settlers on the same ground, Lieutenant-Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, sent Washington to the Commander of their forces on the Ohio, to inquire into the reasons of these injurious proceedings. The answer given to him was such as might have been expected: "That it was French territory." A fort was then erected by the Virginians to check the progress of the enemy at the Forks of the Monongahela. This, on the 17th of April, was taken by a force consisting of upwards of six hundred men, and eighteen pieces of cannon, the garrison being permitted to retire. On the 25th of the same month, Colonel Washington, since so well known throughout the civilized world, took a small party who were approaching him, under the command of Captain Digonville; but on the 3rd of July, being surrounded by vastly superior numbers, after a manly resistance from eleven o'clock in the forenoon to eight in the evening, he was obliged to capitulate. Thus were hostilities decidedly commenced on the continent of America, and all the colonies were once more involved in the horrors of war.

Four operations were undertaken at the same

time by the British and provincial forces; of these one was commanded by Colonel Monckton, who had orders to drive the French from their encroachments upon Nova Scotia. The second, more to the south, was directed against Crown Point, under the command of General Johnson. The third, under the conduct of General Shirley, was destined to proceed to Niagara, to secure the forts on that river; and the fourth further southward still, under General Braddock was ordered to reduce Fort Quesné.

The first was successful. The troops were raised in Massachusetts Bay, and acted as a distinct body under their own officers, with a promise of the same pay and treatment in every respect as others in the same service with them. They embarked at Boston on the 20th of May, and arrived at the Basin of Annapolis Royal on. the 25th, whence they sailed on the 1st of June, in a fleet of forty-one vessels, to Chignecto, and anchored about five miles from Fort Lawrence. On the 4th, being joined by about three hundred regulars, with a small train of artillery, they marched for the French fort, Beau Sejour. On the 16th, the enemy sur

rendered, being allowed to march out with the honours of war, and to be transported with their effects to Louisbourg, at the expense of the King of Great Britain, on condition of not bearing arms for six months. The Fort of Gaspareau of necessity surrendered, after that of Beau Sejour, and was allowed the same terms. The name of the latter was changed to Cumberland.

Braddock, who commanded the expedition against Fort du Quesné, suffered a shameful defeat. He was repeatedly warned that the nature of the country, and the warfare he was engaged in, required the utmost caution. He was advised to send forward the provincial troops that served in his army, consisting of independent and ranging companies, to scour the woods, and guard against an ambuscade; but he thought too contemptuously both of the enemy and the colonists, to follow that judicious recommendation. The consequence was, he fell into an ambush when within seven miles of the fort. His army was totally routed, and sixtyfour officers and about one-half of the men were killed or wounded. The provincials were formed

under Colonel Washington, and covered the retreat of the fugitives.

General Johnson, though unable to attempt Crown Point, revived the drooping spirits of the people, by repulsing the Baron Dieskau and a large force, after a hard and well-contested fight. General Shirley, from a variety of causes, was unable to take offensive measures, until the season for action had passed, and the general result of the war so far was both disastrous and discouraging.

The reasons why so little was effected, where so much was confidently expected, are to be sought for in the dissimilar forms of government of twelve provinces, and in the want of some controlling power to establish the quota of men to be furnished by each-the absence of a common treasury, and the right exercised by every province to interfere in the management of their contingents, as to the time of their marching, the objects of their destination, and their supplies. Another great cause of disgust, insubordination, and want of union, arose from the invidious distinction made between the King's troops and the provincials. By an Act

of Parliament, the general or field-officers who served by commission from the King, and a captain and other inferior officers of the British forces, in all duties, took post of the provincial officers of like rank, though their commissions were of older date; and what must have operated most unfavourably in this respect was, that the appointment of officers among the regular troops was extended to Americans so grudgingly, as to make it evident that they were no further rewarded by commissions, than the enlisting of men made it absolutely necessary. This impolicy alienated the feelings of many deserving and well-affected colonists.

The campaign of 1756, from the operations of some or all of these causes, was as unsuccesful as that in 1755. It terminated with the loss of the fort at Owego, and abandonment, after immense toil and expense, of the expedition against Crown Point, the soldiers being ingloriously employed in defensive measures for their own safety. That of the following year, 1757, was still more humiliating, the loss of Fort William Henry, garrisoned by nearly three thousand regular troops, filled the country with