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CHAPTER XIX.

HEN the French found themselves in Louisburg once more, they began seriously to think of securing themselves in such a way that they could not be driven out by the English. The plan to do this, they thought, was to send officers to all parts of the country where the English had not settled, to dig holes in the ground and bury leaden plates with the French arms engraven thereon, and to nail some of the same plates on the trees. The meaning of these plates, buried and nailed up, was that the King of France was the rightful sovereign of the country where they were. So they buried plates all through the west, and along the Ohio and Illinois rivers.

In this way, the King of France came to claim a great deal more land in America than the English did. He had a fort, as you know, at the seaward point of Cape Breton; others were scattered along the St. Lawrence, at Quebec, Montreal, and Frontenac (which is now Kingston); he had others at Niagara, on Lake Erie, at Detroit, and at Michilimackinac. The Governor of Canada had built a fort quite recently at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. Along the Ohio and Illinois rivers, besides the plates I have mentioned, the French had trading houses and forts. On the Mississippi, New Orleans had already been founded by French settlers, and

other forts or trading posts stretched up the river to Natchez and beyond. Wherever the French had the least little bit of a fort or a trading post they claimed the country far and wide for miles around. And thus, as you will see on looking at the map, the dominions of the French king were like a monstrous bow, of which the English colonies along the shore of the ocean were the string.

There were ten times as many people in the English as in the French settlements; but the French were very fond of fighting, very jealous of the English, and very anxious to be masters of the whole continent.

One of their governors wrote to the French king to say that he would be obliged to conquer New York. Not that he liked the idea of butchering so many people, or that he thought he had any right to the country; but he could not help it. He was very sorry, but he would be obliged to do it.

While this virtuous man was making up his mind to put an end to the English in this way, a number of English traders started to plant a new colony on the borders of the Ohio.

The French sent them word they could not stay there, that being the territory of the French king. But the people of Virginia said, on the contrary, that the territory was theirs, and they would not give it up.

When the French sent a party of soldiers, took the English prisoners, and carried them to their fort on Lake Erie-the place where that very quiet and orderly little town-Erie-now stands.

Virginia was much enraged when the news came, and the Governor, ROBERT DINWIDDIE, sent a message to the French that the prisoners must be surrendered. To be the bearer of this message he chose a young man of twenty-one years of age, who was a surveyor by trade, and was already known by his great bravery and judgment. His name was GEORGE WA

ASHINGTON.

He set out on foot with a guide to walk through the woods to the nearest French fort on a river flowing into the Ohio. It was a long and perilous journey; not less than four hundred miles through the bush, and among Indians who were quite ready to kill any white man for the sake of robbing him.

Once, as Washington was plodding through the woods, an Indian fired at him from behind a tree, and the ball just grazed his body. The guide sprang forward and was going to kill the savage; but Washington spared his life, and took him prisoner.

When he reached the French fort, and delivered his message, the French officer said he would not give up the prisoners; his orders were to take any Englishman found in those parts. So Washington returned home, and the colonies saw there was nothing for it but to fight it out.

A regiment was raised in Virginia, and marched toward the Ohio, where the French were attacking the English whenever they showed themselves, and persecuting the Indians likewise.

On the evening of the twenty-seventh of May, an Indian ran in haste to Washington, who was Colonel of the Virginia regiment, and told him the French

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were quite close. It was raining in torrents; but
Washington set out to find them. He came upon
them so suddenly that they had hardly time to seize
their arms. Washington cried: "Fire!" and fired
his own gun.
In ten minutes the French were
defeated, their commander killed, and many taken
prisoners. This battle was called the battle of the
Great Meadows.

Washington then sent messengers home asking for reinforcements to enable him to hold the fort. He knew the French would soon attack him again; and day after day he looked out wistfully for the succor he had prayed for. But it did not come. A few men from North Carolina came, but they were not of much use, and their officer, who took the command from Washington, knew very little about his business. In a short while the French advanced, as Washington had expected, in overwhelming numbers.

The Virginians fought desperately for nine hours; but the French general proposing a parley, it was accepted, and Washington marched out of the fort with the honors of war.

About the same time a meeting of delegates from all the northern colonies took place at Albany, in order to consult together about their defense. One of the delegates from Pennsylvania was Benjamin Franklin-the poor printer's apprentice, now a ripe man, much esteemed and loved in Pennsylvania,

Franklin proposed a plan of union for the colonies, under one Governor, who should live at Philadelphia. Being a very wise and cautious man, he proposed

that power should be divided between the King and the people; which would have been the best thing that could have been done, if the King was to have any power at all. But the other colonies, Massachusetts especially, would not agree to giving the King the power to tax the colonies. The King, on the

other hand, when he heard of it, would not agree to giving the colonies any powers at all. So Franklin's plan was dropped for the present: you know when and how it was taken up again, and how much the King gained by rejecting it.

On this, the King resolved to send soldiers to America to fight the French. He chose GENERAL BRADDOCK, a very brave man, but conceited and headstrong, to be their leader. When he arrived in Virginia, he met several of the governors of the colonies, and asked them why they had not taxed the people to raise money for the war. The governors, who had all of them tried it and failed, replied that the Assemblies would not vote any.

"Then why don't you make them?" cried Braddock.

To which the governors made answer, that if he knew what a stubborn set of people the colonists were, and how unflinchingly they stood out for their rights, he would not talk about making them do any thing against their will. And I do think the governors were right this time.

Braddock was eager for the fight, and made quite sure of victory. He said he would take Fort Duquesne on the fork of the Monongahela and Ohio rivers; then he would march to Niagara, and take