merous captives who graced the triumph of the British fleet.
When the news of this event reached Paris, the king appointed to the
vacant dignity the Comte de la Galissoniere,[433] an officer of
distinguished merit and ability. The wisdom of this selection was
speedily displayed; the new governor no sooner entered upon the duties
of office than his active zeal found employment in endeavoring to
develop the magnificent resources of his province. He made himself
thoroughly acquainted with the face of the country, the climate,
population, agriculture, and commerce, and then presented an able
statement to the French court of the great importance of the colony, and
a system which, had it been adopted in time, might have secured it
against English aggression.

The Comte de la Galissoniere proposed that M. du Quesne, a skillful
engineer, should be appointed to establish a line of fortifications
through the interior of the country, and, at the same time, urged the
government of France to send out 10,000 peasants to form settlements on
the banks of the great lakes and southern rivers. By these means he
affirmed that the English colonies would be restricted within the narrow
tract lying eastward from the Allegany Mountains, and in time laid open
to invasion and ruin. His advice was, however, disregarded, and the
splendid province of Canada soon passed forever from under the sway of
France.[434]

Under the impression that the expected peace between the mother
countries would render it important to define the boundaries of their
colonial possessions, the active governor of Canada dispatched M. de
Celeron de Bienville, with 300 men, to traverse the vast wilderness
lying from Detroit southeast to the Apalachian Mountains. Assuming this
range as the limit of the British colonies, he directed that leaden
plates, engraved with the arms of France, should be buried at particular
places in the western country, to mark the territories of France, and
that the chief of the expedition should endeavor to secure a promise
from the Indians to exclude for the future all English traders. At the
same time, he gave notice to the governor of Pennsylvania that he was
commanded by the King of France to seize all British merchants found in
those countries, and to confiscate their goods. De Celeron fulfilled his
difficult commission to the best of his powers, but the forms of
possession which he executed excited the jealous apprehension of the
Indians, w