Proposed in

Canada.

cordance with Shirley's plan, to follow up the taking of Louisburg; and all the colonies, as far south as Virginia, were to furnish vasion of troops for that purpose. An advance was to be made from Louisburg against Quebec, and another from Albany towards Montreal by way of Crown Point. The Six Nations again promised to take up the war hatchet against the French, and that they would not permit their priests to come among them any more, declaring, "on the contrary, should any now dare to come, we know no use for him or them but to Roast them." As the rendezvous of the troops was at Albany, within the jurisdiction of Governor Clinton, the command devolved upon him, when Lieutenant-governor Gooch, of Virginia, who had been appointed to that position by the commissioners of the several provinces, declined to accept it.

William
Johnson.

Clinton called to his aid William Johnson, who was already well known for his knowledge of the Indians and his influence over them. The Mohawks made him one of their chiefs, and he had married an Indian woman, the sister of Joseph Brant, who was the head of that tribe. Through Johnson's efforts the alliance with the Six Nations was confirmed, and other tribes in Pennsylvania and New England had promised to go upon the war-path. But all these formidable preparations were destined only to involve the unfortunate Governor in fresh difficulties. D'Anville's fleet off the coast of Nova Scotia arrested the movement from Louisburg. General St. Clair, who was to be commander-in-chief of the expedition against Canada, did not come with the promised reënforcement of British troops. Delay was inevitable; the Indians, disgusted with inactivity, began to disperse. The colonial troops remained idle, without pay, and poorly fed, at Albany, through the autumn and winter. The Assembly, in spite of Clinton's appeals and protests, refused to make any appropriation for their pay, and the Council, with the exception of Mr. Colden and one or two other members, sustained the Assembly. The troops clamored and broke out at last into open mutiny, and the Governor was only able to extricate himself from serious difficulty by drawing upon England for large sums. Johnson attempted to take Crown Point with an inadequate force and failed, and then came advices from England that the expedition against Canada was abandoned, to be followed soon after by a general peace and the treaty of Aix-laChapelle.

When the news reached the Governor that the offensive movement against the French was given up, and that the troops were to be disbanded, he proposed to put his own province upon the defensive. He deemed it necessary that a force of eight hundred men should be retained and sent to the frontier, but the Assembly refused to provide

1753.]

DE LANCEY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.

Disregard of

253 the means, and declined to do anything further for the support of the Indians. The Governor thereupon ordered the colonels of the militia. of the several counties to hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment's notice. He called out the regiment Clinton's orand independent companies of the city of New York to parade, and his order was read at the head of the ranks. he writes to the Duke of Newcastle, "every man unanimously refused to obey any orders from the Crown, unless an Act of Assembly

ders.

"But,"

was passed in the Province for that purpose; which shows how well my opinion of their levelling, and the republican principles, has been grounded from time to time." And he adds pathetically in a postscript" nothing has encouraged y faction so much as this, that I have not been able to obtain any thing to show to them, signifying His Majests approbation of my conduct, or displeasure of theirs." It was not his fault that he was compelled for several years longer to endure these humiliations, for he asked repeatedly, but in vain, to be recalled; and the final mortification - the necessity of giving to De Lancey his commission as Lieutenant-governor was, no doubt, the keener that he had hoped to escape it when Sir Danvers Osborn arrived in 1753, to supersede him as Governor. But that gentleman, who was in a condition of morbid mental depres- Sir Danvers sion, took his own life two days after his inauguration; and Clinton had then no alternative but to deliver formally to De Lancey the commission which he had so long withheld, and had so repeatedly urged the Government in England to recall.

Suicide of

Osborn.

CHAPTER X.

OPENING OF THE FRENCH WAR.

CONTEST BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE FOR TERRITORY IN AMERICA. - FRENCH MOVEMENTS INTO THE VALLEY OF THE OHIO.-LINE OF FRENCH FORTS AT THE WEST. PROGRESS OF ENGLISH SETTLEMENT WESTWARD. -THE OHIO COMPANY. -MAJOR WASHINGTON. HIS FIGHT WITH JUMONVILLE. SURRENDER AT FORT NECESSITY. CONVENTION AT ALBANY AND PLAN FOR COLONIAL UNION. - ARRIVAL OF GENERAL BRADDOCK. HIS EXPEDITION. FRANKLIN'S ADVICE. BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT AND DEATH.-OPERATIONS IN NOVA SCOTIA. THE QUESTION OF BOUNDARIES. -SETTLEMENT OF HALIFAX. - EXILE OF THE ACADIANS.

which both parties, recovering from their exhaustion, made provision against an inevitable and decisive conflict. In America petty hostil

1748.]

