time that the behavior of Braddock, and some other British officers, had caused very unfavorable ideas to be attached to the words—English officer—this gentleman, though only Lieutenant Colonel, was respected wherever he was known. By this date, I expect, he is on the point of embarking, either from Oswego or Niagara, on an expedition against Detroit, a French fortress, built on the western side of the strait, through which the upper lakes pay their constant tribute to Erie. This place is otherwise called Pontchartrain. Should he succeed, he is to advance to St. Sulpice, situate on the strait through which the Lake Michigan discharges its waters into Huron. Thence, if all go smoothly, and summer enough be left, a chain of forts is to be extended to the Mississippi, and all the most important portages and communications between the waters of the Mississippi, and the Lake Michigan, secured quite into Mississippi. Whether this intelligence be authentic, I know not. The plan, however, seems to be good, pleasing at least to myself, as it exactly falls in with my own notion; and, to me it appears practicable, as, without some uncommon disaster, the enemy, there, must submit to our superiority of strength. It is excellently calculated to prevent the augmentation of the French power here, to finish the glorious work of stopping up all the avenues of communication between their northern and southern settlements, and to open a most lucrative trade with nations scarce ever heard of by the American English. And should the armaments, which, your prints tell us, are destined against their settlement of Louisiana, also triumph, Great Britain will then be in possession of what will one day prove a more copious source of wealth than all the Mexican and Peruvian mines.
The honorable and successful issue of the war, will, proba-
