The firing being heard in the camp of Johnson, the repulse of Williams was suspected. A breast-work of felled trees was therefore hastily constructed, and a few cannon mounted, which had just been brought up from Fort Edward; and scarcely had the fugitives reached the camp, when the enemy appeared, who met with so warm a reception from the newly-planted cannon, that the Canadian troops and the Indians soon fled, greatly to the chagrin of Dieskau. Johnson, being early wounded, retired from the fight, and the New Englanders, under their own officers, fought bravely for five hours. It was a terrible day for the French; nearly all their regulars perished, and Dieskau was mortally wounded, though he still refused to retire. Two Canadians, who wished to carry him from the field, were shot dead at his side, and he himself soon after, being found seated on the stump of a tree, was wantonly shot by a renegade Frenchman. A small remnant fled, only to be pursued by a detachment from Fort Edward. Instead of pursuing his advantage, Johnson spent the autumn in erecting a fort on the site of his encampment, called Fort William Henry; and the season being late, dispersed his army to their respective provinces. In the meantime the French were strengthening their position at Crown Point, and fortifying Ticonderoga. These actions are known as the battle of Lake George. Benjamin Franklin having about this time published an account of the rapid increase of population in the United States, the attention of England was turned to the immensely growing power of her colonies. Let us hear the reasoning of the two parties on this subject. “I have found,” said the royal governor, Shirley, who had been appealed to, “that the calculations are right. The number of the inhabitants is doubled every twenty years.” He admitted that the demand for British manufactures and the employment of shipping increased in an equal ratio; also that the sagacity which had been displayed in the plan of union proposed at the late congress at Albany, might justly excite the fear of England, lest the colonists should throw off their dependence on the mother-country and set up a government of their own. But, added he, let it be considered how various are the present constitutions of their respective governments; how much their interests clash, and how opposed their tempers are, and any coalition among them will be found to be impossible. “At all events,” said he, “they could not maintain such an independency without a strong naval force, which it must ever be in the power of Great Britain to prevent. Besides, the 7,000 troops which his Majesty has in America, and the Indians at command, provided the provincial governors do their duty and are maintained independent of the assemblies, may easily prevent any such step being taken.”