lages of the nation.
Captain Stuart owed his life to the generous intercession of the Little
Carpenter, who ransomed him at the price of all he could command, and
conducted him safe to Holston River, where he found major Lewis advanced
so far with a body of Virginians. The savages, encouraged by their
success at Fort Loudoun, undertook the siege of Ninety-Six, and other
small fortifications; but retired precipitately on the approach of a
body of provincials.

BRITISH INTEREST ESTABLISHED ON THE OHIO.

In the meantime, the British interest and empire were firmly established
on the banks of the Ohio, by the prudence and conduct of major-general
Stanwix, who had passed the winter at Pittsburgh, formerly Du Quesne, and
employed that time in the most effectual manner for the service of his
country. He repaired the old works, established posts of communication
from the Ohio to Monongahela, mounted the bastions that cover the
isthmus with artillery, erected casemates, store-houses, and barracks,
for a numerous garrison, and cultivated with equal diligence and success
the friendship and alliance of the Indians. The happy consequences of
these measures were soon apparent in the production of a considerable
trade between the natives and the merchants of Pittsburgh, and in the
perfect security of about four thousand settlers, who now returned to
the quiet possession of the lands from whence they had been driven by
the enemy on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

THE FRENCH UNDERTAKE THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC.

The incidents of the war were much more important and decisive in the
more northern parts of this great continent. The reader will remember
that brigadier-general Murray was left to command the garrison of
Quebec, amounting to about six thousand men; that a strong squadron of
ships was stationed at Halifax, in Nova-Scotia, under the direction of
lord Colville, an able and experienced officer, who had instructions
to revisit Quebec in the beginning of summer, as soon as the river
St. Laurence should be navigable; and that general Amherst, the
commander-in-chief of the forces in America, wintered in New-York,
that he might be at hand to assemble his troops in the spring, and
re-commence his operations for the entire reduction of Canada. General
Murray neglected no step that could be taken by the most vigilant
officer for maintaining the important conquest of Quebec, and su