Benjamin Franklin [1755 
must be subjected to the British crown, or driven out 
of the country. 
Such settlements may better be made now, than 
fifty years hence; because it is easier to settle our- 
selves, and thereby prevent the French settling there, 
as they seem now to intend, than to remove them 
when strongly settled. 
If these settlements are postponed, then more forts 
and stronger, and more numerous and expensive gar- 
risons, must be established, to secure the country, 
prevent their settling, and secure our present fron- 
tiers; the charge of which may probably exceed the 
charge of the proposed settlements, and the advant- 
age nothing near so great. 
The fort at Oswego should likewise be strength- 
ened, and some armed half-galleys, or other small 
vessels, kept there to cruise on Lake Ontario, as 
proposed by Mr. Pownall in his paper laid before 
the commissioners at the Albany treaty. 
If a fort was also built at Tirondequat on Lake 
Ontario, and a settlement made there near the lake 
side, where the lands are said to be good, much bet- 
ter than at Oswego, the people of such settlements 
would help to defend both forts on any emergency. 
12 Bs