dmiration and reverence.
The adventures and trials of these zealous priests read like romance;
but their description of natural scenes, of great rivers, mountains
and plains, now familiar to fifteen million of people, attest the
accuracy of their statements and the courage and zeal with which
they pursued their task.

The discovery of Marquette was diligently followed by Chevalier de
la Salle, a knight of fortune, of wonderful endurance, who, after
overcoming incredible difficulties, conducted an expedition by the
way of the lakes and the Mississippi River to its mouth. Thus the
King of France, by the piety and zeal of a priest and the courage
of an adventurer, was able to base his claims to fully half the
continent of North America upon grounds recognized as valid by
European law, namely, the discovery of the St. Lawrence, the
occupation of Canada, and the discovery of the Mississippi from
its source to its mouth. The great body of the continent is drained
by these two rivers. Their discovery and occupation was sufficient
at that time to give to France the right of exclusive possession
of that vast territory, for the title of the Indian tribes was not
considered valid by Christian powers. While the priests of France
were seeking to save the souls of the Indians, the Kings of France
were seeking to rob them of their property.

The French, during this period, erected a line of posts from the
mouth of the Mississippi, by way of the Wabash, Maumee and the
lakes, to Montreal, and finally, in 1733, established a line of
posts from Lake Erie to the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany
Rivers, where Pittsburg now stands, and claimed the whole country
north of the Ohio from its source to its mouth.

And here, for the first time, comes into view the majestic form of
George Washington, then a young man of twenty-two. He was sent by
Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, to visit the several Indian tribes
at the head of the Ohio River and the French forces at Venango.
In the dead of winter he made his trip into the wilderness, and
soon ascertained that it was the fixed purpose of the French
authorities to occupy all the country to the sources of the Ohio,
including a large section of what is now a part of Pennsylvania
and New York. The commander, St. Pierre, declared his purpose of
seizing every Englishman within the Ohio valley. The result of
the expedition of Washington left no choice to the English government,
except