Governor Morris had written off to England stating the exceeding
difficulty of his position. His appeals to the Assembly to defend
the colony were spirited and manly. He was anxious to join with the
other colonies for an organized and united resistance, but this was
at present extremely difficult. Others before him had tried the
same policy, but it had ended in failure. Petty jealousies did more
to hold the colonies apart than a common peril to bind them
together. Political and religious strife was always arising. There
was nothing to bind them together save a common, though rather
cold, allegiance to the English King. Now and again, in moments of
imminent peril, they had united for a common object; but they fell
apart almost at once. Each had its own pet quarrel with its
Governor, which was far more interesting to the people at the
moment than anything else.

Julian and Fritz listened in amaze as Ashley, who was a
well-informed man and a shrewd observer, put before them, as well
as he was able, the state of affairs reigning in Pennsylvania and
the sister states.

"I am often ashamed of our policy, of our bickerings, of our
tardiness," concluded the good man; "yet for all that there is
stuff of the right sort in our people. We have English blood in our
veins, and I always maintain that England is bound to be the
dominant power in these lands of the west. Let them but send us
good leaders and generals from the old country, and I will answer
for it that the rising generation of New England will fight and
will conquer, and drive the encroaching French back whence they
came!"