The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-04-15

troll one of the great highways that
led to the main basins of the CONT
nent 1t was imperative they should
be effectually forestalled, and that at
once.
Duquesne Decides to Fight.
The Marquis Duquesne, with his
quick soldier blood, at last took the
decisive step for France. He had
hardly come to his colony, to serve
his royal master as governor upon the
| st. Lawrence, when he determined to
occupy the upper waters of the Ohio,
and block the western passes against
! the English with a line of military
| posts.
The matter did not seem urgent to
| the doubling ministers at 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-
quesne knew that it 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
-~~r hook. Military posts had al
ready been established by the bold
energy of the French at Niagara, the
key to the western lakes, and at
Crown Point upon Champlain, where
lake and river struck straight to-
wards the heart of the English trad
| ing settlements upon the Hudson.
| he
The English, accepting the chal-
lenge, 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 bust
ness, showed purpose of aggressive
movement everywhere that advantage
offered. English settlers by the hun
dred were pressing towards the west
ern mountains in Pennsylvania, and
down into that 'Virginian Already"
the sweet valley of the Shenandoah;
thrifty Germans, few; hardy Scots
Irish, great many-the blood most
to be feared and checked. 1t was
said that quite three hundred Eng
lish traders passed the mountains ev-
cry year into the region of the Ohio
Enterprising gentlemen in Virginia
Lawrence and Augustine Washing
ton among the rest-has joined influ-
entail 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-
! gion to make interest with the In
dams and fix upon points of vantage
for trading-posts and settlements; had
already set out upon the business by
erecting storehouses at Wills Greek,
in the heart Of the Alleghanies, and,
farther westward still, upon Bedstone
Greek, branch of the Monongahela
! iteslf
The French Build Fort.
1t was high time to act; and Du-
quesne, having no colonial assembly,
to hamper him, acted very promptly.
When spring came, 1853, he sent f1f-
teen hundred men into Lake Erie, to
Pressure Isle, where g. fort of squared
| logs was built, and road cut through
the forests to little river whose wa
1 tiers, when at the flood, would carry
boats direct to the Allegheny and the
great waterway of the Ohio itself.
An English lieutenant at Oswego
had described the multitudious fleet
of canoes upon Ontario carrying this
levy to its place Of landing in the
lake beyond, and vagrant French
man had told him plainly what it was.
1t was an army Of six hundred men,
he boasted, going to the Ohio, ito
cause all the English to quit those
parts" 1t was plain to every Eng
fish governor in the colonies who had
his eyes open that the French would
not stop with planting fort upon an
obscure branch of the Allegheny, 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
ural. In Office and out, his study ha6
, 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 governorship il
Virginia with his eye upon the west
ern country. He had but to lool
about him to perceive that Virgins
would very likely be obliged to NEE
the crisis unaided, if, indeed, he could
: induce even her to meet it.
. Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylva
Z MIA, also saw how critically affair.
' stood, it is true, and what ought to bt
+ done. His agents had met and acted
: with the agents of the Ohio company
! already in seeking Indian alliances
and fixing upon points of vantage be
. vond fhp A1leghaniee Rut the Penn