of high ground, round which the river flowed in the shape of a horse-shoe. It was about ten miles from the sea, and commanded a view of the river to its mouth. This was an advantage, as there was always a danger of the settlement being attacked by the Spaniards from the sea. The town was to be called Savannah, after the river. At the same time Oglethorpe made an alliance with the chief of the Creeks, the most powerful Indian nation in that quarter. On the 1st of February the colonists arrived at Savannah. The people of Carolina assisted them with supplies of food. In May Oglethorpe held a conference with the Creeks, and exchanged presents.

Next year a band of German emigrants came over. They had been driven from Salzburg by a persecuting archbishop. Oglethorpe gave them their choice of land, and they settled about twenty miles north of Savannah. They were well received both by English and Indians, and soon formed a prosperous settlement. In April, 1734, Oglethorpe returned to England, taking with him some of the Creek chiefs. The trustees now began to learn that men who had failed in England were not very likely to succeed in a colony. Accordingly, they sent out some more German Protestants, and a number of Scotch Highlanders. The latter, from their hardihood and warlike habits, were specially fitted for a colony which was likely to have to defend itself by On his return to Georgia, Oglethorpe set to work to colonize the southern frontier. He planted a body of emigrants on an island at the mouth of the Alatamaha, and called the settlement Frederica. This was intended to guard the colony against an attack from the south. The Highlanders were posted on the river sixteen miles inland. Another settlement called Augusta was founded two hundred and thirty miles up the river Savannah to guard the western frontier. Augusta and Frederica were both fortified, and other forts were erected near the mouth of the Alatamaha.

arms.

In 1736, Oglethorpe sent a small band to confer with the Spaniards, then a larger one, and lastly tricked them into the belief that his forces were both large and fully equipped. In 1738 he journeyed amongst the Indians and made treaties with them. In the autumn of this year war between England and Spain broke out. The Spaniards, in December, fell upon the colonial force at Amelia

Island, but retreated after killing two Highlanders. Oglethorpe, at the head of four hundred of his own. men, some of the Georgia militia, and a body of Indians, marched on to St. Augustine. An English fleet supported him, but dreading hurricanes sailed away. The Spaniards were too much for Oglethorpe, and he retreated after some skirmishing.

In the autumn of 1740, England sent out one of the finest fleets that she had ever put on the sea, to act against the Spaniards in the West Indies. There were thirty ships of the line and eighty-five other vessels, with fifteen thousand seamen and a land force of twelve thousand soldiers on board. Unluckily, Admiral Vernon, who commanded the fleet, and General Wentworth, who commanded the land force, could not agree, and nothing was done. In the following July an attack was made on Cuba, but it was an utter failure, and the Spaniards were left free to employ all their forces against the English settlements. Accordingly, early in 1742 they made ready for an invasion. The wisdom of Oglethorpe's arrangements was now seen. The woods, held as they were by Indians friendly to the English, were a sufficient guard on the land side. Thus the Spaniards could make their attack only from the sea. As they could not safely leave a strong place like Frederica in their rear, it was necessary as a first step to take it, and thus it became the key of the country. St. Simon's, the island on which Frederica stood, was about twelve miles long and from two to five miles broad. erica was on the west side facing the mainland, and the only approach to it was a road running for two miles between a forest and a marsh, and so narrow that only two men could go abreast. On every other side Frederica was protected by thick woods. On the 5th of July the Spaniards began by attacking St. Simon's, a fort on the east side of the island. They had a fleet of thirty-six ships, but were beaten off by the batteries, after an engagement which lasted four hours. Oglethorpe, however, doubting whether St. Simon's could be defended, destroyed it, lest it should fall into the enemy's hands, and collected his whole force in Frederica. Two days later his Indian scouts brought news that the Spaniards were two miles from the town. Oglethorpe at once marched out at the head of his light troops, fell upon the Spanish vanguard and routed them, taking two prison

Fred

ers with his own hand. He pursued the Spaniards for about a mile, and then halted till his regular troops had come up. These he posted in the woods, and returned to Frederica to prepare for defence. The Spaniards marched forward and halted within a hundred yards of the main ambush, who opened a heavy fire upon them. In spite of the disgraceful flight of the larger part of the English force, the Spaniards were utterly defeated with a loss of three hundred, besides those who, fled to the woods, and were there killed by the Indians. On the 14th of July a public thanksgiving was celebrated in Georgia for the deliverance of the colony. After this defeat, no further attempt was made by the Spaniards to molest the English settlements. Next year Oglethorpe sailed for England, never to return. In 1752 Georgia became a royal colony.

THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA.

Besides Canada, the French had another colony in North America. This was Louisiana, a fertile tract of land at the mouth of the Mississippi. In 1673, Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, starting from Canada, had penetrated into the countries now forming the states of Wisconsin and Iowa, and had journeyed some way down the Mississippi. A few years later, La Salle, a French fur-trader, descended the Mississippi to the sea. In 1684 he persuaded the French government to found a colony at the mouth of the river. He then explored the whole valley of the Mississippi; but, before he could bring back the report of his discoveries, he was murdered by two of his own followers. The position of this southern French colony threatened the English settlements with not a little danger. If once the French could connect Canada and Louisiana by a continuous range of forts along the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, they would completely surround the English settlements. They would form, as it has been described, a bow, of which the English colonies were the string. Even if these did not annoy the English settlers, they would withhold. them from spreading towards the west. William III. saw the danger of this, and planned a scheme for placing a number of French Protestants on the Mississippi as a check on the French settlements there. This, however, came to nothing. In 1740 the French colonies contained but 52,000 Euro

peans; the English 800,000. The two French colonies were separated by the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi. Between Ohio and Virginia lay dense forests and a range of mountains, the Alleghanies. The French and English both claimed this territory. Before 1749, no regular settlement had been formed by the English beyond the Alleghanies, and the mountains had only been crossed by traders. But in that year a small body of rich men in England, called the Ohio Company, obtained from the king a grant of 600,000 acres of land in the Ohio valley. This soon brought the dispute to an issue.

