis did what they could to preserve order, but were unable to prevent the many coldblooded murders because of the utter indifference of the French Canadian officers, who had been hardened in the terrible school of border and Indian warfare. The French had now reached the high-water mark of their triumph in the West; but in Europe the dawn of better things for the English people had already come, for the king had been forced to place William Pitt in office. An end was now to be put to all the dilatory conduct either of the home authorities or of the colonial Assemblies. A man had been found to save England and the Empire. Pitt's plans were not original; they had been tried before; but they were at last to succeed because proper effort was made, and able generals instead of incompetents were sent out, and chiefly because behind all was the man who inspired with his own glorious spirit every one with whom he came in contact. On December 30, 1757, Pitt addressed a letter to the Governors of the Thirteen Colonies, who cheerfully responded by raising a substantial force. The first expedition--in which the colonials were not employed--was the capture of Louisburg. The possession of this fortress on Cape Breton Island by the English would ensure the starvation of the Canadians, who were at this time, practically without food. The men chosen for the work were Admiral Boscawen, a hard fighter and typical English seaman; General Jeffrey Amherst, a good but cautious soldier; and three others, Whitmore, Laurence, and General James Wolfe, of "whom the youngest was the most noteworthy,"[295] and whose name is so famously connected with the story of the British in North America. [Illustration: GENERAL JAMES WOLFE. _From the picture by Schaak in the National Portrait Gallery._]