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CHAP. XI. circumstance, governor Shirley had récom1753. mended to the several governors to instruct their commissioners on the subject of union. Ample powers for this object were given to the delegates from Massachussetts, and those of Maryland were instructed to observe what others should propose respecting it. But no direct authority for concerting any system, for calling out and employing the strength of the colonies, was given by any other of the governments.

Plan of union

agreed to in

The congress consisting of delegates from New Hampshire, Massachussetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, with the lieutenant governor and council of New York, met at the place appointed; and having endeavoured to secure the interests of the Five Nations by large presents, a committee, consisting of one member from each colony, was directed to draw and report a plan of union.

The essential principles of the plan* reported convention. and afterwards agreed to on the fourth of July were, that application be made for an act of parliament, to form a grand council, to consist of delegates from the several legislatures, and a president general to be appointed by the crown, with a negative voice. This council was to enact laws of general import, to apportion the quotas of men and money to be raised by each colony; determine the building of

*See Note, No. VIII. at the end of the volume.

forts; regulate the operations of armies; and CHAP. XI. concert all measures for the common protec- 1753. tion and safety.

The delegates from Connecticut alone dissented from this plan. Their sole objection to it was founded on the powers of the president general, who, being an officer appointed by the crown, was deemed by that cautious people, to be invested by the articles of the union with an authority dangerous to their welfare.

For a very different reason the plan was objected to in England also. The colonies had, in several instances, manifested a temper by no means so submissive as was required, and it was apprehended that such a union might be the foundation of a concert of measures, opposing the pretensions of supremacy set up by the mother country.

both in

Great Britain

The plan, therefore, notwithstanding the objected to, pressure of external danger, did not prevail. America and It was not supported in America because it was supposed to place too much power in the hands of the king; and it was rejected in England, because it was supposed to give too much importance to the colonial assemblies, who would be rendered still more formidable by being accustomed to co-operate with each other.

In the place of this confederation, it was proposed by the minister, that the governors, with one or two members of the councils of the respective provinces, should assemble to

CHAP. XI. Consult and resolve on measures necessary for 1753. the common defence, and should draw on the

British treasury for the sums to be expended, which sums should be afterwards raised by a general tax, to be imposed by parliament, on the colonies.

This proposition was entirely subversive of all the opinions which prevailed in America, and the present was deemed an improper time to press it. As no satisfactory plan for calling out the strength of the colonies could be devised, it was determined to carry on the war with British troops, aided by such re-enforcements as the several provincial assemblies would voluntarily afford.

CHAPTER XII.

General Braddock arrives in America....Convention of the
governors, and plan of the campaign resolved on...French.
expelled from Nova Scotia, and the inhabitants trans-
planted....Expedition against fort du Quésne....Battle
of Monongahela....Defeat and death of Braddock.....
Expedition against Crown Point.....Dieskau defeated....
Expedition against Niagara....Frontiers distressed by
incursions of the Indians....Meeting of the governors at
New York....Plan for the campaign of 1756....Command
in America bestowed on lord Loudoun....Montcalm takes
Oswego....All offensive operations abandoned by lord
Loudoun....Small pox breaks out in Albany....Campaign
closed....Campaign of 1757 opened....Admiral Hol-
bourne arrives with a large armament at Halifax, where
he is joined by the earl of Loudoun....Expedition against
Louisbourg relinquished....Lord Loudoun returns to
New York....Fort William Henry taken....Controversy
between lord Loudoun and the assembly of Massa-
chussetts.

THE rich and extensive country between the
Alleghany mountain and the Mississippi being
claimed both by France and England, each
treated the endeavours of the other to take
possession of it, as an invasion of its own do-
minions, which was to be considered as an act
of hostility, and to be repelled by force. Com-
plaints of encroachment, therefore, were reci-
procal; and each charged the other with being
the aggressor.
The establishment of the
post on the Ohio, and the defeat of colonel
Washington at the Little Meadows, were con-

1753.

CHAP. XII. sidered by the British government as the 1753. commencement of war in America. The con

duct observed by the cabinet of Versailles now demonstrated, that the subject contended for must be relinquished or maintained by the sword; and that of London did not hesitate in choosing the latter of these alternatives. The resolution to send a few regiments of British soldiers to America for the purpose of maintaining the claims of their monarch was imme1755. diately taken; and very early in the year general Braddock embarked at Cork, at the head of a very respectable body of troops destined for this service.

General
Braddock
arrives in
America.

Preparations to re-enforce their armies in Canada were, about the same time, making in the ports of France; intelligence of which being received in England, admiral Boscawen was ordered to the American station, for the purpose of intercepting the French fleet before it should enter the gulf of St. Lawrence.

A very active offensive campaign was now meditated in America. One of the first measures adopted by general Braddock, was a convention of the several governors for the Convention purpose of settling the plan of military opera. tions. This was held in Virginia on the 14th the campaign of April, where three expeditions were re

of the

governors

and plan of

resolved on.

solved on.

The first and the most interesting was against

fort du Quesne. This was undertaken by

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