In 1752 the French governor proceeded to connect Canada and Louisiana by a line of forts. Thereupon Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia, sent a commissioner to warn the French commander that he was trespassing, and to find out the real state of affairs there. For this task he chose George Washington. He was twenty-one years old, of good family, brought up as a land-surveyor. That he stood high in the governor's esteem is shown by his holding a commission as major in the Virginia militia, and being chosen, in spite of his youth, for this difficult service. After a wearisome journey through the wilderness, Washington reached the spot where the Alleghany and Monongahela meet to form the Ohio. These rivers here run in a westerly direction. About ten miles further up, the Monongahela is joined by another river of some size, the Youghiogheny. Besides this, two smaller streams rise in the land between the Alleghany and the Monongahela, and fall one into each river. Thus the fork of land between the two rivers was strongly guarded on every side by water. Its position was in other ways suitable for a fort. Washington was well received by the Indians, who had already met the French. The French they regarded as trespassers, while they do not seem to have suspected the English of being anything more than traders. The French fort lay a hundred and twenty miles beyond the meeting of the streams.

On Washington's arrival the French commander received him with great civility, but he professed to have no power to make terms, and said that any application must be made to the governor of Canada; he himself was only acting under orders, and could not withdraw. On his return Dinwiddie at once called together the assembly and laid the mat

ter before them. Some of them, questioned the English claim to the lands, but at length they voted £10,000 for the encouragement and protection of the settlers in the west. At the same time Dinwiddie wrote to the governors of the other colonies to ask for help. North Carolina alone answered to the call, and voted £12,000.

There were now in the colonies three classes of soldiers. I. There were the militia of each colony. II. There were the colonial regular troops, raised by each colony at its own expense. These, like the militia, were commanded by officers appointed by the governor of the colony. III. There were the king's Americans; regiments raised in the colonies, but commanded by officers commissioned by the king. These last were dependent solely on the crown, and had no connection with any colony in particular. The crown also had the right of appointing superior officers, whose command extended over the first and second, as well as over the third class. It does not seem to have been clearly settled whether the colonial officers took equal rank with the king's officers, and this question gave rise to many disputes and to much inconvenience.

The Virginia force consisted, beside the militia, of six companies of a hundred men each, of which Washington was lieutenant-colonel.

To quicken

their zeal and to get recruits, Dinwiddie promised a grant of two hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio, to be divided among the troops, and to be free of all rent for fifteen years. This also was to serve as a standing military outpost. In April, Washington set out towards the Ohio, with three companies. He sent a small party in advance, who began to build a fort at the meeting of the rivers. The French surrounded this fort, compelled the occupants to retire, and took possession of the place, which they strengthened and called Fort Duquesne. News of this reached Washington when he was about ninety miles off. The French force was believed to be much stronger than his; nevertheless he decided to push on and take up a position on the banks of the Monongahela. Soon after he learned from the Indians that a small force was marching towards him.

On May 27th he set off with forty soldiers and some Indians, and the next day he met the enemy. It is uncertain which side began the engagement. After a short skirmish, the French force, which

numbered about fifty, was defeated; the commander Jumonville and ten others killed, and twenty-two captured. After the fight, Washington, finding that the whole French force would be upon him, entrenched himself at a spot called Great Meadows, some fifty miles from Fort Duquesne. On the 2d of July he was attacked by a force of about seven hundred men. to 8 P.M.

The engagement lasted from 4 A. M. The French then demanded a parley. Washington, finding that he could not hold his ground, surrendered the fort, on condition that he might carry off all his effects except his artillery. He also promised not to occupy that place, or any other beyond the Alleghany Mountains, for a year. Washington and his officers received a vote of thanks from the Virginian assembly.

During this same summer, by the recommendation of the English government, deputies from the different colonies met at Albany, to discuss a general scheme of defence. At the suggestion of Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, they discussed a scheme for an union of all the colonies. The author of this scheme was Benjamin Franklin, a native of Boston, who had emigrated in his youth to Pennsylvania. He was by trade a printer. By his energy and ability he had become one of the most influential men in his own colony. In Philadelphia, he had already introduced many useful improvements, an academy, a public library, a fire brigade, and a board for paving and cleaning the streets. He now proposed that the colonies should apply to parliament for an act uniting them all under one goverment. The separate colonial governments were to remain as before, but there was to be one federal government over them all. There was to be a president appointed by the king, and a board of representatives elected by the people of each colony. The number of representatives from each colony was to be proportionate to its contribution to the general treasury. But this scheme was unpopular both in England and in the colonies. The English government feared that it would make the colonies too strong, while the Americans disliked it as increasing the authority of the crown and interfering with the different colonial assemblies. Thus the scheme fell to the ground.

In 1755 a force under General Braddock was sent out from England to defend the American frontier. The Virginia regiment had been broken up into six