ll
enable you to see more clearly those faults of Braddock's character
that so soon after brought ruin on his own head, and disgrace upon
English arms in America.

"In conversation with him one day, he was giving me some
account of his intended progress. 'After taking Fort Duquesne,'
said he, 'I am to proceed to Niagara; and, having taken that,
to Frontenac, if the season will allow; and I suppose it will,
for Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four days: and
then I can see nothing that can obstruct my march to Niagara.'

"Having before revolved in my mind the long line his army must
make in their march by a very narrow road to be cut for them
through the woods and bushes, and also what I had heard of a
former defeat of fifteen hundred French who invaded the
Illinois country, I had conceived some doubts and some fears
for the event of the campaign; but I ventured only to say, 'To
be sure, sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne with these
fine troops, so well provided with artillery, the fort, though
completely fortified and assisted with a very strong garrison,
can probably make but a short resistance. The only danger I
apprehend of obstruction to your march is from the ambuscades
of the Indians, who, by constant practice, are dexterous in
laying and executing them; and the slender line, nearly four
miles long, which your army must make, may expose it to be
attacked by surprise on its flanks, and to be cut like thread
into several pieces, which, from their distance, cannot come up
in time to support one another.' He smiled at my ignorance, and
replied,"'These savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to
raw American militia; but upon the king's regular and
disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make an
impression.'

"I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing with a
military man in matters of his profession, and said no more."

In the course of this interview, Franklin chanced to express a regret
that the army had not been landed in Pennsylvania, where, as every
farmer kept his own wagon and horses, better means would have been
more readily found for transporting the troops, with their heavy guns
and munitions of war, across the country and over the mountains. Quick
to take a hint, Braddock made haste to request him, as a man of
standing