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1. WASHINGTON RAISING THE BRITISH FLAG AT FORT DUQUESNE. (From the painting by J. R. Chapin.)

2. BRADDOCK'S RETREAT. (From the painting by Alonzo Chappel.)

FRANKLIN'S PLAN OF UNION.

the main object of his campaign, it was felt that Washington had done everything possible under the circumstances. He therefore received the public thanks of the Assembly, and more than $1,100 were distributed among the soldiers.*

Meanwhile, the Northern colonies were considering plans for a confederation for mutual defence. In June, 1754, a conference was held at Albany of committees from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the New England colonies, their chief object being to renew the treaty with the Six Nations, whose friendship at this crisis was of grave importance. The Lords of Trade and Plantations had strongly urged such a course upon the colonial governors. But beside this, the colonies decided to combine for mutual protection and defence, and one delegate from each colony was appointed to draw up a plan of union. The plan sketched by Franklin‡ was adopted almost unanimously, the delegates from Connecticut alone dissenting. "It proposed a grand Council of

Journal of Conrad Weiser in Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, vol. vi., p. 150, and the Journal de Villiers, an abstract of which is in N. Y. Col. Docs., vol. x.; Doyle (Colonies under Hanoevr, p. 435 et seq.) follows Parkman.

Bradley, The Fight with France for North America, pp. 69-76.

↑ N. Y. Col. Docs., vol. vi., p. 800. See also Buell, Life of Sir William Johnson, pp. 89–92; Griffis, Sir William Johnson and the Six Nations, p. 127 et seq.; Roberts, New York, vol. i., p. 316.

A synopsis of which is given in Doyle, Colonies under Hanover, pp. 440-441. See also Franklin's Autobiography, ed. by Bigelow, p. 231 et seq.; Weld, p. 206 et seq. See Appendix 1 at the end of the present chapter.

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forty-eight members: seven from Virginia; seven from Massachusetts; six from Pennsylvania; five from Connecticut; four each from New York, Maryland, and the two Carolinas; three from New Jersey; and two each from New Hampshire and Rhode Island; this number of forty-eight to remain fixed; no colony to have more than seven nor less than two members; but the apportionment within those limits to vary with the rates of contribution. This Council was to undertake the defence of the colonies as a general charge, to apportion quotas of men and money, to control the colonial armies, to enact ordinances of general interest, and to provide for the general welfare. It was to have for its head a president-general appointed by the crown, to possess a negative on all acts of the Council, the appointment of all military officers, and the entire management of Indian affairs. Civil officers were to be appointed by the Council, with the consent of the president. Such was the first official suggestion of what grew afterwards to be our present Federal Constitution."*

* Hildreth, History of the United States, vol. ii., p. 443. See also Bigelow, Franklin's Works, vol. ii., pp. 355-375; Sparks, Life and Works of Benjamin Franklin, vol. i., p. 176; vol. iii., pp. 22-55; Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, pp. 134-151; the Proceedings of the Congress at Albany, in N. Y. Col. Docs., vol. vi., pp. 853-892, and in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3d series, vol. v., and also the Representations of English Ministers to the King, N. Y. Col. Docs., vol. vi., pp. 916-920; Franklin's plan in Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, vol. vi., pp. 105-108; Stephen

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FRANKLIN'S PLAN REJECTED; THE WESTERN PURCHASE.

This plan of union, as drawn up, however, met with no favor either from the colonial assemblies or the Board of Trade. In speaking of it a long time afterward, Franklin said: "The Assemblies did not adopt it as they all thought there was too much prerogative in it, and in England it was thought to have too much of the democratic in it. The Board of Trade did not approve it nor recommend it for the approbation of his majesty; but another scheme was formed, supposed to answer the same purpose better, whereby the governors of the provinces, with some members of their respective councils, were to meet and order the raising of troops, building of forts, &c., and to draw on the treasury of Great Britain for the expense, which was afterward to be refunded by an act of Parliament laying a tax on America."* probable that the British were suspicious of colonial union or confederation, since the colonists might learn their strength and endeavor to become independent of the mother

