THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 193 



patois of the French habitant suggested grave 

 problems of statecraft in Great Britain and 

 America; while Australia at this date was so 

 little developed as to make the ultimate triumph 

 of English still problematical. 



Economically Great Britain was in 1860, as 

 she had been in 1814, the leading power of the 

 world. In both trade and manufactures she 

 stood easily first. Her mercantile marine and 

 her navy still surpassed those of any other na 

 tion. Yet there was no such disparity between 

 her and the American Republic as was so con 

 spicuous half a century earlier. In the carry 

 ing trade of the world the United States was 

 Britain s nearest rival. In manufactures Brit 

 ish supremacy was confirmed by the transition 

 from the domestic to the factory system, which 

 was practically complete in England in 1860. 

 This supremacy it was not yet in the power of 

 the sparse population of the United States to 

 contest. For one branch of textiles, however, 

 and that a most important one, namely, cotton 

 goods, the dependence of England on the Ameri 

 cans for raw materials was complete, as was fore 

 seen by the leaders of the American secessionists. 



Politically, also, British and American ideas 

 and conditions were much less remote from 



