cisive effort took place, in which a complete trial of strength was made, by the naval powers. In this, the law of war decided differently, from the new law of nations, in favour of prior occupants: the sword settled all claims of territory, in such a manner, that the English, who were the last occupiers of a part, became the sole possessors of almost the whole North American continent, to the exclusion of their vanquished rivals, who had a prior possession of its northern and southern extremities.

From the first settlements at James Town and Plymouth, heart burnings and jealousies existed between the aborigines, straitened in their limits, and the new comers, extending themselves in all directions. These afterwards broke out into destructive wars, aiming at extermination. For the last

seventy years, the Indians were tools in the hands of hostile Europeans, for laying waste the defenceless settlements of their respective adversaries. These frequent wars stinted the growth of the colonics, and kept their frontier settlers in habitual fear. Revenge, which is natural to savage breasts, must have been gratified, by seeing and hearing how their invaders were made scourges to each other; and how much blood they shed, in apportioning that territory among themselves, which they had both, in many instances, wrongfully taken from its native proprietors. Such of them, as are acquainted with past transactions, and can reason on them, must be doubly gratified, in tracing the wars of European nations, for the partition of their country, to their termination in the ejection of them all, and the establishment of an American government, friendly to the best interests of the aborigines, by new people, who like themselves are natives of the soil.

CHAPTER III.

The consequences of the war, which ended in the expulsion of the French, from the North American continent, by British conquests. The peace of Paris. The origin of the disputes between Great Britain and her colonies, from 1763, till 1773.

In the course of the war between France and England, which has just been reviewed, some of the colonies made exertions, so far beyond their equitable quota, as to merit a re-imbursement, from the national treasury; but this was not universally the case. In consequence of internal disputes, together with their greater domestic security, the necessary supplies had not been raised, in due time, by others, of the provincial assemblies. That a British minister should depend on colony legislatures, for the execution of his plans, did not well accord with the decisive genius of Mr. Pitt; but it was not prudent, by any innovation, to irritate the colonies during a war, in which, from local circumstances, their exertions were peculiarly beneficial. The advantages, that would result, from an ability to draw forth the resources of the colonies, by the same authority, which commanded the wealth of the mother country, might in these circumstances have suggested the idea of taxing the colonies, by authority of the British parliament. Mr. Pitt is said to have told Dr. Franklin, "that, when the war closed, if he should be in the ministry, he would take measures to prevent the colonies from having a power to refuse or delay the supplies, that might be wanted for national purposes ;" but did not mention what those measures should be. As often as money or men were wanted from the colonies, a requisition was made to their legislatures. These were generally and cheerfully complied with. Their exertions, with a few exceptions, were great, and manifested a serious desire to carry into effect the plans of Great Britain, for reducing the power of France.

In the prosecution of this war, the advantages, which Great Britain derived from the colonies, were severely felt by her enemies. Upwards of four hundered privateers, which were fitted out of the ports of the British colonies, successfully cruised on French property. These not only ravaged the West India islands, belonging to his most Christian majesty, but made many captures on the coast of France. Besides distressing the French nation by privateering, the colonies furnished twenty-three thousand eight hundred men, to co-operate with the British regular forces, in North America. They also sent powerful aids, both in men and provisions, out of their own limits, which facilitated the reduction of Martinique, and of the Havannah. The success of their privateers, the co-operation of their land forces, the convenience of their harbours, and their contiguity to the West India islands, made the colonies great acquisitions to Britain, and formidable adversaries to France. From their growing importance, the latter had much to fear. Their continued union with Great Britain threatened the subversion of the commerce, and American possessions, of France.

After hostilities had raged nearly eight years, a general peace was concluded, on terms, by which France ceded Canada to Great Britain. The Spaniards, having also taken part in the war, were, at the termination of it, induced to relinquish to the same power, both East and West Florida. This peace gave Great Britain possession of an extent of country, equal, in dimensions, to several of the kingdoms of Europe. The possession of Canada in the north, and of Florida in the south, made her almost sole mistress of the North American continent.

This laid a foundation for future greatness, which excited the envy and the fears of Europe. Her navy, her commerce, and her manufactures had greatly increased, when she held but a part of the continent; and when she was bounded by the formidable powers of France and Spain. Her probable future greatness, when without a rival, with a growing vent for her manufactures, and increasing employment for her marine, threatened to destroy that balance of power, which

European sovereigns have for a long time endeavoured to preserve. Kings are republicans with respect to each other; and behold, with democratic jealousy, any one of their order towering above the rest. The aggrandizment of one tends to excite the combination, or at least the wishes of many, to reduce him to the common level. From motives of this kind, the naval superiority of Great Britain was viewed with jealousy, by her neighbours. They were, in general, disposed to favour any convulsion, which promised a diminution of her overgrown power.

The addition to the British empire of new provinces, equal in extent to old kingdoms, not only excited the jealousy of European powers, but occasioned doubts in the minds of enlightened British politicians, whether or not, such immense acquisitions of territory would contribute to the felicity of the parent state. They saw, or thought they saw, the seeds of disunion planted in the too widely extended empire. Power, like all things human, has its limits: and there is a point beyond which the longest and sharpest sword fails of doing execution. To combine, in one uniform system of government, the extensive territory, then subjected to the British sway, appeared, to men of reflection, a work of doubtful practicability. Nor were they mistaken in their conjectures.

The seeds of discord were soon planted, and speedily grew up to the rending of the empire. The high notions of liberty and independence, which were nurtured in the colonies, by their local situation, and the state of society in the New World, were increased by the removal of hostile neighbours. The events of the war had also given them some experience in military operations, and some confidence in their own ability. Foreseeing their future importance, from the rapid increase of their numbers, and extension of their commerce; and being jealous of their rights, they readily admitted, and with pleasure indulged, ideas and sentiments favourable to independence. While combustible materials were daily collecting, in the New World, a spark, to kindle the whole, was produced in the Old. Nor were there wanting those, who, from a jealousy of Great Britain, helped to fan the flame,

From the first settlement of English America till the close of the war of 1755, the general conduct of Great Britain towards her colonies affords an useful lesson to those who are disposed to colonization. From that era, it is equally worthy of the attention of those who wish for the reduction of great empires to small ones. In the first period, Great Britain regarded the provinces as instruments of commerce. Without charging herself with the care of their internal police, or seeking a revenue from them, she contented herself with a monopoly of their trade. She treated them as a judicious mother does her dutiful children. They shared in every privilege belonging to her native sons, and but slightly felt the inconveniences of subordination. Small was the catalogue of grievances, with which even democratical jealousy charged the parent state, antecedent to the period before mentioned.

Till the year 1764, the colonial regulations seemed to have no other object, but the common good of the whole empire. Exceptions, to the contrary, were few, and had no appearance of system. When the approach of the colonies to manhood made them more capable of resisting impositions, Great Britrin changed the ancient system, under which her colonies had long flourished. When policy would rather have dictated a relaxation of authority, she rose in her demands, and multiplied her restraints.

From the conquest of Canada, in 1760, some have supposed, that France began secretly to lay schemes, for wresting those colonies from Great Britain, which she was not able to conquer. Others allege, that from that period, the colonists, released from all fears of dangerous neighbours, fixed their eyes on independence, and took sundry steps, preparatory to the adoption of that measrue. Without recurring to either of these opinions, the known selfishness of human nature is sufficient to account for that demand on the one side, and that refusal on the other, which occasioned the revolutin. It was natural for Great Britain, to wish for an extension of her authority over the colonies, and equally so for them, on their approach to maturity, to be more