Page:The Rise of American Civilization (Volume 1).djvu/132

 to the frontier to warn the invaders that they were on territory "notoriously known to be the property of the Crown of Great Britain," and he might have added "coveted by the Ohio Land Company recently formed to open up the West."

Thus it happened that the first shot in a war that was to encircle the globe was fired in the wilds of Pennsylvania and the man who was to command the armies of the United States in the struggle for independence heard it echo through the forests. There began a conflict—the Seven Years' War—that spread to Europe, involving England and Prussia on one hand and France, Austria, Spain, and minor powers on the other; that flamed up in India deciding the fate of teeming millions on the other side of the world.

Under the imperial genius of William Pitt, who employed men and treasure without stint in his effort to smash French power on the sea and wreck French empire in three continents, all the energies of England were engaged. Prussia was kept in line under Frederick the Great by princely subsidies; America was fused by the fierce heat of the conflict at her very doors. Though Braddock was defeated in the wilds of Pennsylvania in 1755, Wolfe restored the balance four years later by capturing Quebec and ringing out the doom of French dominion in Canada. When at last peace came formally in 1763, Canada and all the territory east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, passed under the British flag; while the rest went to Spain, whose empire was already weakening at its extremities. With no powerful neighbors now thundering at their gates, the governing classes of the thirteen American colonies were free to try their strength with the governing classes of England.

Indeed, the very war that set the bells of London ringing in acclaim to the news of victories borne on every breeze opened the way for another explosion. When Pitt fell and the end came, sober accountants had to reckon the cost: the public debt of England stood at one hundred and forty millions and new taxes had to be provided to meet the