It is also

Hopkins, A True Representation of the Plan
Formed at Albany in 1754, for Uniting all the
British Northern Colonies, in Rhode Island His-
torical Tracts, No. ix.; Winsor, The Mississippi
Basin, pp. 343-351; Everett's article in North
American Review, vol. xxxviii., p. 73 et seq. For

a brief account of colonial confederacies in gen-
eral, see Towle, Analysis of the Constitution, p.
298 et seq. The "Plan of Union" is in Pownall's
Administration of the Colonies, app. iv. (ed. of
1768); Trumbull, History of Connecticut, vol. ii.,
pp. 461-464 (1898). See also the plan proposed
by the British Government in N. Y. Col. Docs.,
vol. vi., pp. 903-906.

* Franklin's Autobiography edited by Weld, pp. 208-209; Bigelow, p. 233.

country. It was therefore thought that, all things considered, it would be best to carry on the war with royal troops and let the colonies furnish such help as they might see fit.

At this conference, John Penn, son of the proprietor, Richard Penn, allowed his greed to imperil the entire proceedings by consummating the "Western Purchase " from the Indians. He deceived the Indians by the use of the compass, which they did not understand, into giving him title to a tract of territory from the Susquehanna to about the present western boundary of Pennsylvania. Thus the Indians were tricked into ceding to the Penns their favorite and jealously guarded hunting grounds

about 7,000,000 acres - for £750. This tract was the home and hunting grounds of the Ohios, the Shawanese, the Lenni-Lenapés, the Nanticokes and the Tuteloes, and when they learned of the deception, they immediately joined the French against the English. English. This act also rendered the rest of the Long House lukewarm and unreliable.

As it was evident now that England and France would go to war, the colonial royal governors applied for a levy of militia, the Northern colonies responding with much zeal, while the Middle and Southern colonies appeared less enthusiastic.* It now became known that a French squadron, under Baron Ludwig August

* See Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, vol. i., pp. 162-169.

EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS.

Dieskau, carrying about 4,000 troops, was preparing to sail from Brest, and Admiral Edward Boscawen was sent to intercept them. He was only partially successful, as the greater part of the ships succeeded in landing their forces in Canada and Louisburg, only one or two of the vessels being captured by the English.* No formal * No formal declaration of war had as yet been made, but the two belligerents continued to harass and annoy each other while they awaited the actual declaration.

Early in the summer of 1755, while Boscawen was engaged in his pursuit of the French fleet, a force of 10,000 men embarked at Boston for the Bay of Fundy, for the purpose of driving out the French who had settled there, under the claim that those settlers were encroaching on the province of Nova Scotia. Colonel Robert Monckton was in command of the colonial troops. In the early part of June, 1755, the forts of Beau Séjour and Gaspereau were captured with little difficulty, while the French abandoned the fort at the mouth of the St. John's River, upon the approach of the English. The French troops gave the English little trouble, but the question which puzzled the English was the disposition to be made of the French colonists, who at that time numbered, according to various statistics, from 12,000 to 15,000.+

*Ibid, vol. i., pp. 181-186.

† Murray (History of British America, vol. ii.,

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These colonists had settled principally in Beau Bassin, the basin of Minas, and on the banks of Annapolis, and although Nova Scotia had now become a British province, they were still French in language, religion, and attachments, and were naturally exposed to temptations which would make them violate the promise of neutrality, which exempted them from bearing arms against France. When Beau Séjour was surrendered, some 300 of the young men were taken in arms, who upon their surrender had made a stipulation that the inhabitants should not be disturbed. This was agreed to by the English, but no sooner had they disarmed the French than they broke the terms of capitulation. Boscawen and others finally decided upon the entire expulsion of the French settlers from the territory, but it was deemed highly inexpedient to send them either to Canada or Cape Breton. It therefore became necessary to dispose of them in some other way. Waiting until the inhabitants had gathered in the harvests, the English, on various pretences, persuaded the Acadians to assemble in their churches, and then surrounded them with troops, at this time giving the people the first indication that they were to be exiled. "Wives separated from their husbands in the confusion of embarking, and children from their parents, were carried off to distant colonies, never

p. 139) estimates the number at 17,000 or 18,000.

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