e of the British provinces,
from the St. Lawrence to the Ohio river, and thence to the
Mississippi.[225]

The only means at the command of Great Britain to counteract and defeat
these designs of France to extinguish the English colonies in America
was to prevent them from carrying men, cannon, and other munitions of
war hither, by capturing their ships thus laden and employed; but the
French Government thought that the British Government would not proceed
to such extremities, for fear that the former would make war upon the
German possessions of the latter, the King of England being the Elector
of Hanover. Besides, the proceedings of the French in America were
remote and concealed under various pretexts; the French Government could
oppose a general denial to the complaints made as to its encroachments
on British territory and settlements in the distant wilderness of
America; while any attack by England upon French ships at sea would be
known at once to all Europe, and excite prejudice against England for
such an act in time of peace against a neighbouring nation. The designs
and dishonesty of the French Government in these proceedings are thus
stated by Rapin:

"Though the French in all their seaports were making the greatest
preparations for supporting their encroachments in America, yet the
strongest assurances came to England from that Ministry that no such
preparations were making, and that no hostility was intended by France
against Great Britain or her dependencies. These assurances were
generally communicated to the British Ministry by the Duke of Mirepoix,
the French Ambassador to London, who was himself so far imposed upon
that he believed them to be sincere, and did all in his power to prevent
a rupture between the two nations. The preparations, however, were so
notorious that they could be no longer concealed, and Mirepoix was
upbraided at St. James's with being insincere, and the proofs of his
Court's double-dealing were laid before him. He appeared to be struck
with them; and complaining bitterly of his being imposed upon, he went
in person over to France, where he reproached the Ministry for having
made him their tool. They referred him to their King, who ordered him to
return to England with fresh assurances of friendship; but he had
scarcely delivered them when undoubted intelligence came that a French
fleet from Brest and Rochefort was ready to sail, with a great number of
land forces on board. The Fr