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HISTORY  OF THE

[BOOK III.

terms as were dictated by the conquerors. Hence it was that France, unable to obtain for her Indian allies any favorable stipulations, had been compelled to leave them to contend alone with the colossal power of their enemies. Although exasperated at the ungenerous desertion of the French, and left to contend single-handed with the English provinces, the Indians were not dismayed, but were rather roused to desperation in their determination to resist the advance of the white settlements west of the mountains. They had no reasonable hope that the inordinate pretensions heretofore set up by the British provinces to the Ohio country would be withdrawn or in any wise abated, since their right had been acknowledged by France.

England claimed for her colonies only the right of dominion or jurisdiction; but the Indians could perceive no distinction between the right of jurisdiction and the right of possession. They inferred, correctly judging from the past, that the English intended to dispossess them of the whole country so soon as they could find it convenient to occupy it with their colonial settlements. This belief was strongly confirmed by the fact that British troops were distributed in all the old French posts as far west as Detroit and Green Bay. They also beheld the erection of other strong forts in the very heart of their country. One fort had been built at Bedford, more than two hundred miles west of Philadelphia; another was erected at Ligonier ; another, called Fort Pitt, on the site of the old French Fort Duquesne. The forts at Niagara, Presque Isle, Detroit, St. Joseph's, and Mackinaw were repaired, and garrisoned with British troops.

Other forts were being erected upon the waters of the Susquehanna River, and upon lands claimed by the Indians. Thus the red men saw themselves circumvented by a strong line of forts on the north and east, while those of Bedford, Ligonier, and Pitt threatened the speedy extension of the white settlements into the heart of their country.*

Under these circumstances, the native proprietors and occupants of the country from time immemorial were compelled to choose between the only three alternatives : first, the prospect of being driven to the inhospitable regions north and west of the lakes ; secondly, to negotiate with the English for permission to remain upon their own lands; or, thirdly, to take up

* Doddridge's Notes on Virginia, p. 215.