Perhaps it is not too much to say that the war called the attention of the British Government to the colonies. They could not have overlooked such letters as that from Dinwiddie to Pitt on June 18, 1757: "I am convinced if alterations are not made in the present constitutions of the colonies, and have a general mode of government under his Majesty's immediate directions, and a coalition of the whole, it will be impracticable to conduct his Majesty's affairs with that spirit which the present emergency requires."[35] FOOTNOTES: [1] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 99. [2] _Executive journals of the Council_ 5: 385. [3] Dinwiddie to the Lords of Trade, Jan. 22, 1754. [4] Jan. 22, 1754. [5] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 143, 144. [6] CO5-1328, pp. 85, 86. [7] June 16, 1753. [8] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 155. [9] Dinwiddie to Holdernesse, Dec. 29, 1753. [10] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, 1: 100, 101. [11] Dinwiddie to the Board of Trade, Jan. 29, 1754. [12] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, 1: 153. [13] CO5-1367, pp. 94-101. [14] _Ibid._ [15] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed., R. A. Brock, 1: 507. [16] Sept. 23, 1758. [17] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 176. [18] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 176. [19] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, 1: 157. [20] _Ibid._, 328. [21] _Ibid._, 329. [22] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 301. [23] _Ibid._, 315. [24] Board of Trade to Dinwiddie, Feb. 17, 1756. [25] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, II: 341. [26] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 351. [27] _Writings of George Washington_, J. C. Fitzpatrick, ed. 2: 324, 325. [28] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_ 2: 464. [29] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 413. [30] _Ibid._, 448. [31] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: xxviii. [32] Dinwiddie to the Lords of Trade, Sept. 12, 1757. [33] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: xxviii. [34] _Ibid._, 492. [35] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_ 2: 642, 643. CHAPTER XIII THE WIDENING RIFT