Bisbee daily review., 1913-04-08

The matter did not seem urgent to the doubting ministers a. Versailles. "Be on your guard against new under takings," said official letters out of France; private interests are gener- ally at the bottom of them" But Du- quosne knew that 1t was no mere pri- vate interest of fur trader or specu- lator that was at stake now. The ri- valry between the two nations had gone too far to make it possible to draw back. Military ncsts had d. ready been estaousneu Dy the bold energy Of the French at Niagara, the key to the western lakes, and at Grown Point upon Champlain. where lake and river struck straight to- wards the heart of the English trad ing settlements upon the Hudson.
 Accept the Challenge.
 The English, accepting the chal- ienge, had planted themselves at Os- wego, upon the very lake route itself. and had made port there to take the furs that came out of the west, and, though very sluggish in the busi- ness, showed purpose of aggressive movement everywhere that advantage offered. English settlers by the hun Gred were pressing towards the west ern mountains in Pennsylvania, and down into that 'Virginian Already" the sweet valley of the Shenandoah; thrifty Germans, "a few; hardy Scots Irish, a great many-the blood most to be feared and checked It was said that quite three hundred Eng fish traders passed the mountains ev- cry year into the region of the Ohio
 Enierprising gentlemen in Virginia Lawrence and Augustine Washing ton among the rest-has joined infu- ential partners in London in the for nation of an Ohio company for the settlement of the western country and the absorption Of the western trade; had sent out men who knew the re- zion to make interest with the h. dians and fix upon points Of vantage for trading-pOsts and settlements; had already set out upon the business by erecting stoTeh0qscs at Wilrs Creek. n the heart Of the Alleghaaies. and, farther westward sttIl, upon. Bedstone Creek, 9 branch Of the Mouongaheia iteslE
 The French Build a Fort.
 It was high time 10 act; and DU- quesne, having no colonial assembly Co hamper him, acted ysrE promptly Whs1 spring came. 1155r be sent dE teen hundred I.gn into Lake Erie. To Pressure Isle. where a fort or squared logs WAS buiIt, and @ road-cUt through the forests to a little river whose wa ters, when at the fcod. would carry boats direct to the Alleghany and tho great waterway or tHe Ohio itselt
 An English lieutenant at Oswe-o had deSeribed the mullitudious feet of canoes upon Ontario carrying this levy to it's place of landing in the lake beyond, and a yagrant French man had told him plainly what 1t was It was an army of six hundred men. he boosted, going 10 the Ohio. Co cause all the English to quit those parts" It was plain to every Eng fish governor in the colonies who had his eyes open that the French would not stop with planting a fort upon an obscure branch of the Alleghany, but that they would indeed press forward to take possession of the Ohio. drive every English trader forth. draw all the native tribes to their interest by force or favor. and close alike the western lands and the western trade in very, earnest against all the kings subjects.
 Governors See the Danger.
 Governor Dinwiddie was among the first to see the danger and the need for action. as. in truth, was very nat ursi. Tn office and out, his study had been the colonial trade, and he had been merchant and official now long time He was one of the twenty stockholders of the Ohio company, and had come to his goverDorship in Virginia with his eye upon the west ern country. He had but to look about him to perceive that Virginia would very likely be obliged to meet the crisis unaided, if, indeed, he could induce even her to meet it.
 Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylva- mia, also saw how critically affairs stood, it is true, and what ought to be done. His agents had met and acted