Quebec in the previous war left that stronghold to guard French dominion in the north, the English suffering the loss of many ships in a storm, with over one thousand men. 135. The War in the South.-The southern colonists welcomed the opportunity to chastise the Spanish on the Florida coast, and in the very first year of the war attacked St. Augustine. They had reckoned without their host, however. The Spanish offered such spirited resistance that the siege was abandoned. A combined French and Spanish fleet attempted the capture of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1706, but were in turn repulsed, so that honors were equal in the south.

136. Indian Atrocities. As usual, the outlying settlements felt the horrors of war the most. With the French forts about the Great Lakes for rallying points, and their overflowing arsenals on which to draw, the Indians ravaged the frontier from Virginia to Maine, -the wholesale massacres at Deerfield and Haverhill being carried out with the most fiendish cruelties.

137. Peace: Results. The treaty of Utrecht (1713) ended the war, and for many years peace and prosperity reigned in America. The treaty provided for the retention of Port Royal by the English. In honor of Queen Anne its name was changed to Annapolis. Acadia, or Nova Scotia, was now retained by England. The treaty also gave to England Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay territories, leaving Canada and the Mississippi valley still to be fought for.

The feeling of interdependence received fresh stimulus among the colonists. The first war had held the interest only of the New England colonies. This second war had united both southern and northern colonies in a common

cause.

KING GEORGE'S WAR

138. French Fortification. For thirty years after the treaty of Utrecht there was no fighting between the French and English in America. The French spent this time in build

ing a chain of forts which should enable them to hold the Mississippi valley and New France against the English. These forts stretched from the mouth of the Mississippi to Detroit and thence along the lakes to Lake Champlain and

Montreal.

The French were also anxious to reconquer the territory lost by the treaty of Utrecht; so they built and fortified at great expense a point on Cape Breton called Louisburg.

139. War Declared.-In 1744 war again broke out between France and England. This was known in the colonies as "King George's War," and gave the English colonists an opportunity to attempt the capture of Louisburg, which was now the strongest French fort in America except Quebec, and which threatened the English possessions in Nova Scotia. This was accomplished by a colonial force, four thousand strong, under General Pepperel of Maine, assisted by four British warships.

140. Treaty. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) brought peace after four years, though it was but a short time until the two combatants were again active. The stronghold of Louisburg was returned to the French, in exchange for the military post of Madras in Hindustan; a piece of war politics which greatly incensed the colonists, who had been at such expense to capture that stronghold. The king, however, paid back the money they had expended.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

141. Parties and Causes.-Two powerful combinations strove for the mastery on the continent of Europe from 1756 to 1763, England and Prussia being pitted against France and Austria. The colonists would no doubt have been drawn into it sooner or later in defence of their respective sovereigns, but there were special reasons why they became involved some two years before actual hostilities began in Europe. As stated before, the French claimed the St. Lawrence valley, the country about the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, by right of discovery and exploration. The English claimed the country from "sea to sea" by right of the Cabot discovery. By the middle of the eighteenth century these conflicting claims began to cause much discord, especially in the Ohio valley. The king of England, desirous to sccure the region from French control, offered a tract of immense extent to anyone who would settle one hundred families upon it. This led to the formation of the Ohio Company, which at once sent out surveyors. These movements roused the French. Prior to this they had sunk their metal plates bearing the insignia of France all along the valley. Already one line of forts extended from Chicago down the Illinois river to the Mississippi; a second reached from Detroit along the valley of the Wabash

PART OF ONE OF THE METAL PLATES

to the Ohio. The French now began military occupation of the valley and in addition to strengthening the forts already built, established a third line from Lake Erie down the course of the Allegheny river to the present site of Pittsburgh.

142. Washington in Virginia's Service. This action called for war, or a disavowal. Virginia had always claimed the territory by the reading of her charter, "west and northwest," and now took the initiative. George Washington was at this time adjutant-general of the Virginia militia. He was only twenty-one years of age, but had shown even thus early the qualities which afterward made him the great champion of his country's rights. He was commissioned to proceed to the nearest French fort and make formal demand for the withdrawal of the French troops from all that region. With seven companions, Washington accomplished this mission creditably, traveling over five hundred miles through a dense wilderness and returning in the dead of winter. He advised the immediate building of a fort at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, and the governor sent a company of men to carry out this idea, Washington following with a military force sufficient to hold the fort when constructed. But the French had determined on fortifying this same point. They accordingly pushed rapidly south, and driving off the English vanguard before Washington could arrive, threw up fortifications which they called Fort Duquesne, and with that as a base advanced to meet the English. The death of his superior on the march from Virginia put Washington in full command of the expedition. In true Indian fashion he pushed rapidly to the front, ambuscaded the advance party of French, and drove them back with loss. He then selected a position and threw up rude fortifications which he called Fort Necessity. Here he was attacked by a combined force of French and Indians, who so outnumbered him that he was forced to capitulate.

143. The Albany Convention. While Washington was thus engaged in the effort to uphold English supremacy, there met at Albany a body of delegates from all the colonies north of Virginia. This was the famous Albany convention, called at the suggestion of the Lords of Trade in London, for the purpose of treaty with the Iroquois. While it was in session Benjamin Franklin proposed, and the convention adopted, his "plan for colonial union"-an action which marked a great forward step in the march toward a republic. This plan provided for a president-general, and a council of delegates from each colony, who should have control over Indian affairs, and have power to raise and equip armies and raise taxes to pay for the same. This plan was submitted to the colonies and to the king, but was rejected by each for the same reason-it gave too much power to the other party. It was at this time that Franklin's account of the battle of Fort Necessity appeared in his newspaper, published in Philadelphia, headed by the illustration of a broken snake, under which was the legend, "Join or die.”

144. Proposed Outline of Attack.-The topography of the country and the situation of the French military posts clearly indicated three points of attack,-Fort Duquesne and north to the lakes; Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, thence to Quebec; Acadia and Louisburg on the northern coast. These points were persistently attacked until each in turn yielded.

145. Defeat of Braddock.-After Washington's misfortune at Fort Necessity, preparations were immediately begun for another expedition to the Ohio valley. The king sent over a body of regulars under General Braddock, and early in 1755 he marched on Fort Duquesne with an army of two thousand two hundred men. Braddock was brave but conceited, and densely ignorant of frontier warfare. He declined the advice of Washington, or any of the colonial officers, and marched leisurely through the forest as if on a holiday excursion. French snies reported this, and though greatly infe