George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 4, 15th edition.

[97] to the shrewd and able Dinwiddie, the lieutenant-

chap. IV.} 1752.

governor of Virginia, a belt of wampum, the scalp of a French Indian, and a feathered pipe, with letters from the dwellers on the Maumee and on the Wabash. ‘Our good brothers of Virginia,’ said the former, ‘we must look upon ourselves as lost, if our brothers, the English, do not stand by us and give us arms.’¹ ‘Eldest brother,’ pleaded the Picts and Windaws, ‘this string of wampum assures you, that the French king's servants have spilled our blood, and eaten the flesh of three of our men. Look upon us, and pity us, for we are in great distress, Our chiefs have taken up the hatchet of war. We have killed and eaten ten of the French and two of their negroes. We are your brothers; and do not think this is from our mouth only; it is from our very hearts.’² Thus they solicited protection and revenge.

In December, 1752, Dinwiddie made an elaborate report to the Board of Trade, and asked specific instructions to regulate his conduct in resisting the French. The possession of the Ohio valley he foresaw would fall to the Americans, from their numbers and the gradual extension of their settlements, for whose security he recommended a barrier of Western forts; and, urging the great advantage of cultivating an alliance with the Miamis, he offered to cross the mountains, and deliver a present to them in person, in their own remote dwelling-places.

The aged and undiscerning German prince who still sat on the British throne, methodically narrow, swayed by his mistress more than by his minister,