" But he adds that there is a reverse to the picture, and that
"this colony, so high-spirited, so warlike, and apparently so loyal,
would never move hand or foot in her own defence till certain of
repayment by the mother country."[598] The groundlessness of this charge
is shown by abundant proofs, one of which will be enough. The Englishman
Pownall, who had succeeded Shirley as royal governor of the province,
made this year a report of its condition to Pitt. Massachusetts, he
says, "has been the frontier and advanced guard of all the colonies
against the enemy in Canada," and has always taken the lead in military
affairs. In the three past years she has spent on the expeditions of
Johnson, Winslow, and Loudon L242,356, besides about L45,000 a year to
support the provincial government, at the same time maintaining a number
of forts and garrisons, keeping up scouting-parties, and building,
equipping, and manning a ship of twenty guns for the service of the
King. In the first two months of the present year, 1758, she made a
further military outlay of L172,239. Of all these sums she has received
from Parliament a reimbursement of only L70,117, and hence she is deep
in debt; yet, in addition, she has this year raised, paid, maintained,
and clothed seven thousand soldiers placed under the command of General
Abercromby, besides above twenty-five hundred more serving the King by
land or sea; amounting in all to about one in four of her able-bodied
men.
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