at his arrival and appointment, and the readiness with which they would execute his commands, was presented to him; and a very comprehensive statement of the situation of the colony in a military point of view, and of the regiment in particular, was drawn up and submitted to him by Colonel Washington. In this he enumerated the errors which had prevented the completion of his regiment; shewed the insufficiency of the militia, and demonstrated the superiority of an offensive over the defensive system which had been pursued. After stating the particular situation of the forts, he proceeded"It will evidently appear from the whole tenor of my conduct, but more especially from my reiterated representations, how strongly I have urged the Governor and Assembly to pursue different measures, and laboured to convince them, by all the reasoning I was capable of offering, of the impossibility of covering so extensive a frontier from Indian excursions, without more force than Virginia can maintain. I have endeavoured to demonstrate that it would require fewer men to remove the cause, than to prevent the effects while the cause exists."

Proceeding then to state the services of his regiment, he added, that under the disadvantageous restraints which had been enumerated, he must be permitted to observe, that the regiment had not been inactive. "On the contrary," he said, "it has performed a vast deal of work, and has been

VOL II.

F

very

very alert in defending the people; which will appear by observing that, notwithstanding we are more contiguous to the French and their Indian allies, and more exposed to their frequent incursions, than any of the neighbouring colonies, we have not lost half the inhabitants which others have done, but considerably more soldiers in their defence. For in the course of this campaign (since March I mean, as we have had but one constant campaign, one continued scene of action since we first entered the service) our troops have been engaged in upwards of twenty skirmishes, and we have had near one hundred men killed and wounded."

After condemning the ill-judged economy shewn in raising men, he proceeded thus to describe the pre. vailing temper of the day, a temper by no means peculiar to that particular era. "We are eitherinsensible of danger till it breaks upon our heads, or else, through mistaken notions of economy, evade the expence till the blow is struck, and then run into an extreme of raising militia. These, after an age, as it were, is spent in assembling them, come up, make a noise for a time, oppress the inhabitants, and then return, leaving the frontiers unguarded as before. This is still our reliance, notwithstanding former experience convinces us, if reason did not, that the French and Indians are watching the opportunity when we shall be lulled into fatal security, and unprepared to resist an attack to invade thé country, and by ravaging one part terrify another; that they retreat when our

militia

militia assemble, and repeat the stroke as soon as they are dispersed; that they send down parties in the intermediate time to discover our motions, procure intelligence, and sometimes divert the troops. Such an invasion we may expect in March, if measures to prevent it are neglected as they hitherto have been.

This statement was probably presented by Colonel Washington in person, who was permitted during the winter to visit Lord Loudoun in Philadelphia; where that nobleman met the Governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, and the Lieutenant-governor of Virginia, in order to consult with them on the measures to be taken in their respective provinces for the ensuing campaign. He was, however, disappointed inhis favourite hope of being enabled to act offensively against the French on the Ohio. Lord Loudoun had determined to direct all his efforts against the enemy in the northern parts of the continent, and to leave in aid of the middle and southern colonies only twelve hundred men. Instead of receiving assistance, Virginia was required to send four hundred men to the aid of South Carolina: yet Colonel Washington continued indefatigable in his endeavours to impress on Mr. Dinwiddie, and on the Assembly, the importance of revising and properly modifying their military code, which had now expired, of making a more efficient militia law, and of increasing their number of regular troops.

So far from succeeding on the last subject, he had the mortification to witness a measure which completely crushed his hopes of an efficient regular force. Being unable to complete the regiment according to its late establishment by voluntary enlistment, the Assembly changed its organization, and reduced it to ten companies, each to consist of one hundred men: yet his anxious wishes continued to be directed towards Fort du Quesne, which he very justly considered as the source from whence had flowed all the miseries with which his distressed country had been deluged. He still laboured to impress on the officer commanding the British troops, opinions he deemed so essential to the proper conduct of the war, as well as the safety of his own country. In a letter written about this time to Colonel Stanwix, who commanded in the middle colonies, he says: "You will excuse me, Sir, for saying that I think there never was, and perhaps never again will be, so favourable an opportunity as the present for reducing Fort du Quesne. Several prisoners have made their escape from the Ohio this spring, and agree in their accounts that there are but three hundred men left in the garrison; and I do not conceive that the French are so strong in Canada as to reinforce this place, and defend themselves at home this campaign. Surely then this is too precious an opportunity to be lost."

But Mr. Pitt, although minister from November 1756 to April 1757, did not yet direct the councils

of

of Britain, and the spirit of enterprise and heroism had not yet animated her generals. The campaign to the north was inglorious, and to the westward nothing was even attempted which might relieve the middle colonies.

The pressure on Canada did not equal the hopes which had been entertained on that subject, and consequently its effects were not such as to prevent the French from reinforcing their forts on the Ohio. Some prisoners, taken in a skirmish on Turtle Creek, gave the information that the garrison of Fort du Quesne now consisted of six hundred French and three hundred Indians.

Large bodies of savages, independent of the garrison, were in the service of France, and in the course of this campaign once more spread desolation and murder over the whole country west of the Blue Ridge. The utmost possible exertions were made by the Virginia regiment to protect the inhabitants, but it was impossible. The force was inadequate to the object; and it became every day more and more apparent, that this defensive mode of conducting the war, by covering an' immense frontier with a small scattered regular force and occasional aid from the militia, was most injudiciously chosen. Vast numbers of the people were killed, and the parties sent out to fight the enemy were often overpowered. "I exert every means," says Colonel Washington to Governor Dinwiddie, " to protect a "to much distressed country; but it is a task too ardu