Britain
would not rest till she had seen Dunkirk demolished. New
England would not rest till she had taken Louisbourg.
Louisbourg was unique in all America, and that was its
undoing. It was the one sentinel beside the gateway to
New France; therefore it ought to be taken before Quebec
and Canada were attacked. It was the one corsair lying
in perpetual wait beside the British lines of seaborne
trade; therefore it must be taken before British shipping
could be safe. It was the one French sea link between
the Old World and the New; therefore its breaking was of
supreme importance. It was the one real fortress ever
heard of in America, and it was in absolutely alien hands;
therefore, so ran New England logic, it was most offensive
to all true Britons, New Englanders, and Puritans; to
all rivals in smuggling, trade, and privateering; and to
all right-thinking people generally.
The weakness of Louisbourg was very welcome news to
energetic Massachusetts. In 1744, when Frederick the
Great had begun the War of the Austrian Succession and
France had taken arms against Great Britain, du Quesnel,
the governor of Louisbourg, who had received the
intelligence of these events some weeks before the alert
Bostonians, at once decided to win credit by striking
the first blow.
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