[271] The Five Nations were sometimes called the Six Nations after being joined by the Tuscaroras. [272] O'Callaghan, _Doc. Hist. of New York_, vol. i. p. 447. [273] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, vol. ii. p. 54. [274] See p. 266. [275] Mitchell, _Contest in America_, p. 22. [276] Lucas, _Hist. Geo. of Brit. Colonies, Canada_, part i. p. 198. [277] _Belknap_, vol. ii. p. 160. [278] Samuel Curwen, _Journal and Letters_, p. 13. [279] Doyle, _The Colonies under the House of Hanover_ (1907), p. 532. [280] Doyle, _The Colonies under the House of Hanover_ (1907), p. 534. CHAPTER XII THE CLIMAX: THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND FRENCH COLONISTS "If we can remove the turbulent Gallics the seat of Empire might be transferred to America."[281] Such were the characteristically pompous words of John Adams, which nevertheless contained something of the spirit that animated a few of the thinking colonists in their final struggle with the power of France. The Conquest of Canada liberated the settlers of the Thirteen Colonies from a state of continuous and watchful alarm; but it also increased their attitude of resistance to interference on the part of England, and was an undoubted cause of the American War of Independence. The actual conquest was, however, due to British commanders, and more than half the troops employed consisted of British regulars. It is not intended to belittle the work of the colonials, for without them many of the stirring scenes which took place between 1750 and 1763 could never have been enacted; but without the discipline and experience of English leaders the great task could never have been accomplished, because of the hopeless internal jealousies of these quarrelsome communities. In the last chapter it has been shown that the burden of the war with the French fell upon the New England group, and in the period now under discussion the men of Massachusetts also played an active part; but, whereas the rapine and murder had been confined to the northern border, the stress of warfare now fell upon the western frontiers of the more southern States, and New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia were called upon to take a serious share in the great struggle. It had long been seen that these provinces as they grew in size must necessarily extend their borders, and the men from Pennsylvania and Virginia must come into hostile contact with the Canadian backwoodsmen who had pushed into the valley of the Ohio.