10. Hearing of Washington's failure to capture Fort Duquesne, the Home Government sent out General Braddock with two regiments to take it and any other fort that prevented our colonists from spreading westwards. But both general and soldiers were ignorant of "bush-fighting," and knew little of the Indians and their mode of warfare. The French at Fort Duquesne had armed their Indian allies with firearms, and waited in ambuscade for the approach of the British who were advancing through the adjoining forest. The advanced guard had crossed a little gully and the flat beyond it, and was just crossing a second gully, when a force of about a thousand French and Indians suddenly appeared in front and flank; shots were scarcely exchanged when every enemy disappeared from view; but from behind trees on all sides, and from the two gullies, just deep enough to serve as rifle-pits, a continuous fire poured in upon the crowded British. After three hours' fighting with an invisible foe, the general, wounded and in despair, ordered a retreat. 11. News of this defeat fired the minds of all Englishmen, and all felt that nothing remained but "a fight to a finish" between the two nations for settling their respective claims in America. The "Seven Years' War," which began in 1756, was destined to decide once for all the great questions in dispute between the two rivals in that quarter of the globe. Few wars have had greater results in the history of the world, and none has brought greater triumphs to Britain, but at its opening the fortune of war, as usual, went wofully against us. (5) "THE GREAT COMMONER" AND HIS "MAD GENERAL." 1. At the outset of the _Seven Years' War_ the French scored a great success by the capture of Port Mahon, which was conceded to Britain by the Peace of Utrecht. It was a fortified town of Minorca, with an excellent harbour, and was of great value to our navy, as it enabled our ships to winter and refit in the Mediterranean, instead of having to come to England for that purpose. 2. Admiral Byng had been sent with a fleet to prevent its capture, but judging that the French fleet was superior to his own, both in the number of men and guns, he did not drive home the attack, but thought more of saving his ships than of saving the port. He was summoned home, tried by court-martial, and found guilty of not doing his utmost to defeat the French fleet and relieve the garrison. The unfortunate admiral was, accordingly, shot on board a man-of-war while sitting, blindfolded, in a chair on deck. The nation, by its approval, taught the lesson that an English admiral is expected to think more of destroying the enemy's fleet than of saving his own.