decent pretext for retreat.

The governor informed them that he had just received a letter from the
proprietors, as Penn's heirs were called, giving to the province five
thousand pounds to aid in its defence, on condition that the money
should be accepted as a free gift, and not as their proportion of any
tax that was or might be laid by the Assembly.

Thereupon, the Assembly struck out the clause taxing the proprietory
estates, and the governor signed the bill. A small force was then
raised, which enabled the Indians to be to some extent kept in check;
but there was no safety for the unhappy settlers in the west of
Pennsylvania during the next three years, while the French from
Montreal were hounding on their savage allies, by gifts and rewards, to
deeds of massacre and bloodshed.

The northern colonies had shown a better spirit. Massachusetts, which
had always been the foremost of the northern colonies in resisting
French and Indian aggression, had at once taken the lead in preparation
for war. No less than 4500 men, being one in eight of her adult males,
volunteered to fight the French, and enlisted for the various
expeditions, some in the pay of the province, some in that of the king.
Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, himself a colonist, was
requested by his Assembly to nominate the commander. He did not choose
an officer of that province, as this would have excited the jealousy of
the others, but nominated William Johnson of New York--a choice which
not only pleased that important province, but had great influence in
securing the alliance of the Indians of the Five Nations, among whom
Johnson, who had held the post of Indian commissioner, was extremely
popular.

Connecticut voted 1200 men, New Hampshire 500, Rhode Island 400, and
New York 800, all at their own charge. Johnson, before assuming the
command, invited the warriors of the Five Nations to assemble in
council. Eleven hundred Indian warriors answered the invitation, and
after four days' speech making agreed to join. Only 300 of them,
however, took the field, for so many of their friends and relatives
were fighting for the French, that the rest, when they sobered down
after the excitement of the council, returned to their homes.

The object of the expedition was the attack of Crown Point--an
important military post on Lake Champlain--and the colonists assembled
near Albany; but there were great delays. The five colonial assemblies
controlled thei