requently departed from asserted principles to secure achievements
which redounded to the honor of the nation. During the thirty years in
which Pitt exercised the magic spell of his eloquence and power over the
English Parliament, the stakes for which he contended against the world
were no less than the dominion of North America and of India. In the
pursuit of these policies he fought Spain and subdued her armies. He
subsidized the king of Prussia to his interests. He destroyed the navy
of France and wrested from her the larger part of her possessions beyond
sea. Having always a clear conception of the remotest aim of national
aspiration, he was content to leave the designing of operations in
detail to the humbler servants of the government, reserving to himself
the mighty concentration of his powers upon the general purpose for
which the nation was striving. The king trusted him, the Commons obeyed
him, the people adored him and called him the Great Commoner. He was
wise, brave, sincere, tolerant, and humane; and no man could more
deserve the honor of having named for him a city which was destined to
become rich and famous, keeping his memory in more enduring fame than
bronze or marble.

VII

Pitt's letters inspired the Americans with new hope, and he promised to
send them British troops and to supply their own militia with arms,
ammunition, tents, and provisions at the king's charge. He sent twelve
thousand soldiers from England, which were joined to a Colonial force
aggregating fifty thousand men, the most formidable army yet seen in the
new world. The plan of campaign embraced three expeditions: the first
against Louisburg, in the island of Cape Breton, which was successful;
the second against Ticonderoga, which succeeded after a defeat; and the
third against Fort Duquesne. General Forbes, born at Dunfermline (whence
have come others to Pittsburgh), commanded this expedition, comprising
about seven thousand men. The militia from Virginia, North Carolina, and
Maryland was led by Washington, whose independent spirit led the testy
Scotchman, made irritable by a malady which was soon to cause his death,
to declare that Washington's "behavior about the roads was no ways like
a soldier." But we cannot believe that the young Virginian was moved by
any motive but the public good. On September 12, 1758, Major Grant, a
Highlander, led an advance guard of eight hundred and fifty men to a
point one mile from the fort, which