the indictments against England placed by Jefferson in the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, but stricken out by the committee in the revision. England declares war on Spain, 1739 The asiento proved the entering wedge for an extensive smuggling trade on the part of English freebooters. Spain's colonial policy had been formulated in the interests of her own merchants and manufacturers, and her colonies were absolutely forbidden to trade with any other country. As a result of these narrow restrictions her West Indian and South American colonists secretly encouraged English smuggling, and the illicit trade grew to enormous proportions. In order to break up this commerce which was seriously interfering with her own trade, the Spanish government resorted to very high-handed proceedings, stopping and searching English ships on the high seas, and frequently resorting to inexcusable outrages. Thus the two countries gradually drifted into a state of war which was formally declared October 19, 1739. Admiral Vernon was dispatched with a strong squadron to the West Indies. In November, 1740, he captured and destroyed Porto Bello on the Isthmus of Panama, but was repulsed before Cartagena, Colombia, a few months later. King 1748 The war between England and Spain was soon overshadowed by the larger European struggle known as the War of the Austrian Succession. News of the declaration of war between England and France War, 1744 in 1744 reached Louisburg two months before it was received in Boston, and the British outposts in Nova Scotia were attacked without warning. When news of these attacks reached Boston, Governor Shirley of Massachusetts at once began making plans for the capture of Louisburg. To this expedition Massachusetts contributed 3300 men, Connecticut 516, and New Hampshire 454. In March, 1745, the expedition left Boston under com mand of William Pepperell, a wealthy merchant, and with the aid of a British fleet captured Louisburg after a siege of six weeks. The news was received at Boston with unbounded enthusiasm and created great rejoicing throughout the other colonies and also in England. Plans were at once outlined for an attack on Quebec and Montreal, and if the British government had shown the energy that it did later under Pitt, the conquest of Canada might have been effected at this time. The government failed to send the promised support and the preparations were diverted by the appearance of a French fleet in American waters. Meanwhile a savage border warfare was in progress along the New England and the New York frontier, in the course of which the Indians led by French officers com- William mitted the usual atrocities. It is unnecessary Johnson to enter into the details of these raids. In the and the Iroquois arts of Indian diplomacy the French were usually superior to the English and they had long been tampering with the Iroquois. But their endeavors in this direction were thwarted by the skill and shrewdness of a young Irishman named William Johnson, who had acquired a large estate in the Mohawk Valley, and whose remarkable influence over the Iroquois stood the English in good stead until the final conquest of Canada. The Treaty The war in Europe and America was brought to a close by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, July, 1748. So far as general results were concerned the contest was a drawn battle. All conquests were restored. of Aix-laThis was a severe blow to the New Englanders Chapelle, 1748 who had shed their blood in taking Louisburg, and indignation against the home government was openly expressed. It was felt that American interests had been sacrificed to the general interests of the British empire. In view of the vast territory covered by the French in America it is always surprising to recall the fact that the population at the middle of the eighteenth century was only about 80,000. The English settlements, on the other The govern- hand, confined largely to the seaboard strip east ment of New of the Alleghanies, had a population of at least France a million and a quarter. New France was divided into two provinces, Canada and Louisiana. The government of each was highly centralized and modeled after that of a French province. In Canada everything was centralized at Quebec and all authority was vested in three autocrats: the governor, the intendant, and the bishop. The governor had charge of both civil and military affairs; the intendant had a general supervision over financial matters and the administration of justice, presided over the council and acted as a check upon the governor by making confidential reports directly to the king; the bishop looked after the interests of the Church, and, through the parish priests, exercised a powerful influence over local matters. The Ohio Company chartered, 1749 France was now firmly intrenched in the St. Lawrence Valley and on the lower Mississippi, and these regions were connected by a long line of forts extending from the Great Lakes to the Ohio and the Mississippi. The final struggle for the control of the continent began in the center on the headwaters of the Ohio River. Fur traders from Virginia and Pennsylvania had long been familiar with this region when, in 1749, the Ohio Company received a charter and a grant of half a million acres along the Ohio River. This company was regarded as a Virginia enterprise. It numbered among its incorporators many prominent Englishmen, as well as several Virginians, among the latter being Washington's two brothers, Lawrence and Augustine. Christopher Gist, a well-known frontiersman, was sent out in 1750 to explore the country as far as the falls of the Ohio (Louisville), and to select the lands for the Company. The Company also constructed a fort at Wills Creek, now Cumberland, Maryland, and, with the aid of Colonel Thomas Cresap and the Indian chief Nemacolin, blazed a trail over the mountains to a point on the Monongahela, sixty miles distant, where they built another fort (1752). This famous trail is known in history variously as Nemacolin's Path, Washington's Road, Braddock's Road, and the Cumberland Pike. The French were stirred by these movements to advance their outposts south of Lake Erie and in 1753 they built Fort Le Bœuf on French Creek, a tributary of the "The Forks Alleghany, and seized the English trading post of the Ohio" of Venango, at the mouth of French Creek. With an English outpost on the Monongahela and a French outpost on the Alleghany it was evident that the junction of these rivers, known as the "Forks of the Ohio," would be the strategic point in the contest. In November, 1753, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia determined to send a messenger to Fort Le Bœuf to warn the French against occupying a region "so notoriously known to be the property of the crown of Great Britain." For this mission he selected Major George Washington, who was then twenty-one years of age and who held the position of adjutant general of the Virginia militia. Guided by Christopher Gist and a small party of attendants, he successfully accomplished the perilous task. The commandant at Fort Le Bœuf received him courteously, but replied that he would await the orders of the governor of Canada. In January, 1754, Captain William Trent, acting in behalf of the Company and under instructions from the governor of Virginia, began the construction of The English a fort at the forks of the Ohio. The governor driven from had intended that Washington should follow the Ohio, shortly with a force to support him, but the Virginia Assembly delayed making the necessary appropriations. Aid from New York and North Carolina had been 1754 promised, but was likewise delayed. Finally on the last day of March, Washington set out with three hundred Virginians. At Wills Creek he met Trent, who had been driven from the Ohio by the French and their Indian allies. Without waiting for reinforcements Washington continued his advance, but after defeating one body of the enemy, he was compelled by a larger force a few days later to take refuge behind a hastily constructed palisade at Great Meadows, and finally to capitulate. He retired to Wills Creek. The French completed the fort at the forks of the Ohio, and named it Fort Duquesne. 1754 In June, 1754, the first colonial congress of any importance met at Albany at the suggestion of the British government The Albany for the purpose of treating with the Iroquois, Congress, who were being tampered with by the French, and for the further purpose of formulating a plan for intercolonial union. There were present representatives from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland; among them were several men of later note, such as Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts, Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island, and William Johnson of New York. The plan of union provided for a president-general appointed by the king and a federal council of representatives from the several colonies, to have special authority over Indian relations, public lands, and military affairs. The scheme was rejected by the colonies and failed to receive the approval of the British government. There was no further attempt at colonial union until the calling of the Continental Congress which adopted the Declaration of Independence. In answer to Governor Dinwiddie's appeals, the British government finally sent General Edwin Braddock to America with two Irish regiments. He arrived at Alexandria in March, 1755, and in April a conference with the governors |