HISTORY OF THE WAR.
75
its name, and is called Pittfburg, with a propriety which does not need to be pointed cut.
Notwithftanding the unhappy afTair at Ticonderoga, the cam- paign of 1758 in America was very advantageous, and very ho- nourable to the Englilh. intereft. Louilbourg, St. John's, Frontcnac, and du Quefne reduced, remove from our colonies all terror of the Indian incurlions, draw from the French thofe ufeful ajlies, free our frontiers from the yoke of their enemies forts, make their fupplies difftcult, their communications pre- cariou?, and ail their defenfive or oifenfive operations unefFedlive ; wliilil their countrvj uncovered of its principal bulwarks, lies open to the heart, and affords the mofl: pleafmg profpecls of fuccefs to the \igoroa3 meafures which we may be afTured will be taken in the next campaign. General Amherft is now commander.
It would be doing great injuf- tice to the fpirit and conduft of the miniflry, not to obferve, that
they omitted to diftrefs the ene- my in no part, and that their plans of operation were as extenfive as they were vigorous.
Two Ihips of the line with , , fomefrigateSjWerefent early' '9' in the fpring to the coaft of Africa, to drive the French from their fet- tlements there. They entered the river Senegal, and in fpite of the obilruftions eof a dangerous bar, which the fhips of war could not pafs, they obliged the French ^ fort which commands the ^ ' river to furrer.der. And on the 29th of December following, Com- modore Keppel, with the alfillance of fome troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Worge, made himfelf mailer of the iiland of Goree and its forts ; the garrifon furrendering at difcretion to his majeuy's fquadron. By thefe fuc- cefies, we have taken from the enemy one of the moft valuable branches of their commerce, and one the moft capable of abundant improvement *.
From
- The river Senega, or Senegal, is one of thofe channels of the river
Niger, by which it is fuppofed to difchiirge its waters into the Atlantic ocean : The liver Niger, according to the beft: maps, rifes in the Eaft of Africa j and after a co'.iii'c; cf 3C0 miles, nearly due 'veft, diviiies into three l)ranches, the moft northerly of which is th? Senegal, as above ; the middle is the Gambia, or Gam- bra; and the mo(^ fouthcrn Rio Grande. Senegal empties itfelf into the Atlantic ocean in 16 north lat. The entrance of it is guarded by fcveral forts, the principal of whicii is Fo!t Lewis, built on an iiland cf the fame nam.e. It is a quadrangular fort with two haitions,and of no inconfidcrable ftrength. At the mouth ot the river is a bar; the belt leafon for pafTing it, is from March to Auguft, or Sep- tembrr, c.r ra;her from April to July, becaufe the tides aie then higheft. The Englifn !iad formcily fettlements here, out of which they \ve:e driven by the French, who have en^rofled the whole trade from Cape Blanco to the river Gambia, wh.ich is near 500 miles. The Dutch were the tirft who fettled Senegal, and built twofoits. The French made themfelves mafters of them in 1678. In 1691 the Englifn feized them ; but next year the French retook them, and have kept them ever Unce. They built Foit Lewis in 1692, and have beyond it a multitude of other fettlements, extending 200 leagues up the liver. The principal commodities ••hich the French import from this fettlement, are that valuable article gum fsnega, ^ ' - /.. bides.
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