THE DISPUTED TERRITORY.

255

ities on the border were scarcely interrupted between the date of the treaty (1748) and the resumption of open war in 1755. As we have seen, Governor Clinton, of New York, thought it absolutely necessary, though the Assembly did not agree with him, — that on the disbanding of the troops in 1748, a force of eight hundred men should be in readiness to march at a moment's warning to the defence of the frontiers. The Governors of other provinces sympathized with Clinton's apprehensions, and not without reason.

The two centres of interest for both nations were the country about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the valley of the Ohio. In 1749, De Celoron, the French commander at Detroit, made an expedition to the Ohio River, claimed the country as belonging to the French King, commanded all English traders to leave it, and wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania that if such "traders should thereafter make their appearance on the Beautiful River, they would be treated without any delicacy." Some who did not obey were afterward arrested near the lake of Otsanderket (Sandusky) and were detained as prisoners. A few months later, several Mohawk chiefs assembled at the house of Colonel Johnson, and asked of him an explanation of a leaden tablet which was to have been buried on the banks of the Ohio, but had been taken by some of their tribe from a French interpreter. It bore a Latin inscription claiming ownership of all that region of country for France. The French built a fort at a commanding point above Niagara Falls, the Governor of Canada maintaining their right to encroach thus upon the lands of the Iroquois, who, he declared, were not subjects of England, but, if subjects at all, of France. There were constant alarms of bodies of Frenchmen making their way southward from the lakes to the Ohio valley; and of their determination to possess and hold that region, there was no room for doubt. The aim of both nations was the same, to be com- French and passed, however, for different purposes and in different ways. in the The French meant, by a series of fortifications, to, connect West. the St. Lawrence with the Gulf of Mexico; the English proposed the establishment of colonies westward of the Alleghanies, which should be outposts of defence for the seaboard settlements, and bases for

English

1 Translation: In the year 1749, during the reign of Louis XV., King of France, we, Celoron, commander of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Galissoniere, commander-in-chief of New France, for the restoration of tranquillity in some villages of Indians of these districts, have buried this plate at the confluence of the Ohio and Tchadakoin, this 29th July, near the River Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of the renewal of possession which we have taken of the said River Ohio, and of all those that therein fall, and of all the lands on both sides, as far as the sources of the said rivers, as enjoyed or ought to be enjoyed by the preceding kings of France, and as they therein have maintained themselves by arms and by treaties, especially by those of Riswick, of Utrecht, and of Aix-la-Chapelle. ·Documents Relating to Colonial History of New York, vol. vi.

further advances into the unknown western country.

Each put forth claims resting upon discovery or purchase, but each knew also that possession was the strongest title, and it was inevitable that the struggle for possession should come first upon those who actually stood upon the disputed territory.

The course of the French can be traced by the successive posts which they established along the chain of great lakes and upon the

Map showing the Positions of French and English Forts and Settlements
about the beginning of the French War.

highways of the river system. As early as 1670 and 1671 the Jesuits established missions at the outlet of Lake Superior, at the head of Green Bay, and upon the northern shore of Lake Michigan; and the Sault Ste. Marie, La Baye, and Michilimackinac became centres of Indian trade, rendezvous for the coureurs de bois, and garrisons for French troops. A little later, a line of forts was established, guarding the passages of the great lakes, Frontenac, where the St. Lawrence issues from Lake Ontario, - Niagara, and Detroit. These places became by degrees the centres of little settlements that grew up under the protection of their walls, but military occupation continued to be the chief aim. Then the access to the Mississippi was controlled by Fort St. Joseph near one of the sources of the Illinois, and still more by the older fort at Green Bay, on the Wisconsin River. The valleys of the Miami and the Wabash were held by Fort Miami and Fort