[Footnote 178:  Kennedy, Importance of gaining and preserving the Friendship of the Indians.]

[Footnote 179:  On the Albany plan of union, Franklin’s Works, I. 177.  Shirley thought it “a great strain upon the prerogative of the Crown,” and was for requiring the colonies to raise money and men “without farther consulting them upon any points whatever.” Shirley to Robinson, 24 Dec. 1754.]

Even if some plan of union had been agreed upon, long delay must have followed before its machinery could be set in motion; and meantime there was need of immediate action.  War-parties of Indians from Canada, set on, it was thought, by the Governor, were already burning and murdering among the border settlements of New York and New Hampshire.  In the south Dinwiddie grew more and more alarmed, “for the French are like so many locusts; they are collected in bodies in a most surprising manner; their number now on the Ohio is from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred.”  He writes to Lord Granville that, in his opinion, they aim to conquer the continent, and that “the obstinacy of this stubborn generation” exposes the country “to the merciless rage of a rapacious enemy.”  What vexed him even more than the apathy of the assemblies was the conduct of his brother-governor, Glen of South Carolina, who, apparently piqued at the conspicuous part Dinwiddie was acting, wrote to him in a “very dictatorial style,” found fault with his measures, jested at his activity in writing letters, and even questioned the right of England to lands on the Ohio; till he was moved at last to retort:  “I cannot help observing that your letters and arguments would have been more proper from a French officer than from one of His Majesty’s governors.  My conduct has met with His Majesty’s gracious approbation; and I am sorry it has not received yours.”  Thus discouraged, even in quarters where he had least reason to expect it, he turned all his hopes to the Home Government; again recommended a tax by Act of Parliament, and begged, in repeated letters, for arms, munitions, and two regiments of infantry.[180] His petition was not made in vain.

[Footnote 180:  Dinwiddie Papers; letters to Granville, Albemarle, Halifax, Fox, Holdernesse, Horace Walpole, and Lords of Trade.]

England at this time presented the phenomenon of a prime minister who could not command the respect of his own servants.  A more preposterous figure than the Duke of Newcastle never stood at the head of a great nation.  He had a feverish craving for place and power, joined to a total unfitness for both.  He was an adept in personal politics, and was so busied with the arts of winning and keeping office that he had no leisure, even if he had had ability, for the higher work of government.  He was restless, quick in movement, rapid and confused in speech, lavish of worthless promises, always in a hurry, and at once headlong, timid, and rash.  “A borrowed importance and real insignificance,”