It was
made receivable at a premium for all public debts, and was also
fortified by a provision for its early redemption by taxation; a
provision which was carried into effect in spite of poverty and
distress. [2]
Massachusetts had made her usual mistake. She had confidently believed
that ignorance and inexperience could match the skill of a tried
veteran, and that the rude courage of her fishermen and farmers could
triumph without discipline or leadership. The conditions of her
material prosperity were adverse to efficiency in war. A trading
republic, without trained officers, may win victories; but it wins
them either by accident or by an extravagant outlay in money and life.
[1] On this affair, Walley, _Journal_; Savage, _Account of the
Late Action_ (in a letter to his brother); Monseignat, _Relation;
Relation de la Descente des Anglois; Relation de_ 1682-1712; La
Hontan, I. 213. "M. le comte de Frontenac se trouva avec 3,000
hommes." Belmont, _Histoire du Canada_, A.D. 1690. The prisoner
Captain Sylvanus Davis, in his diary, says, as already mentioned, that
on the day before Phips's arrival so many regulars and militia arrived
that, with those who came with Frontenac, there were about 2,700. This
was before the arrival of Callieres, who, according to Davis, brought
but 300.
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