for ratification.' Its fate was singular. The Assemblies considering it too aristocratic-giving the royal governor too much power-refused their assent; and the Board of Trade rejected it because it was too democratic. Although a legal union was not consummated, the grand idea of political fraternization then began to bud. It blossomed in the midst of the heat of the Stamp Act excitement eleven years later [1765], and its fruit appeared in the memorable Congress of 1774.

The convention at Albany had just closed its labors, when the Indians commenced murderous depredations upon the New England frontiers [August and September, 1754]; and among the tribes west of the Alleghanies, French emissaries were busy arousing them to engage in a war of extermination against the English. Even in full view of these menaces, some of the colonies were tardy in preparations to avert the evil. Shirley was putting forth energetic efforts in Massachusetts; New York voted twenty-five thousand dollars for military service, and Maryland thirty thousand dollars for the same. The English government sent over fifty thousand dollars for the use of the colonists, and with it a commission to Governor Sharpe of Maryland, appointing him commander-inchief of all the colonial forces. Disputes about military rank and precedence soon ran high between the Virginia regimental officers, and the captains of independent companies. To silence these, Dinwiddie unwisely dispensed with all field officers, and broke the Virginia regiments into separate companies. This arrangement displeased Washington; he resigned his commission, and the year 1754 drew to a close without any efficient preparations for a conflict with the French.❜

year

CAMPAIGN OF 1755.

Yet war had not been declared by the two nations; and for more than a and a half longer the colonies were in conflict, before England and France formally announced hostility to each other. In the mean while the British government, perceiving that a contest, more severe than had yet been seen, must soon take place in America, extended its aid to its colonies. Edward Braddock, an Irish officer of distinction, arrived in Chesapeake Bay, with two regiments of his countrymen, on the 20th of February, 1755. He had been

1 It proposed a general government to be administered by one chief magistrate, to be appointed by the crown, and a council of forty-eight members, chosen by the several legislatures. This council, answering to our Senate, was to have power to declare war, levy troops, raise money, regulate trade, conclude peace, and many other things necessary for the general good. The delegates from Connecticut alone, objected to the plan, because it gave the governor-general veto power, or the right to refuse his signature to laws ordained by the Senate, and thus prevent them becoming stat

utes.

2 The Board of Trade had proposed a plan which contained all the elements of a system for the utter enslavement and dependence of the Americans. They proposed a general government, composed of the governors of the several colonies, and certain select members of the several councils. These were to have power to draw on the British Treasury for money to carry on the impending war: the sum to be reimbursed by taxes imposed upon the colonists by Parliament. The colonists preferred to do their own fighting, and levy their own taxes, independent of Great Britain.

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According to a return made to the Board of Trade at about this time, the population of the colonies amounted to one million four hundred and eighty-five thousand, six hundred and thirty-four. Of these, two hundred and ninety-two thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight were negroes.

appointed commander-in-chief of all the British and provincial forces in America; and at his request, six colonial governors' met in convention at Alexandria, in April following, to assist in making arrangements for a vigorous campaign. Three separate expeditions were planned; one against Fort du Quesne, to be led by Braddock; a second against Niagara and Frontenac (Kingston), to be commanded by Governor Shirley; and a third against Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, under General William Johnson, then an influential resident among the Mohawk nation of the IROQUOIS confederacy. Already a fourth expedition. had been arranged by Shirley and Governor Lawrence of Nova Scotia, designed to drive the French out of that province, and other portions of ancient Acadie.* These extensive arrangements, sanctioned by the imperial government, awakened the most zealous patriotism of all the colonists, and the legislatures of the several provinces, except Pennsylvania and Georgia, voted men and supplies for the impending war. The Quaker Assembly of Pennsylvania was opposed to military movements; the people of Georgia were too poor to contribute.

There was much enthusiasm in New England, and the eastern expedition. first proceeded to action. Three thousand men, under General John Winslow," sailed from Boston on the 20th of May, 1755, and landed at the head of the Bay of Fundy. There they were joined by Colonel Monckton with three hundred British regulars" from the neighboring garrison, and that officer, having official precedence of Winslow, took the command. They captured the forts in possession of the French there, in June, without difficulty, and placed the whole region under martial rule. This was the legitimate result of war. But the cruel sequel deserves universal reprobation. The total destruction of the French settlements was decided upon. Under the plea that the Acadians would aid their French brethren in Canada, the innocent and happy people were seized in their houses, fields, and churches, and conveyed on board the English vessels. Families were broken, never to be united; and to compel the surrender of those who fled to the woods, their starvation was insured by a total destruction of their growing crops. The Acadians were stripped of every thing, and those who were carried away, were scattered among the English colonies, helpless beggars, to die heart-broken in a strange land. In one short month, their paradise had become a desolation, and a happy people were crushed into the dust.

The western expedition, under Braddock, was long delayed on account of difficulties in obtaining provisions and wagons. The patience of the commander was sorely tried, and in moments of petulance he used expressions against the colonists, which they long remembered with bitterness. He finally commenced his march from Will's Creek (Cumberland) on the 10th of June, 1755, with about two thousand men, British and provincials. Anxious to reach Fort du

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Shirley, of Massachusetts; Dinwiddie, of Virginia; Delancey, of New York; Sharpe, of Maryland; Morris, of Pennsylvania; and Dobbs, of North Carolina. Admiral Keppel, commander of the British fleet, was also present. 2 Page 190. Page 25. 4 Page 58. He was a great grandson of Edward Winslow, the third governor of Plymouth. He was a major-general in the Massachusetts militia, but on this occasion held the office of lieutenant-colonel. This term is used to denote soldiers who are attached to the regular army, and as distinguished from volunteers and militia. The latter term applies to the great body of citizens who are liable to do perpetual military duty only in time of war. 7 Note 8, page 170.