barous Treatment of
Prisoners.

The closing years of the seventeenth century witnessed the beginning of
the struggle between France and England for empire in North America.
Marquette, Joliet and La Salle won for France by daring exploration a
nominal title to the Mississippi Valley, and La Salle assumed possession
of the great river and its country in the name of Louis XIV., after whom
he called the region Louisiana. It was a vast dominion indeed that was
thus claimed for the House of Bourbon without a settlement and with
hardly an outpost to make any real show of sovereignty. Even had the
expulsion of James II. from the English throne not hastened an outbreak
between England and France, the conflict would have been inevitable. The
war began in 1689, and with intervals of peace and sometimes in spite of
peace the contest continued, until 1763, with varying fortunes, but
ultimately resulting in the complete overthrow of the French. The
Iroquois stood firmly by the English, while the French and their Indian
allies repeated the scenes of King Philip's War on the frontiers, and
often far in the interior of New York and New England. The people of the
British colonies did not look only to Great Britain for defence. They
defended themselves, and even carried war into the enemy's country. In
1690, two thousand Massachusetts militia, led by Sir William Phipps,
sailed up the St. Lawrence and laid siege to Quebec, while another force,
composed of New York and Connecticut troops, advanced from Albany upon
Montreal. These expeditions were unsuccessful. In 1693, Count Frontenac,
Governor of Canada, invaded the country of the Iroquois and inflicted
crushing blows upon that once powerful confederacy, whose prowess had
been felt before the arrival of the white man, as far as Tennessee in the
South and Illinois in the West. Notwithstanding the able generalship of
Frontenac the English made steady progress in the annexation of French
territory. British and colonial troops conquered Nova Scotia, and the
treaty of Utrecht in 1713 recognized England as the owner, not only of
Nova Scotia, but also of Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay region. The
French, however, strengthened their hold upon the interior of the
continent, and established a series of fortified posts connecting the
Mississippi Valley with the Great Lakes. Kaskaskia was founded in 1695,
Cahokia in 1700, Detroit 1701 and Vincennes 1705. Bienville founded the
city of New Orleans in