burned English settlements in northern New England. At the close of the war, the English Government, to the great disappointment of the New Englanders, good-naturedly gave Louisburg back to France. However, the colonies had been taught an important lesson - that they had among them the best sort of fighting material, and need no longer fear the warlike French.

The French and Indian War, which lasted from 1754 to 1760,1 was the last and greatest of these struggles for the

THE FRENCH FRONTIER IN THE NORTH

control of our continent. It was so important in its results that we shall consider it at some length.

127. French claims. Long before the opening of this war, the King of France was claiming ownership of not only what is now included in Canada, but also the northern half of New England, much of New York and Pennsylvania, and almost all of our continent which lies west of the Allegheny Mountains. This claim was based on the fact that Frenchmen had explored a large part of that vast wilderness of forests, rivers, and lakes, and had planted almost

1 The fighting began in America in 1754, but war was not officially declared by the rulers of the two countries until the next year. The fighting virtually ended in America in 1760, with the surrender of Montreal.

every settlement to be found within it; moreover, nearly all the aborigines, except the Iroquois, welcomed them as warm friends.

128. English counter claims. Nevertheless, the English had from the first declared that they alone owned the land as far westward as the Pacific Ocean, for their King had given it to them in the colonial charters. Thus far, they said, they had not needed the region lying west of the Allegheny Mountains, or the "back country," as it was called; and only their fur traders had as yet ventured into it. But now the time had arrived when the Atlantic slope was filling up, and English frontiersmen wished to occupy the West with farms. Notice was therefore served upon the French to depart from lands lying west of the English colonies. This the French refused to do; whereupon there followed the final contest between France and England, to see who should be masters of the North American continent for now it was clearly seen that both nations could no longer live here in peace, side by side, with such conflicting claims.

129. Rivalry in the Ohio River Valley. The principal French settlements were the towns of Quebec and Montreal, on the St. Lawrence River, and New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi, — places over two thousand miles apart, measured by the usual lake and river routes. They were connected only by a number of small and widely separated fur-trade posts along the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Unless the French could keep control of the Ohio River, which flows through the heart of the Western country, and was the principal waterway thither, their supplies and troops could not pass between Canada and Louisiana. In other words, New France would be cut in two. It was therefore with great alarm that French officials noticed English traders, explorers, and land hunters coming into the Ohio Valley in ever-increasing numbers. The French protested bitterly against this English "invasion," as they called it, and in 1749 sent a small military expedition down the river to warn

the Englishmen to leave the country, which of course they refused to do.1

130. The French ordered off by Virginia. In the very year of this useless French expedition, permission was given to the Ohio Company, of which two of George Washington's brothers were members, to place settlers on a large tract of land along the upper waters of the Ohio River, in country claimed by Virginia. In order to protect these proposed settlers, the company decided to build a fort at what was known as the Forks of the Ohio, where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers unite to form that great stream — the site of the present Pittsburg.

The French were of course alarmed at this project, and resolved themselves to construct a fort at the Forks before the English arrived. In order, however, to have safe communication with Canada, so as to obtain supplies, they first erected several small forts along the Allegheny River, and left till later the building of their fort at the Forks. Learning of this activity on their part Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia wrote a letter ordering them to depart at once from what he declared was English territory.

131. Washington's winter journey. The bearer of this message was Major George Washington, a young surveyor who, although only twenty-one years of age, was adjutantgeneral of the northern division of the Virginia militia. In his many surveying expeditions Washington, a fine-looking man, over six feet tall, had had much experience with Indians and the rude life of the wilderness, and was well known throughout his colony as a clear-headed, fearless officer, with unusual skill in overcoming difficulties.

In November, 1753, Washington and his half-dozen companions, all clad in leather suits, such as frontiersmen then wore, set out on horseback from Virginia. They had a dreary and dangerous winter journey of several weeks, over snow

1 The commander, named Céloron, carried with him a number of small plates of lead, on which was engraved a statement that the country belonged to the French King; these he buried at the mouths of tributary streams. Several of them were afterwards found by American settlers.