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34 too. Governor Sharpe of Maryland, but lately appointed Commander-in-chief in America, had only a hint of what was being planned and was to have even less share in its accomplishment; in vain his friends extolled him as honest—"a little less honesty," declared George II, characteristically, "and a little more ability were more to be desired at the moment." And the rule worked on both sides of the Atlantic. American affairs had long been in the hands of the Secretary of the Board of Trade, the Duke of Newcastle, as perfect an ass as ever held high office. He had opposed every policy that did not accord with his own "time serving selfishness" with a persistency only matched by his unparalleled ignorance. Once thrown into a panic, it is said, at a rumor that a large French army had been thrown into Cape Breton, he was asked where the necessary transports had been secured.

"Transports," he shrieked, "I tell you they marched by land!"

"By land, to the island of Cape Breton?" was the astonished reply.

"What, is Cape Breton an island? Are